The 7 edition of the Kenya International Film Festival KIFF edition will take place from the 24th of October to the 3rd of November with calls for submissions running through to the end of August. This comes on the heels of last years'festival which saw a record 360 films and documentaries screened in six theatres spread across the country.

According to KIFF executive director Charles Asiba, there are 200 films that have been entered for the 2012 festivalswhose theme is "World Classics".He said: "I am very happy to announce the start of the preparations for the 2012 editions of KIFF. It is heartening tonote that we have so far received 200 films to be screened at this years festivals. This overwhelming support thatwe receive from film makers is proof that KIFF has come of age and a testament of Kenya's growing influence in filmin Africa".

Mr. Asiba noted that last year, which saw the screening of internationally acclaimed movie, "The First Grader"featuring Kenya's own Mr. Oliver Litondo playing the late Kimani Maruge, who was the oldest primary student in theworld, was bumper year for KIFF with over 600 entries received, from 57 countries and 360 passing master andgetting screened. 2011 also saw the festival being graced by one of Africa's foremost writer and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka of Nigeria. The Kenya International Film Festival, is put together annually by the independent and privately ran KenyaInternational Film Festival Trust whose mandate, apart from organizing the festival, include training of film makers, organizing for a for exchange of ideas and meetings between film makers from across the continent.In April this year, KIFF Trust together with the African Union, the Commonwealth Foundation and a private filmcompany Film Africa, organized a four-day Pan-African Workshop for documentary film makers on Film andDemocracy.

The workshop drew participants from a number of African countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Seychelles and Kenya. Mr. Michael Otieno who is the acting chairman of the trust said: "Despite the numerous international award winning films shot in Kenya such as "Out of Africa" and "Constant Gardener", Kenya is yet to shoot an internationally acclaimed film with an entirely local crew and cast. We have the locations, we have the equipmentand expertise but why are we not making these films. KIFF would like to change that by offering a platform for ourlocal film makers learn from what the rest of the world is doing".Mr. Asiba said KIFF board is reviewing a number of entries and will communicate the premier movie in due course.He added: "I know that we set the standards very high last year by screening the "First Grader" as our premier film and the presence of Prof. Soyinka was icing on the 2011 cake.

I promise you a bigger and better festival this year. Our premiermovie will also fit the bill and no doubt raise the bar further".Mr. Asiba said: "Film, which is over a century old, has evolved from the silent black and white movies to high-techth blockbusters. The 7 Edition of Kenya International Film Festival wants to celebrate that journey, it will be nostalgic as ittakes us down memory lane through the world classics theme and bring them back to the reality of the technology drivenst 21 Century. We want to tag at peoples sentimentalities and motivate them to go to the cinema with these classics."For more information,

please contact:
Brenda Jemutai or Charles Asiba
Kenya International Film Festival Trust
Email: Brenda.Jemutai@hkstrategies.co.ke or asiba@kifftrust.org
Cell: +254 722 897 216
www.kifftrust.org


Source:
http://arterialnetwork.org/news/the-seventh-edition-of-the-kenya-international-film-festival-kicks-off