The Short Film Mad Love producers Achleus Barrys, Collins Akunga, Rachael Muthoni and Andrew Ogonji

By Dr. Rachael Diang’a, Taigu Muchiri and Racheal Muthoni

USIU-Africa’s students participated in the 60^th edition of the annual Kenya National Schools and Colleges Drama and Film Festival at Kibabii University on 3-13 April, 2019. The festival registered participation from all categories of learners such as: pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, special needs education and post-secondary institutions including universities. USIU-Africa’s participation was limited to the University category.

With five entries in five categories, USIU-Africa students’ films won 34 awards in all the five categories, namely: Short Film (Universities), Short Documentary (Universities), Cultural Screen Dance (Universities), Screen Solo verse (Universities) and Advertisement (Universities). The short film Mad Love, which won two awards in Eldoret Film Festival (Best Cinematography) and 72 Hour International Film Competition in 2018 continued its winning streak and was crowned the overall winning short film for universities. It also won in Best Actress in a leading role, Best cinematography, Best costume design, Best set design, Best visual effects, Best Editor, Best short film, Best producer. The film was 1^st runners up in Best sound effects and Best director categories respectively. This is a love story produced by Achleus Barrys, Collins Akunga, Rachael Muthoni and Andrew Ogonji who are all BA Film Production Majors.

In the Cultural Screen dance category, Bijen Gudhka (Sophomore, IBA Major) impressed the judges with her Kuchipudi Dance getting awards for the most original music track and she was named the best female screen dancer. Furthermore, the dance emerged as 1^st runners up in best dance choreography, most communicative screen dance, best cinematography, best editor, best screen dance, best screen dance producer and best screen dance director categories.

In the Solo Verse category, the Collins Akunga-directed poem, Anxious, written and performed by Victor Muriithi (Freshman, Animation Major) won awards in the following categories: overall winning screen verse, Best choice of poem, Best presentation, Best cinematography, Best presenter, Best film composition, Best director and Best producer categories.

In the documentary category, Women of Steel, directed by Nashon Owano (Senior, Journalism Major) emerged top in the Best director category. It was 1^st runners up for Best cinematography, 2^nd runners up for Best producer, Best documentary, Best presentation (of which USIU-Africa is a defending champion) and Best production design categories. Women of Steel exposes the hardships women go through in the slums to put food on the table for their families.

Andrew Ogonji’s (Freshman, Film Production) Phonie, garnered two awards as 2^nd runners up for Best film composition and 2^nd runners up for Best presentation categories in the advertisement category, Phonie advertises a futuristic phone App that enables the user to perform magic, literally.