Lola Kenya Screen

Lola Kenya Screen, also known as Lola Kenya Children’s Screen, is an audiovisual media festival held in Kenya since 2005. Being more than just a film festival, it encompass filmmaking, film criticism, media literacy, cultural journalism, arts appreciation, marketing, and event planning and organization.

The name of the festival is derived from the Bantu languages commonly spoken in Subsaharan Africa. It means to “see”, “look at” or “watch” moving images in Kenya. The project’s main goals are to cultivate sustainable film audiences in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region, to develop the culture of creating high-quality, low-budget films, and to support the local film industry by promoting films made in Africa.

The main target audience of the Lola Kenya Screen film festival consists of children and youth from Eastern Africa. This region includes Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Somali. The project focuses on seeking, identifying, nurturing and promoting creative talent among children and youth by engaging them in hands-on educational activities designed to develop their creative skills.

The annual Lola Kenya Screen film festival used to take place during the first full week of August, but at some point it was moved to December. Its program features films made by children and youth, films for children and youth, and films involving children and youth. It is open to films made by professionals, amateurs and film students.

Children aged 6 to 13 and youth aged 14 to 25 play a vital role in organizing the festival. They select films for screening, serve on the film jury, participate in program preparation and presentation, etc.

The program of Lola Kenya Screen showcases the best local and international films in all kinds of genres, categories and formats: feature-length films and shorts, animation, student films, documentaries, experimental films, music videos, television shows, PCAs and commercials, and more.

The festival jury gives out awards to the best films in a number of categories. The best children’s film receives the Golden Mboni Award and the best youth film receives the 14-Plus Award. These are the two main awards at Lola Kenya Screen. Other awards include Best Fiction, Best Animation, Best Documentary, Best Eastern Africa Film, Best Kenyan Film, Best Student Film, Best Experimental Film, and more.