A short film following Felix Nyabuti through Kibera is circulating on YouTube as part of the Capture the Good challenge.
One of the most filmed neighbourhoods in Africa
Kibera is photographed and filmed constantly, by visiting crews, charity campaigns, film students and now by creators chasing platform challenges. The objection you hear in the ward is rarely to the camera itself. It is that the story is told about residents rather than with them, and that the fee, the credit and the copyright leave with whoever was holding the camera.
Films made by people who live here, or made with them, tend to look different. The work, the trading and the humour that fill an ordinary day appear, and the poverty shot stops being the whole frame.
The questions we ask about guest films
Was the subject paid or credited. Do the people on screen know where the footage will be used and for how long. Does the film show enterprise and work rather than only need. And is there anything that comes back to the community once the views arrive.
Those are not hostile questions. Plenty of visiting film makers answer them well, and their work has opened doors for people in Kibra.
What we are watching
Whether anything concrete follows for Nyabuti and the others who appear in the film, and whether local videographers and photographers in the ward get commissioned for this kind of work rather than being hired as fixers for it.
KNN keeps a list of photographers and film makers based in Kibra. If you work here, send us your reel.
Read the full report at YouTube
Source: YouTube
