The hunter who wanders through these lands sees sights which ever afterward remain fixed in his mind....Apart from this, yet mingled with it, is the strong attraction of the silent places, of the large tropic moons, and the splendor of the new stars; where the wanderer sees the awful glory of sunrise and sunset in the wide waste spaces of the earth, unworn of man, and changed only by the slow change of the ages through time everlasting.

 Col. Theodore Roosevelt

in Khartoum, March 15, 1910.

 Kenya is a beautiful country with wild nature and indigenous culture. It is world known for its numerous volcanic lakes, national parks, snow-white beaches and Safari. Its unique beauty has become the major factor that determines the development of the national cinema industry.The first reference to film making in Kenya dates back to 1910, when American photograph Cherry Keaton filmed the wildlife Safari of Theodore Roosevelt. Since that time Kenya has been the field of action for foreign film makers. The first movies shot in Kenya were Trader Horn (1931), Stanley and Livingstone (1939), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), King Solomon’s Mines (1950), Mogambo (1953), Man Against the Sun (1952) etc.

In 1985, Out of Africa, drama by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford won the Best Picture at the Academy Rewards. Further achievements of the industry were Nowhere in Africa (2001), a German drama based on the autobiographical novel by Stephanie Zweig. The movie became the German Film Awards winner for the Best Film in 2002 and the Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.

The year of 2005 was the year of The Constant Gardener by Fernando Meirelles. The film is based on the real-life case which had place in Kano, Nigeria. The small town of Loiyangalani and slums of Kibera, Nairobi were used as a filming location. The living conditions of indigenous people rocked the cast and the crew so much that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education in the region.

Another film worth to be mentioned is The Soul Boy (2010) by Hawa Essuman. The film received 5 nominations at the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards.Movies listed above are foreign using Kenya as a landscape for their stories. As far as Kenyan cinema made by Kenyans is concerned rather few productions can be mentioned.

Modern Kenyan cinematograph is oriented mainly on documentaries rather than on feature films. The wildlife documentaries for National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel have won international fame. With the development of DV technology the number of Kenyan films has increased. Among them Dangerous Affair by Njeri Karago, Babu’s babies by Christine Bala, The Green Card by Brutus Sirucha, Malooned by Bob Nyanja, All Girls Together by Cajetan Boy etc.

One of the most spectacular events in the Kenyan film industry has become Kibera Kid, a short film about Kibera slums in Nairobi filmed by Natan Collett. In 2006-2007 the twelve minute film won The Best Film at the Hamptons Film Festival, The Best Short Film at the Kenya International Film Festival,  The Director’s Choice  at the Angelus Film Festival and The Best Children’s Program at the Student Emmys. The success of Kibera Kid led to the Togetherness Supreme, full length film shot in 2010.

Today Kenyan film makers work towards promoting their productions beyond national borders. But their success is restricted by many factors such as lack of education, scanty financial support, political instability and difficult social- economic situation in the region.