Bienvenue dans les meandres du cerveau de Pascal Ouandji

“The drama Higher Learning has stunned the Kenyan drama scene: people believe it was all done by Canadians”, says Philip Ondeng, the production Manager and commissioning editor for NTV. Obviously, he is very “pleased” with the program which debuted on NTV in mid April, but is Kenyan cinema that good?
There seems to be a consensus: the Kenyan film industry is “growing”. “An average of six to eight local dramas are produced every year by the top four networks combined. This year, we have seen a record of five in the first quarter alone and we expect more”, says Mr. Odeng.
 
The growing interest of the public is mainly due to the improved quality of products. Even tough the demands are steadily increasing, the budgets are still low. "Locally, you'll get between Sh 3-5 millions at best, while a good quality show will cost about Sh 20 millions. Such meager budgets kill creativity, adventure and artistic expression in a show ", says the director Ekwa Msangi-Omari."Good products do not come cheap," says Dorothy Ghettuba. As a TV Executive Producer, the biggest challenge she faces on a daily basis is the financing.
 
Distribution is also a major issue. Unlike their West African counterparts, Kenyan filmmakers are struggling to get their films seen on a wider scale. The Nigerian film industry, also known as Nollywood, is doing really well on this end. "About 1,200 films are produced in Nigeria annually”, says Frank Ikegwuonu, author of Who's Who in Nollywood.
 
According to a UNESCO report released last year, the Nigerian cinema is the second largest movie industry in terms of movies produced per year. Nollywood is ahead of Hollywood, but behind Bollywood, the global leader. According to the journalist Colin Freeman, Nollywood is a $250-million industry. Currently, the Nigerian movie industry outsells Hollywood, not just in Nigeria, but in many other African countries.
 
For decades, African viewers have been avid consumers of television series from South America.  However, things are beginning to change gradually. The South American television series monopolize our screens less and less and West African productions are starting to take center stage. The Kenyan viewers are, slowly but surely, getting accustomed to the Nigerian accent. The growing popularity of Nollywood in Africa is due to the fact that people can relate to these stories, told from an African perspective.
 
In Nigeria, the average film is shot on video in just a week and sells around 50,000 copies. The workforce is cheap, therefore the production costs are pretty low and the returns are astounding for the producers.
Judy Kibinge, the 2009 Kalasha award winning director, believes that the West African film industry is “churning out quantity”, but Kenyan filmmakers produce better quality. “West Africa is way ahead in terms of budgets and turnover, but there are those who would argue, including myself that what the West Africans make up for in financial success, they lose in quality, in artistic excellence”, she says. 
 
The Kenyan director might not be impressed with Nollywood, but she definitely has a lot of admiration for the South African film industry. She is aware that Kenyan filmmakers cannot hold a candle to their counterparts in South Africa.
 
In 2005, the South African movie Tsotsi won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Gavin Hood, who wrote and directed the film, received a lot of accolades for his work. The South African filmmaker is now a staple in Hollywood. Last year, he directed the summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie opened at the top of the box office, and has grossed over $373 million worldwide.
 
“The South African film industry is huge and to understand this, you need to look at their commercial industry which services hundreds of top TV commercials for local and global consumption. Things like this are able to sustain a homegrown film industry because production houses are working all year round on commercial productions”, says Ms. Kibinge.
 
The Kenyan filmmaker knows what she is talking about. “My career in filmmaking has benefited greatly from my background in advertising. I was the first African creative director of a multinational advertising agency in East Africa. I had won lots of Advertising awards”, she says.
 
Despite her success in the advertisement world, she resigned to pursue a career in film. “The film industry is not an easy field, but it is a very fulfilling one”, she says. According to her, the job is not lucrative yet, “but it will be at some point”.

“Once you start making money, you can make good money”, says Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann, a 24-year-old filmmaker. But before that, directors have to pay their dues. They “hustle”: they have the choice: they either look for money to fund their next project, or they put all of their own money into it. “That's tough: believing in something, but struggling to get it”, adds Ms. Ndisi-Herrmann.
 
The half Kenyan, half German filmmaker studied film at AFDA (The South African School of Motion Picture), in Cape Town. She graduated with a BA in Film, majoring in scriptwriting and directing. “In South Africa, citizens can receive grants to study film from the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF). They can apply for money to keep them going while researching/developing a story, and also funding to make their films. Though it is not without its hiccups, some sort of funding makes you one step closer to making your dreams and stories real”, she says.
 
Ms. Kibinge shares her point of view. According to her, the Kenyan cinema struggles to take off because it does not receive assistance from the Government. The director criticizes the lack of visionary leadership. “The government doesn't view it as a business which could bring billions in revenue each year. The film industry is not supported in the ways it should be”, she says.