Some of those who attended Friday’s film screenings in Derry’s Nerve Centre.
VOICES and creative talents from East Africa were front and centre at Derry’s Nerve Centre at the weekend as the North West Migrants Forum continued its Black History Month programme.
Seven short films from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Réunion Island were shown prior to a question and answer session with the curating team of Fibby Kioria of Manyatta Screenings and Wanjeri Gakuru of Mengi Mengi Film Club. Asking the questions was Cinematic Arts Lecturer at Ulster University, Dr John Kavanagh.
The screenings were part of the British Council’s UK Kenya Season. In partnership with the Africa Centre, the British Council collaborated with the North West Migrants Forum to bring the captivating series of shorts to the north west.
From the gritty street violence of Rolex to the hilarious Love and Brain to the moving drama of Transaction, themes such as identity, desire and mortality were explored over an intense couple of hours.
Speaking following the screenings, Wanjeri Gakuru, who directed Transaction, one of the films aired on Friday evening, said the showcase was only a very brief snapshot of the huge amount of talent emerging in Eastern African cinema right now.
“I think we are in a really wonderful time in our lives when equipment is much cheaper to access and tools and skills are much easier to access. But as well as that, people now have the daring and I think there is a real hunger for these kind of stories because there has never been as much coming out of our space as there is today.
“As members and champions of that new ecosystem we are incredibly pleased and proud to present the topics and visual language representative of the region. It was a joy to create and we were thrilled to be able to share it with a Derry audience.”
