14 July 2007 - PANA. Ten Kenyan makers will undergo training at Nollywood in Nigeria, at the start of a cultural exchange in African film industry designed to bring the under-developed sector at par with the rest of the world, officials here said Friday. Kenya Film Corporation public relations officer, Patricia Mbatia presented the ten scholarships to local producers, and paid glowing tribute to the Nigerian film industry as being comparatively vibrant and competitive.

She said the Nigerian film industry has expanded rapidly in the past decade to rival Hollywood in the US and Bollywood of India. Mbatia said, "We would like to make use of this opportunity to try and improve the film industry (in Kenya) as a commercial venture."
Speaking at a press conference attended by officials of co-sponsors of the training programme, Multichoice of South Africa, Mbatia said African cultural values would be at the core of the film industry in spite of Western influence on local tastes.

Kenya's film industry is heavily dependent on Western production, with less than five percent accounting for what is shown on the local television stations. Mbatia said the exchange programme would equip Kenyan filmmakers with modern techniques to enable them to raise the quality of local productions.

She said Kenyan film industry lagged behind and there was need for local producers to familiarise themselves with modern trends in the industry.
Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African films are currently involved in a vicious battle for the Kenyan market that is starved of high quality productions with a genuinely African touch.