- Title: KENYA: Kenyan film premieres in Kibera slum
- Date: 6th March 2010
- Summary: VARIOUS OF FILM ON SCREEN
- Embargoed: 21st March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVACA4XKCFZTV57E38Q79YWCRPJB
- Story Text: Soul Boy is a fictional film about a young boy called "Abila" who goes on a mission to save his father's soul. To do this, he has to perform several challenges set by "Nyawawa", a mystic witch. Along the way Abila meets a number of people who unknowingly help him through his thrilling journey.
The film is an hour long production directed by Ghanaian-Kenyan director Hawa Essuman and produced by German filmmaker Tom Tykwer. It was co-financed by an initiative of German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
It is set mainly in the labyrinth of Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum.
This is Essuman's first film and she said she hopes it would show Kibera, often portrayed as hopeless, crime-ridden and home to the destitute, as a place where real stories of adventure can be told.
"Kibera is not unaware of media attention and its not the first time that someone has shot a film there or bits of a film, I mean Constant Gardner used it. But Kibera is just really used to bad press and I think because of that it was a good choice," said Essuman.
Residents of Kibera braved a cold rainy evening to watch the film and were in high spirits. Some of the people in the audience were cast in the film and said it was an exciting experience to be part of the production.
"It's a big thing in Kibera, they say you know right now they can brag, even us in Kibera we can do something. They can actually say like the Americans say: 'America's got talent' so Kibera can say: 'Kibera's got talent' - yeah," said Leila Opuo, who played a supporting role in the film as Abi's friend "Shiku".
Samson Odhiambo, who plays the lead character Abi, said getting the star role in the film was a life changing opportunity.
"For now I can feel like I'm heading somewhere at least. Long before I acted this movie I was just living but now I know the importance of living," said Odhiambo.
The film was initially intended to be a project film workshop for the community. A small team of professional film makers, lead by Tykwer, wanted to create working opportunities for slum residents by teaching film.
However, the overwhelming interest from residents led them to make Soul Boy, which producers say took just 13 days to shoot and about nine months in post production.
"I was always convinced that, if you find enthusiastic people that really care for film and want to a good job that they will end up making a great film of it. I think 90 percent of film making is enthusiasm and energy, and of course an idea of visuals and of storytelling, and that what you learn along the way and the most important element is that you really want to go try and make a film well, and we found so many people who really were devoted and determined to do so," said Tykwer.
The script was written by Kenyan fiction author, Billy Kahora.
Soul Boy won the Hubert Bals audience award earlier this year at the Rotterdam film festival. It has also been screened at the Gothenburg and Berlin International Film Festivals. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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