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THE NBO FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS IN 2021 IN HYBRID FORMAT
The 4th edition of the NBO Film Festival will return to Nairobi from 3 - 14 November, 2021 in a hybrid programme of in-person and online events, after a hiatus in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Festival has an ambitious mandate to develop and promote the film industry in Kenya and become a hub for discovering emerging homegrown cinematic talent that also serves as a platform to advance skills and opportunities for creatives from the Global South.
The event will host local festival goers, filmmakers, actors, media and industry professionals to celebrate cinema over the course of 10 days. Engaging innovative technologies and creative spaces, the 2021 edition will bring local, regional and international communities together to discover Kenya’s best films.
“Kenya has a vibrant and imaginative creative culture, and we are extremely honoured and proud to be sharing this rich culture with audiences after a difficult year,” said Festival Director Sheba Hirst. “In a time when change continues, we hope that the Festival will inspire hope and healing through art.”
Among exciting undiscovered works representing powerful storytelling, this year’s programme of films will include The Letter directed by Maia Lekow and Chris King; The Nest Collective’s new time-hopping feature film, The More Things Change directed by Akati Khasiani & George ‘Mars’ Aloo; and Philippe Lacôte’s surreal epic, Night of Kings.
“The Kenyan voice is a unique one that has been underrepresented internationally,” said Artistic Director Mbithi Masya. “It’s time to share more of the creative boldness that is going to transform the world’s current notions about African stories and cinema, and we hope that NBO will encourage and deepen understanding and connection.”
NBO Film Festival provides a dynamic platform to advance an active culture of cinema, develop talent, build a local industry, promote films by Kenyans regionally and internationally, create an active market and increase cultural exchange and understanding.
The Festival is supported by the Goethe Institut and The French Embassy in Nairobi.
NBO FILM FESTIVAL STATEMENT ON THE BAN OF ‘I AM SAMUEL’
The NBO Film Festival is very disappointed to once again be unable to screen one of the most important films made in Kenya due to a Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) ban on distribution and ownership of this film. I Am Samuel was banned from Kenyan screens on 23rd September 2021, following a statement by the KFCB acting chair, Christopher Wambua.
While the KFCB statement states that the film is being banned for depicting and valorising illegal activity and for being blasphemous to the Christian religion, neither of these are grounds for the restriction of screenings in Kenya according to their own guidelines, nor has this criteria been applied to numerous other films screened in Kenya that in fact portray the above.
Therefore, we must conclude that KFCB’s sole purpose is to suppress any discourse on issues connected to the LGBTQI community, which is a clear and outright human rights violation and contravenes the Bill of Rights protecting freedom of expression.
As an organisation that supports and encourages freedom of creative expression, the NBO Film Festival demands that the KFCB make the procedures and details of their deliberations, leading to the decision to ban the film available to the public.
We strongly believe that suppression of freedom of expression of a specific group not only hurts us all as filmmakers but as a society - regardless of our individual sexual orientation - and urge all those who value human rights to take a public stand against this heavy-handed policing of ideas, thoughts, and creative expression.