Africalia Supports Art and Culture

               Bjorn Maes (2nd on left) Africalia Program Manager with Hot Sun Foundation staff 

What is the role of art and culture?

 For Africalia, art and culture are essential for all people. Africalia supports and celebrates art in seven African countries: South Africa, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Kenya, DRC, Senegal and Zimbabwe. Africalia is a non profit organisation based in Belgium. (www.africalia.be).

Hot Sun Foundation has been working in partnership with Africalia since December 2008.  Because of Africalia's long-term commitment, Hot Sun Foundation is on its way to becoming a stable, community based arts organisation, focusing on filmmaking. 

Last week, Hot Sun Foundation was delighted to host a visit by Southern Africa & Kenya Program Manager,  Bjorn Maes.  Bjorn has lived in Zimbabwe and is well acquainted with arts and filmmaking in Africa and Europe.

Bjorn spent a morning with the Hot Sun Foundation staff, reviewing and assessing the progress of the foundation and its three programmes: Kibera Film School, Kibera TV and Hot Sun Productions.

Bjorn participated in an afternoon film screening session with the trainees at Kibera Film School. He reviewed and critiqued their short films.  He emphasised the importance of  great stories and quality production values in every short film. He suggested film festivals to enter and agree to make himself available to assist in film festival submissions.

The Kibera Film School trainees and staff were inspired and encouraged by Bjorn's interest in their work and Africalia's support for Hot Sun Foundation.

                          Bjorn with Kibera Film School trainees, showing off the

                                 backs of their tee shirts with the Africalia logo 

Thank you Bjorn for your visit.  

And thank you Africalia for your guidance and support. 

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Short is sweet

Words of Pamela Collett. 

Maria Kaggai a trainee tries her hand on flip camera.

Are you an independent filmmaker who makes creative short films (1 -15 min) long?

Do you have some short films you want to enter in international film festivals?

Do you have some short films you want to screen in Nairobi?

Joseph Matu,  Kibera film school trainee.

If the answer to ANY of the above is YES, read on.

Have you ever heard of interfilm Berlin?

Initially founded in 1982 as a short film festival, interfilm is an internationally active focal point for short films, including marketing and distribution. http://www.interfilm.de/en/about.html

Here's what Heinz Hermanns, CEO of Interfilm Berlin had to say about short films during a recent Friday afternoon visit to Hot Sun Foundation in Kibera, Nairobi.

Audience: with short films it is easier to find audience. There's more of a potential market.  Interfilm shows short films in 20 cities in Germany The other large market: France For the market: shorter films are best: 5 - 15 min.  7 min to show before feature film in cinemas, 90 seconds in subways or other public place. 

Trainees of Kibera film school on location shooting their short films.

In Kenya: Educate your audience: need to develop an audience for short films

Suggest: short film festival or quarterly short films screening. People must spread the word about seeing great short films. 

Any place that people gather, shopping center, medical clinic, railroad station, bus stop, public transport is a potential market for showing short films.  In Berlin Germany and Seoul Korea there are 90 second short films on the subways. 

To be continued.

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

A DAY WITH AN INTERNATIONAL ACTRESS AT KIBERA FILM SCHOOL

                                      Caroline Goodall with Aida Achieng, Kibera Film School Coordinator

It was 11^th May 2013 on a Saturday morning. Kibera Film School was a beehive of activities. From trainers, trainees, interns, coordinators and visitors no one dared to be left behind. The excitement in the air however did not surpass my imagination and dire need to see the much anticipated and talked about woman; Caroline Goodall, who was coming that morning.

Born in Britain to Australian parents, Caroline Goodall is internationally known as a leading actress who has starred in some of the biggest blockbusters of the last fifteen years, including Schindler's List (1993), Hook (1991), Cliffhanger (1993), Disclosure (1994), White Squall (1996) and The Princess Diaries (2001), The White queen-TV Series (2013), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005).
She is a graduate of Bristol University where she gained a Bachelor of Arts Hons. In Drama and English, and studied alongside other notable screenwriters such as Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown). As a writer, in addition to "The Bay of Silence" for Radiant Pictures, credits include screen adaptations of Rupert Thomson's "Dreams Of Leaving" for HKM Films.

Caroline brought us some of her films. The films were really amazing. From her work on acting she advised and said that filmmaking is not about moneymaking but passion is everything. That has been her driving force all along.

“Is that kissing real”? A classmate asked her after watching a scene where Caroline was kissing a man. “ Of course it’s real. As a professional actress everything you do is professional. It’s your job to make a movie appear real," she calmly and jokingly answered. Her seriousness and humor was coupled up by her great personality.  I think that the video of her visit would make a scene in a movie!

