BY OGOVA ONDEGO. NAIROBI, KENYA (CINEMA MINIMA) —.

The participation application deadline to the third edition of Lola Kenya Screen that holds in Nairobi the second week of  2008 August closed on 2008 April 15 with 300 film submission from 45 nations.

Lola Kenya Screen, eastern Africa’s premier audiovisual media platform exclusively designed for children, youth and family, has received films by children, youth, students and adults from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Congo-Kinshasa, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, and Zimbabwe.

Also applying for participation in the official Lola Kenya Screen skill-development programmes for children and youth–Film Selection Committee, Film Jury, Festival Press, Event Presentation, Film Production Workshop–were applicants from Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Those eligible for participation are usually residents of Nairobi and its environs due to what the festival management describes as ‘logistical reasons’.

This development comes at a time when Lola Kenya Screen has been selected to spearhead the development of audiovisual media content for children and youth in eastern Africa. Being a fully fledged organisation specialising in children, media and culture, Lola Kenya Screen is to work with festivals in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda in adding children’s film sections to their programmes.

During an eastern Africa film festival network development meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on 2008 April 22, players from Belgium, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda chose Lola Kenya Screen to be the lead partner in the region.

The Lola Kenya Screen initiative is set to be presented to the world during Prix Jeunesse, the world’s leading television programmes for children festival in Munich, Germany (2008 May 30-June 5).

Lola Kenya Screen, that has already been presented in Rwanda, Uganda, and Belgium where Lola Kenya Screen films by children–AFRICAN FOLK TALES ANIMATED–have also been showcased, will also feature in Zanzibar in July 2008.

AFRICAN FOLK TALES ANIMATED, the compilation of three-film and three-song DVD made by children and youth during the 2nd Lola Kenya Screen in 2007 continue on the international film circuit as more invitations come in for them. The latest invitation is from the London Film Festival for Children that takes place in 2008 November.

The Lola Kenya Screen DVD has already been screened in Tampere, Finland (2008 March 4-9), Kigali, Rwanda (2008 March 16-30), Brussels, Belgium (2008 April 14-25), Kampala, Uganda (2008 May 1-11), and Berlin, Germany, (2008 May 21-25).

The whole compilation will then move to Prix Jeunesse, the world’s leading television programmes for children festival in Munich, Germany (2008 May 30-June 4).

Produced by Lola Kenya Screen, these films—that were made by children aged 9-15 years during the 2nd Lola Kenya Screen film production workshop (August 6-11, 2007)—that premiered at Lola Kenya Screen on 2007 August 11 have since been shown on KBC Television (2007 December and 2008 January).

The inaugural Lola Kenya Screen production—FILMS BY CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN—won the Grand Prize at the 5th World Summit for Media and Children in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2007 March. Since then, there has been no looking back for Lola Kenya Screen that is an annual international film festival, production workshop and market focusing on children and youth in eastern Africa and holding in Nairobi every second week of August.

FILMS BY CHILDREN FOR CHILDREN was shown in Kenya, Poland, Senegal, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Holland, among other countries.

The organisers of Lola Kenya Screen are working with Zimbabwean producer Rumbi Katedza in bringing young people from Zimbabwe to Nairobi for a cultural exchange through the audiovisual media.