Riverwood ‘champions’ to be unveiled today at the National Museum

Mshamba actors,Esther Kahuha and Thomas Oyolo pose for a photo after scooping three awards,best TV actor,best lead actor in TV series and best TV series awards during the River wood awards held at Alliance Francaise in Nairobi. PHOTO BY EDWARD KIPLIMO.

The Kenyan film industry continues gaining momentum with the third edition of the Riverwood academy awards going down today. The awards will be at the National Museum, Louis Leakey Auditorium.

They aim to encourage local producers, actors and directors, as well as build a platform where struggling production houses can network and get support for their productions.

Riverwood Academy Awards CEO Simon Mwaura said winners in each category will walk away with an ensemble trophy, a winner’s certificate as well as recommendations to popular production houses.

For actors and actresses, they will be connected to casting agents around the continent.

“We might not provide any monetary rewards, but the winning teams will benefit greatly. Winning production houses will be branded in a campaign that will also see their portfolio showcased on our social network sites and website,” Mr Mwaura said.

He said the awards will connect winners to the market. The categories to be awarded are best feature film, best actor and actress, best director in Television series and features.

“Riverwood productions were disregarded in the past but now we have built a working distribution model. We have a market in local television channels but most importantly, we are also available on pay TV where we attract a large audience in the Kenyan diaspora,” Mwaura added.

The films can also be easily accessed in DVDs and VODs. The Riverwood film industry is worth an estimated Sh100 million. The awards come after the Communications Authority (CA) through an amendment in the Kenya Information and Communications Act, directed that local channels up their local television content by 60 per cent from 40 per cent. The authority’s Director General Francis Wangusi argues that with new TV stations coming on board after the digital migration, the 60 per cent local content transmission is achievable. He says the communications sector should contribute to the country’s growth by increasing local content on their platforms.

One of the productions titled ‘Haiyahaiya’, a comedy series that revolves around societal ills and the pains people go through in rectifying them, has had its crew bag a number of nominations.

Tripple Edge Media Ltd production manager Kimathi Iceberg has been nominated for best director in a TV series for the comedy, while the production gets the best vernacular series nomination.

Actor Sospeter Kiritu has been nominated for the lead actor award in the same series, while actress Charity Wang’ondu has the lead actress nomination for her role in another production titled Gaterina.

Ms Wang’ondu portrays the real life story of a house-girl who struggles to match the lifestyle of a modern lady while masking her lowly existence. Mr Iceberg is the director of the same production. He has also directed other popular shows such as Tabasamu and Jastorina