“Never ever walk away on set as an actor just because you disagree with a director. Make the director feel that you are not just an actor but also part of the production by telling him on how you feel you can deliver your lines,” she concluded as she offered to buy us lunch and promising to connect Hot Sun Foundation to the outside world after seeing the amazing work done by Kibera TV.

Caroline  was overjoyed and promised to come back again.

Thank you Caroline for a memorable visit.  

We will never forget you!

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

A vote of thanks to Hot Sun Foundation.

Words of Job Mureithi

What are you thinking right now!
Mmmmh!
I have been so occupied with work.

(From left right) Job with Max and ken, interns and Aida

It takes a lot to write to begin with internet connection.
Enough about me, i want to entirely dedicate the whole of this post to Hot Sun Foundation. So today is my last day of attachment in Hot Sun but that doesn’t mean i won’t be around if needed. For those who don’t know about Hot Sun Foundation i might drop a hit after another as i proceed. 

Thank you Hot Sun Foundation for giving me a chance to horn my skills in my field. It has been a priviledge and most of all a humbling two months experince of my life. I’ve met a lot of nice people during my stay and hope i was of help to the foundation. I loved the fact that i got to meet people who are in the industry with vast knowledge in montoring,scripting and social networking.

Hot-sun foundation socially transforms through media and art. It’s branched into Kibera Film School, Hot-sun productions and Kibera TV. It is a foundation that is giving a chance to young filmmakers to practice hand-on filmmaking in the heart of Kibera.

I know i have said alot of thanks but i again thank you so much for this opportunity. I meant alot to me. I can never be more than this grateful.

Job (in KiberaTV T-shirt) with staff and trainees.

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

Learning How To Tell A Story.

There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive, for sure as I learnt from my scriptwriting instructor each can fuel the other. As an aspiring filmmaker, I want to entertain people as much as I can. I learnt about the transformational ARC structure in screenplay writing. If from my films I create awareness and understanding of a time and circumstance, then the hope is that change can happen. This is what I learnt at Kibera film school.

At Kibera Film School, I learnt the rules in filmmaking and now daily I break them to suit my creativity. 

The unique hands-on training at Kibera Film School you get to interact with industry filmmakers and get a chance to work on professional film sets.

Trainees watching a film 'Flat tire' by Machua Koinange.

Filmmaker Machua Koinange at Kibera Film School during the weekly motivational sessions.

Trainees and staff with motivational speaker (filmmaker) Machua Koinange 

www.imdb.com/name/nm4431580/

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page

"Finally I join The house of Creatives", Maria Wambui Kaggai.

Story by Wambui Kaggai.
It was a cold chilly Wednesday morning when I joined kibera film school as a student. Just before pushing the gate I remembered when I came for the graduation ceremony a few months ago, and how I envied the grandaunts in their gowns, each of their faces beaming with pride, joy and a certain determination smile ready for the world. And now my time has come.

With a long sigh I pushed the gate and went to the reception area where I met Aida the main coordinator of K.F.S.  Aida is a strong warm hearted woman who is always ready to assist anyhow, with no time to waste she led me to my class introduced me and as she left she pated my back perhaps it was her way of saying good luck.

In class I got acquainted with the other students, there are seven students and each of them has a passion for the film industry, highly positive charged people who make studying a simple and fun yet constantly motivating one another.

On this morning we were being taught how to use different equipment by our videography trainer, who took time in explaining and showing how to correctly mount a camera onto a tripod, how to connect mac minis. Each time one of us does something wrong during the practical trainer will ask us to re-do the procedure again till each one of us got it right. 

  

Equipment orientation!

 That afternoon started off the “Social Wednesdays” by Mrs. Pamela Collett who is a founder and a trustee of the K.F.S. Pamela teaches us on the importance of social networking and the benefits of networking if done correctly.

My script writer teacher Miss Flo is a soft-spoken woman who loves writing. Her style of teaching is modern and makes the lessons interesting by explaining to us using examples of the latest films. She encourages us to not just watch a film but take a keen interest on how each sequence relates to one another, and there importance in making it a successful film.

The Hot Sun Foundation where Kibera Film School is located also has Kibera TV an online TV station. I get to interact with the staffs that always have wise words to pass on. K.F.S has taught me how to stay focused, rubbing off the attitude of a well rounded person who is destined to be a winner. Each day in K.F.S I get to learn something new and practical lessons which would be hard for me to forget.

 

Maria Wambui the writer with fellow trainee Matu at the reception

To support the great youth of the Kibera Film School, please visit our Global Giving Page