GRANTS
DEENTAL GRANT 2022
2021 Docubox Grants
It’s finally here, the highly anticipated announcement of our 2021 film grant recipients! For the first time, we put out a call to filmmakers with long-form and short-form documentary film projects, and also to filmmakers in the short fiction and experimental film genres.
We were blown away by the sheer number of applicants, and continue to be encouraged and challenged by all the film talent we encountered.
The prevalence of short documentary films is in many ways a product of our time with the internet providing a ready and eager avenue for the consumption of this genre. There are some hurdles that come with compressing a factual narrative into a few minutes but this distillation can spark creative genius.
Our 2021 short documentary film grantees presented thoughtful and compelling film projects that we would be honoured to support as they tell their stories. Elizabeth Njuguna and Serah Kimundu with their film, “Scaling Heights”, Ochieng Oneko and Sella Oneko with their film, “I AM RAMOGI”, Matt Bish with his film “Punishment Island” and Eric Sirama and Teddy Ochieng with their film, “OKONGO” are our 2021 short documentary film grantees.
The Race
Director: Maia Lekow, Chistopher King
Producers: Maia Lekow, Chistopher King
Lamu is known for its exquisite Swahili architecture, 14th Century old town (heritage-listed by UNESCO) & pristine tropical beaches. But change is imminent with a US$25 Billion infrastructure project featuring a China-funded mega-port, coal power plant, oil pipeline and an entirely new metropolis.
What's Eating My Mind
Director: Noella Luka
Producers: Sam Soko
While studying filmmaking in the US, Noella wakes up in a psychiatric hospital. Confused and diagnosed with unspecified bipolar, she returns home to Kenya. While grappling with her new reality, entangled in family, religion, and African tradition, she turns the camera on herself.
The Woman Who Poked The Leopard
Director: Patience Nitumwesiaga
Producers: Rose Motene
Stella Nyanzi is a one woman army against Uganda’s four-decade-long ruler, Yoweri Museveni. It is also a story of Stella as a private woman, a gentle mother who stays up at night plaiting her children’s hair.
SCALING HEIGHTS
Director: Elizabeth Njuguna
Producers: Wanjiru Kimundu
Mount Kenya, Kenya’s highest mountain, the world’s highest Via Ferrata, and Africa’s second highest mountain, has been a great source of adventure and discovery ever since Dr. Ludwig Krapf reported spotting it in the late 1800s. The film story of the real stars of the mountains: through several characters, all guides.
I AM RAMOGI
Director: Ochieng Oneko
Producers: Sellah Oneko
The life of Achieng Oneko, politician and freedom fighter, through interviews, archive footage, re-enactments, illustrations, and narrations of passages taken from Achieng Oneko's writing.
"I am Ramogi" tells the story of Ramogi Achieng Oneko – politician, freedom fighter.
The filmmakers are also his grandchildren and therefore have unique access to the story.
PUNISHMENT ISLAND
Director: Matt Bish
Producers: Catherine Bish
106 year old Mauda Kyitaragabirwe was the last girl to be sent to the punishment island to die after her family had discovered that she was pregnant at just age twelve.
It is believed that the people from the village of Kashungyera in Kabale, a district that borders Uganda and Rwanda thought it fit to put young girls who got pregnant before they got married to death because it was perceived as bringing shame to their families.
OKONGO
Director: Eric Sirama
Producers: Teddy “Priest” Ochieng
Brian Bwire is one of many players from Makongeni , a neigbourhood well known for producing shot stoppers for the Football National Team (Harambee Stars) and Premier league. Keepers such as Peter Odhiambo, Brian Bwire and even Boniface Oluoch who has also captained Harambee Stars come from there.
How does “Okongo” keep producing world class keepers?
THE RISING SON
Director: Kelvin Osoo
The Rising Son is a beautiful coming-of-age story about Loki, a young boy who has just gone through initiation to manhood. Loki comes from a destitute family, with this father barely able to pay school fees for both him and Akone, his sister. When Loki’s father abandons the family, heavy responsibility weighs on Loki’s shoulders.
ROUTINE
Director: Mugambi Nthiga
Producers: Wambui Gathee
A young man enjoys his time at a party, but when he is involved in a mid-revelry mishap, he finds himself in a time loop that he can't break free from.
BAHARI
Director: Samuel Tebandeke
Producers: Juliana Kabua and Esteri Tebandeke
A former nurse travels from Nairobi to her terminally ill lover's coastal home convinced she can save him and arrives to find his estranged wife is back in his life.
BABA
Director: Mbithi Masya
Producers: Wafa Tajdin and Bramwel Iro
It’s the day after Christmas and Baba, a child with the ability to teleport, uses his powers to carry out his chores, go on adventures, and cope with friends and relatives, all while fighting to protect his childhood.
TRANSACTION
Director: Wanjeri Gakuru
Producers: Soledad Santelices / Matteo Pecorara
Waks is fat, beautiful and has just turned 19. To celebrate, she books a motel room, hires a male prostitute and fiercely vows that the things that get trapped between her teeth and her thighs will be nobody else’s business but her own.
short films competition
For those of you with short films in the pipeline, help is on the way! Every few months, we hold short film pitches and put production money on the table to make sure that all those scripts move from the page to the screen!
Shortlisted scripts that make it to the top will be invited to an intense day- long shorts workshop with mentors. The day will end with a pitch – and the winning film team will walk away with up to Ksh 250,000 to produce their short film. In addition, budding filmmakers in need of some help will receive some mentoring and production support from us too. And, of course, we will screen the film at “Shorts, Shorts, Shots” night once it is completed.
We have supported a total of 10 filmmakers, each with a grant of Ksh 250,000 as of March 2020. Stay up to date with our social media pages to hear about our next call for scripts.
