Kenya has concluded plans to roll out 25 million shilling ($224,000) film fund to boost local production during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Timothy Owase, Kenya Film Commission (KFC), who disclosed this on Friday in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, said that the local film industry had experienced decreasing revenues due to containment measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The upcoming tenth edition of the Kalasha International Film and TV Awards “Kenya will give grants to filmmakers in other to ensure that production continues even during the difficult times brought about by the spread of COVID-19’’, Owase said during the briefing.
The state film marketing agency partnered with Chinese pay television company StarTimes, whose mobile application was the platform where nominated films were uploaded for viewing and voting.
Owase added that the local film sector faces stiff competition from foreign productions due to a number of challenges including lack of access to affordable finance.
“Our goal is to improve the quality of local productions so that Kenya becomes an exporter of films to the rest of the world,’’ he said.
Owase noted that the east African nation had implemented a number of measures to ensure that local content is at least 40 per cent of all programming of domestic broadcasters.
Kenya’s Film Commission said that the government is also promoting the local film sector by purchasing programmes that would be showcased by the state-owned broadcaster.