Film industry service providers housed at the Film Studios Kenya complex at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi have a new landlord following transfer of tenancy of the facility to SuperSport from the end of this month. Previously the complex has been managed by a local company, Film Studios Kenya, which built it on land leased from the Agricultural Society of Kenya but has now transferred the tenancy to the South African company.
This one-stop-shop for filmmakers is the only one of its kind in the country but the Kenya Film Commission is said to be working on the establishment of a similar one at the proposed Konza City on the Mombasa highway although this will take some time. A letter sent out last week signed by James Ndaiga, general manager of Film Studios Kenya, put the tenants on notice over the new arrangement and many are still studying the implications of the deal.
The immediate view is that it transfers a strategic and crucial facility that has served the film fraternity to a private foreign company which in effect may deprive access to the vast majority of local filmmakers who have relied on it to make productions which is bound to affect growth of Kenya film industry. This is based on the assumption that SuperSport has its own lineup of projects for this region and may be unable to allow outside projects in the facility giving priority to its own. Moreover, the introduction of digital television hopefully by next year is expected to raise demand for local content and the changes at the studio may hinder realisation of the volume.
Efforts to get comment from Film Commission CEO Peter Mutie were fruitless while Charles Simpson, CEO of Film Studios, had earlier declined to comment, saying he was bound by a non-disclosure agreement. However, it is considered the changeover is a drastic move that ought to have approval of ASK members since the land belongs to them and to a large extent also that of the relevant government body that oversees the film docket whose mandate includes promotion of local film industry. Understandably the approval was made by a committee but there was a need to engage all members before making that decision.
It would be expected that any deal of such nature would also take into account the need to secure the country’s own filmmaking niche and that it is indeed for the good of all. A good example was in the 1960s when the government allowed world renowned American fashion photographer Peter Beard to acquire the hog ranch - a 40-acre plot along Magadi Road opposite animal orphanage by granting a waiver on land ownership by a foreigner.
The condition by the government was that Beard would use the land that was more of a game ranch with varieties of animals mainly giraffes, warthogs and squirrels to promote the country through his photography. This he did and put Kenya on the international map through photography of models at the ranch whose pictures were carried on major international fashion magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
There is a view that the Film Studios should have been floated to local stakeholders through a joint ownership agreement, either as a co-operative or a shareholding arrangement, with a professional management team to run its affairs. With the now already high volume of work through foreign films, TV commercials and related productions, it is possible that they could have drawn funding to acquire the venture and still keep the facility within Kenyans’ hands.
Indeed the reason the facility was built on the ASK ground was that it was going to benefit the local film industry, which it has, but may no longer do in the new arrangement. Currently, lack of production facilities is a nagging issue in the filming scene and the drive ought to be geared towards encouraging Kenyans to develop and acquire facilities that serve the industry and avoid action that may jeopardize it.
The issue of facilities was once cited by the head of art department of the French Foreign Ministry during a visit to Kenya. He expressed concern that the Kenya art scene is in a precarious position due to the dominance by foreign institutions controlling facilities and funding. “If outsiders control the facilities they also control the nature of activity and this denies Kenyans the right to define themselves,’’ he said.
Regardless of how the SuperSport objectives turnout, there is an obvious risk to the local industry for such a strategic facility to be handed to a foreign company and the deal is ill-advised given the prevailing circumstances. It may be claimed that it has benefits in terms of bringing expertise, but Kenya has grown and is time to jump off the lap of big brothers and grow on our own.
This does not bar Supersport or any other interested parties from being granted the right to build studios here or invest in the local film industry but not on public ground and certainly not on provisions intended to safeguard our own film industry. In any case it could still operate the way all others in the country do - by hiring the facility and avoid a situation where it monopolises an industry resource.
The option would be for it to build its own and follow the due process of land acquisition. Either way, the very reason that it has managed to acquire the space is yet another indicator of the apathy within government on matters of planning and policy where it affects the arts.