The ministry of ICT and the Kenya film commission (KFC) has on Monday launched a screenplay competition for filmmakers, an initiative aimed at promoting and growing the country’s film industry.

The winning script will be awarded Sh 1 million, first runner up Sh 500,000 and the second runner up will take home Sh 300, 000.

The competition will also feature best young writer (under 18 years) and best student writer (under 25 years) who will take home Sh 100,000 each.

According to the cabinet secretary for ICT, Joe Mucheru, who spoke while launching the initiative, the competition is one of the many initiatives geared towards growing the industry and the winning scripts will be pitched to international film producers to explore possibilities of the scripts being turned into full feature films.

FILM PARTNERSHIPS WITH CHINA

“This competition is great and opens coproduction opportunities in the film and creative industries to explore how Kenya take advantage of the Africa and China markets, with a possible combined total market of two billion movie viewers,” said CS Mucheru.

The CS also said the ministry was hoping to sign a co-production treaty between Kenya and China government, which will be the first for the country and a big boost to the local industry.

“The overall long-term plan for the competition is to enable us to pick
some fantastic scripts, which we can co-produce with Chinese
production houses, for airing in theatres across China – and of course
across the African continent under the auspices of SMART Africa,” he said.

KFC and the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) were moved from the ministry of sports and culture to the ICT docket last year, a move which according to the KFC CEO Timothy Owase, is best for the industry.

“This is the right ministry for the film industry and especially in terms of budget, which has always been the biggest challenge to KFC. The ICT ministry is also home to other relevant agencies like the state broadcasting corporation, which makes positioning the film industry seamless” Owase said.

HOW TO SUBMIT A SCRIPT FOR THE COMPETITION

Scriptwriters are expected to submit entries in English and in any genre. They must be full feature screenplays and participants must be Kenyan citizens.