Effects of Covid-19 on Kenya's Film Industry

The Ministry of Health in Kenya, confirmed the first COVID-19 case reported on 12^th March 2020, since the beginning of the outbreak in China in December 2019. Stringent measures were taken to avoid the spread of the virus including, wearing of masks, social distancing and a major country lockdown. Many low- and middle-income countries implemented control measures against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The main aims of control measures was to reduce respiratory pathogen transmission through direct contact with others.

The lockdowns and curfews affected people’s social and economic life, this includes closing down of churches, schools and social gatherings had been prohibited at some point. This resulted in businesses being shut down, employees sent on unpaid leave and others were fired.

Many young people who had gone to Nairobi city for greener pastures some had to go back to their rural home due to lack of jobs. According to research, Retail and wholesale, transportation, accommodation, and restaurants have been strongly affected by public health measures to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country. As of December 5, 2020, more than 87 thousand COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Kenya.

Sectors worst hit by the virus include the labour force, housing, transport, health, trade and tourism. Kenya’s film industry has also been affected and it is not something that is often talked about. According to the Kenya Film Commission, “Kenya’s Film and Television Production Industry boasts some of the most sophisticated post-production facilities and offers a pool of skilled technicians and crew. The industry has invested considerably in keeping the facilities up-to-date with the latest film and television technology resulting in more foreign as well as domestic producers choosing to complete productions in Kenya.”

Kenya’s film industry has been facing a lot of challenges, but COVID-19 has made it worse. It does not go unnoticed that 2020 was also a successful year for some filmmakers who scooped several awards during the Kalasha Film and Television Awards 2020, Film Aid Film Festival 2020, Africa’s Premier Sports Film Festival 2020, LIPFF Festival and Kisima Awards Film and Music Awards 2020.

According to a conversation with some of the filmmakers, below are some of the challenges they faced before COVID-19. Lack of professional training especially in screenwriting this affects the art of storytelling, film organizations are not doing enough to promote Film Making, information that could benefit the filmmaker is only given to a selected few instead of whole film Community, there is lack of funds to produce the film, lack of payments and/or delayed payments for film produced, random and haphazard termination of contracts by employers.

Generally, lack of trust between employees and employers and between employees themselves. Film, filmmakers and the film industry are seen as separate and “less than” than other sectors and lack of/difficulty in getting locations for filming.

Finally there is lack of proper policies that govern the film industries such that they can be able to design considerate payable rates for filmmakers and working conditions. In addition, we need to have one license that a filmmaker could use instead of paying so much for different licenses.

The challenges faced by filmmakers after COVID-19 as per comments from the filmmakers. They include halt in most Film Production Unemployment. The challenges faced by the filmmakers before Covid-19 it has not really changed. For one of the scriptwriters, during the pandemic, he found time to write Scripts and learn new techniques and skills of writing. The move to doing things virtually/online has opened up for avenues to explore experimental filmmaking and storytelling.

The film industry continues to face some challenges, but it cannot go unnoticed that some organizations such as The Kenya Film Commission are providing funding in order to support filmmakers. This does not mean more should not be done such as, more funding to be put and emphasis on Writing and More Writing Camps paid Writing Camps. Film and the film industry should be embraced in all sectors of the country. The education sector should embrace Kenyan films. It should be a requirement that Kenyan films should be watched in school at least once per term. Film clubs in schools should be mandatory. The Tourism sector should collaborate with the film industry, especially in terms of locations.

In conclusion, the pandemic has exposed weaknesses and also created resilience and strength in most matters. Despite the challenges in Kenya’s film industry, there is still hope and this has not prevented the Kenyan filmmakers from telling their stories.

Writer

Kui Githinji