Context
Samlis Education Foundation, a school established as the result of a collaboration between Goodpeople International Nairobi Office and SBS Himang TV is situated in the Dandora Municipal Dumpsite, the largest of its kind in the city. The school provides accommodation and education to many children formerly living off the dumpsite.
A batch of Samlis students between the ages of 12 and 18 form the participants of the ‘Dandora Fellowship for Future Filmmakers,’ a vocational training program designed to empower students with professional grade video production skills.
A detailed description of the project structure and timeline can be found here.
Crowdfunding
The production period of the Fellowship was partly financed through a crowdfunding campaign which ran on Kakao Story and featured three videos.
The production period of the Fellowship was partly financed through a crowdfunding campaign which ran on Kakao Story and featured three videos.
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Introductory Film The Fellowship participants discuss their background, their passions and aspirations in relation to filmmaking, and what the Fellowship means to them. |
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Coffee Farm Film
In partnership with All Season Services, one of the premier coffee producers in Kenya, Paulus awarded donors to the crowdfunding campaign with coffee bags. Here the director of All Seasons Services discusses his passion for coffee production and the reasons for supporting the Fellowship program. |
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John Silver Film Beside agreeing to teach the participants of the Fellowship storyboarding, John Silver, a renowned Kenyan artist, donated valuable wood prints for the crowdfunding campaign. Here he talks about his artistic inspiration and the motivation behind his efforts to empower disadvantaged children. |
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Production Period
The production of a web series represented the second phase of the Fellowship. The objective was to produce a set of 7 episodes of a web drama which addressed misconceptions, prevalent in the slums, about HIV/AIDS. Through the web series, the hope was to raise awareness in the Kenyan online sphere about concerns related to the disease while telling an engaging, genre driven story. Principal photography took place in 5 days which were distributed across a predetermined production period of a month and a half.
The production of a web series represented the second phase of the Fellowship. The objective was to produce a set of 7 episodes of a web drama which addressed misconceptions, prevalent in the slums, about HIV/AIDS. Through the web series, the hope was to raise awareness in the Kenyan online sphere about concerns related to the disease while telling an engaging, genre driven story. Principal photography took place in 5 days which were distributed across a predetermined production period of a month and a half.
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Behind-The-Scenes Film
The film follows a handful of crew members from the 30 strong team responsible for making the web series. |
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Story Synopsis
A disease thought to have caused the demise of the world’s adult population appears to have resurfaced and infected the oldest member of the community. When a local gang leader imprisons the infected and turns his predicament into a spectacle for profit, an amateur reporter takes it upon herself to stop the spread of rumors about the disease and free the infected. This ambition sets her on a collision course with not just the gang leader but also with other unsavoury members of the community who have their own designs for the infected.
A disease thought to have caused the demise of the world’s adult population appears to have resurfaced and infected the oldest member of the community. When a local gang leader imprisons the infected and turns his predicament into a spectacle for profit, an amateur reporter takes it upon herself to stop the spread of rumors about the disease and free the infected. This ambition sets her on a collision course with not just the gang leader but also with other unsavoury members of the community who have their own designs for the infected.
Episode List
'Lola, the Infiltrator'
'Kerush, the Commander'
'Kerush, the Commander'
'Basra, the Ailing'
'Mojuma, the Informant'
'Lola, the Imposter'
'Jaboya, the Prophet'
'Lola, the Hopeful'
Result
The web series screened at the Udada International Women's Film Festival in 2018. It began airing on KBC at the start of 2019.
