How Kenyans are being left behind in film-making revolution

I was watching TV the other day and as usual, Black Panther came up. Black Panther is everywhere nowadays, being touted as a revolution in black-people representation and storytelling – which it is, of course – but for some reason, Kenyans are being left behind. Let me tell you how.

In this interview, Chris Foot, the head of the Kenya Film Commission, was talking about how about a year ago, the KFC reached out to the Black Panther team and Lupita about filming scenes in Kenya.

Now, if you have ever worked on an international film set, you know that a year before release, there's no way they are still planning for locations. They've started shooting, already busy with the marketing plans and things like that. Why would KFC reach out a year before shooting? Whose idea was that, honestly? Chris said he didn't get a reply. Of course he didn't get a reply!

GLOBAL RULES

And maybe it was a problem also of not knowing who to contact on a film set, but Lupita? I don't know what she can do about locations if she isn't the location manager. She's acting in the movie. That doesn't mean she has control over it. As a scriptwriter, I know that how we work is a lot looser than they do it in Hollywood, but surely we don't expect Hollywood to work the same way as we do?

If we're trying to play on a global stage, then we need to learn how to lay by the global rules. Sending emails in the dark and going in blind cannot be the way we are trying to get movies shot in Kenya, just because there is a Kenyan in the movie. Or maybe that has worked before – I wouldn't know either, I've never worked on an international movie. But I do feel that if anyone is supposed to know how to navigate the waters of international film procedures, then it should be KFC. Otherwise what exactly is the point of the commission?

ENDLESS BLOCKADES

Then, there's the not so small matter of what would happen if the film actually responded – you know, with that one in a million chance – and said sure, we'll come shoot a few battle scenes over there. Do we even have the infrastructure for such? The subheading running under the interview said, “Industry players calling for greater support from government”. This seems a bit futile at some point. The government does not care about this industry.

This is evidenced by the almost nothing it has done for said industry so far – including scrapping Arts, Crafts and Music from the curriculum, and giving an even smaller space for “talents” in the new one; making the making of a movie in this country so difficult that it's more or less a rich man's game; among other such opportunistic barriers.

If Black Panther landed here, Ezekiel Mutua would probably find a way to ban it, or refuse to give them permits based on a vague morality clause. Michael B. Jordan would be trying to take off his shirt in the middle of shooting and kanjos would run up to him with a silly policy on nudity or public violation. I can see it now. They wouldn't be allowed to carry guns unless they waited the required time period to license them from police stations, in which case they would have to have a little extra on the budget to make things go faster. The blockades would be endless, no?

IDIOTIC BUREAUCRACY

I know these scenarios sound ridiculous, but other equally ridiculous things have happened, and I wouldn't put it past them. There's a reason Eye in the Sky – and all those movies and series that are supposed to be shot in Kenya, or 'Nairomi', if you will – are never actually shot here. There's too much idiotic bureaucracy that goes far above and beyond the limitations of normal protocol.

There's a lot that needs to be changed in film in Kenya, and it's a pretty steep mountain to climb. But perhaps that should begin by speaking truth to the powers that be. Ezekiel needs to be relegated to a docket that he knows a little more about, and KFC should find a clue concerning how film works, instead of inventing things on national television to look like they care and are actually pushing for the industry to flourish about three years too late in the game.

Twitter: @AbigailArunga