Students of the Kenya Film School will collaborate with organizers of Kenya Golf Open Championship and European Tour TV production, renowned for live broadcast feed for Golf, in order to enhance their film and content creation skills.
ICT Cabinet Secretary (CS) Joe Mucheru speaking on Friday during the 2nd graduation ceremony of Kenya Film School (KFS) said that the students will be part of a team that will produce over 2,200 live Golf broadcast hours and showcase Kenya to over 490 Million homes across the world.
This year’s edition of the annual Kenya Golf Open Championship 2019, which is part of the European Golf Championship, will be played from March 14th to 17th at the Karen Club. The Championship attracts players from across the world.
Mucheru observed that the quality of graduands at the institution was high as evidenced by the high absorption rates in the job market.
“It is refreshing to note that out of 21 students who are graduating today, 13 have already secured full-time jobs while others have gone on to venture into other businesses. There is a kind of link between the school and what the industry is looking for evidenced by the employment rate of over 70% while with the other 30% opting to be job creators themselves,” said the CS.
Mucheru highlighted that what is even more encouraging is that those employed are spread across the country, with some being absorbed by county governments and others by government institutions.
Mucheru pointed out that given the demand for places at the institution and demand for the graduands, the institution will increase student intake from the current 30 to 45, starting year 2020.
“It is my hope that between now and then we can convince more counties to sponsor more students and we can even more than double the number,” highlighted the CS.
The CS said that the recent reporting of the Black Panther in Kenya allegedly for the first time in over 100 years is a clear indication of the need for us to tell our own stories from our own perspective.
“While the world was marveling over the sighting of the Black Panther for the first time in over 100 years in Laikipia county, the local communities have lived with the Black Panther for many years and even have local names in local dialects for it but this was not reported or recorded and it took the BBC to come and tell us that the black panther has been spotted,” said Mucheru.
The Cabinet Secretary emphasized the sighting of the Black Panther presents an opportunity for us to market our northern areas covering Laikipia and upwards as Wakanda Country, and encourage tourists and movie enthusiasts to come and experience the real Wakanda right here in Kenya.
Speaking at the same event, ICT Principal Secretary (PS) Jerome Ochieng announced that the Ministry of ICT will sponsor the best student from the institution to South Korea to visit and appreciate the media and film culture there and bring back the experience into the Kenya film industry.
Broadcasting and Telecommunications PS Fatma Hirsi encouraged the students and other youth in the country to focus on their talents and those areas that they are good at and perfect them to achieve excellence in their work.
The Kenya Film School Director Mr. Hezekiah Kimondo said that the institution won nine awards in the Kenya National Drama and film festivals and also won the best student film in the 2018 Riverwood academy awards.
The Kenya Film School was started in 2016 by the government to provide opportunities to talented youth from disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to venture into the film industry. The institution admits students based on passion for film, rather than grades attained in school.
Nairobi Friday February 22, 2019 KNA by Cheruiyot Korir