Message film-making has characterised much of films produced in post-independent Kenya. The country produced very few films in the 1980s, when indigenous film-making actually began to take root. Liberalisation of the economy, embracement of the digital technology and democratization in the 1990s paved way for a more stable film culture in the decade. A more promising growth of the film industry has been largely witnessed since the turn of the 21st century. Through this period, I note a strong tendency to produce films that are loaded with social messages deemed urgent and important to the target audience. In making these films, the film-makers hope to make a positive impact in the lives of the target audiences. These films tend to valorise the message, sometimes, neglecting the basic filmic codes, a practice that renders the films less entertaining. This endangers the growth of the industry since local films find very stiff competition from foreign films that are common on Kenyan screens. This study therefore investigates possible roots of message film-making in Africa that directly influence the tendencies in Kenya by making references to other African countries' film experiences. My assumption is that Kenya's cultural experiences are shared by other African countries.

No abstract

This study investigates cinematography in Kenyan feature films from 1980 to 2010. Informed by Michael Rabiger’s (2008) view of film form as the manner in which content is presented, it is grounded on the assumption that the formal trajectories of the Kenyan feature films in the industry’s first three decades have been shaped, to a large extent by certain historical, economic or sociopolitical dynamics that characterized the country in that period. Three films, Kolormask (Gamba, 1986), Saikati (Mungai, 1992) and Unseen, Unsung, Unforgotten (Ombogo-Scott and Mbuthia, 2008) are analysed to form a basis for this discussion. Each of the three films represents a decade in the history of feature film making in post-independent Kenya. A film represents a decade because the rate of film production per year was extremely low as the industry began. This continues to change today. Text analysis and interviews with film-makers form the larger sources of primary data for this study.

No abstract

No abstract