El Regala De La Pachamama/Pachamama by Toshifumi Matsushita of the USA has been declared the Best Children’s Rights Film at the just concluded 4th Lola Kenya screen audiovisual media platform for children and youth in eastern Africa (August 10-15, 2009).

While Poland’s Z³amana pieczêæ/The Broken Seal by Pawe³ Czarzasty has won both the Best Animation and Best TV Series awards, Canada’s Delroy Kincaid by Powys Dewhurst has taken the Best Experimental Film prize.

The Best Student Film prize went to Elephants by Sally Pearce of the UK as USA’s How Do You Score?, off the YOUNG LOVE documentary compilation by Azariah Simon, Indigo Sanders, Austin Harris, April Monetbon, Douglas Moffat Jr, and Everett Anderson, took off with the Best Film by Youth award.
 
Over the past four years, these special prizes have been presented by the ArtMatters.Info Critics Guild/Mentorship Programme with the support from ComMattersKenya. However starting from the 2010 festival (August 9-14, 2010), an academy—the Lola Kenya Screen Academy—will take over this arduous but important task.

While the jury comprising only children and youth—6-15-years—judges and awards the Lola Kenya Screen Golden Mboni Award for the best children’s film and the Lola Kenya Screen 14-Plus Award for the best youth film, the festival-goers give the Audience’s Choice Award.

The Creativity Award for the best project at the Lola Kenya Screen Film Production Workshops is usually given by the film workshop facilitators and mentors in conjunction with the festival directorate.
 
The full list of the Lola Kenya Screen 2009 Awards is as follows:

·         The 4th Lola Kenya Screen Golden Mboni Award for the best children’s film: IO PARLO (I’ll Tell on You!) by Marco Gianfreda, Italy

·         The 4th Lola Kenya Screen Silver Mboni for the second best children’s film:  THE HAPPY DUCKLING by Gili Dolev of Scotland/Israel

·         The 4th Lola Kenya Screen Bronze Mboni for the third best children’s film: PAMELA by James Kanja, Kenya

·         The Lola Screen 14-Plus Award for the best youth film: UGUGU NO ANDILE (Gugu and Andile) by Minky Schlesinger, South Africa

·         The Lola Kenya Screen 14-Plus Award for the second best youth film: A BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDY by David Kinsella, Norway/UK

·         The Lola Kenya Screen 14-Plus Award for the third best youth film: FROM A WHISPER by Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya

·         The Lola Kenya Screen 2009 Audience’s Choice Award: Kirikou et la Sorciére (Kiswahili version) by Michel Ocelot, France

Special Awards   

·         Best Animation: Z³amana pieczêæ /The Broken Seal by Pawe³ Czarzasty, Poland

·         Best TV Series: Z³amana pieczêæ/The Broken Seal by Pawe³ Czarzasty, Poland

·         Best Children’s Rights Film: El Regala De La Pachamama/Pachamama by Toshifumi Matsushita, USA

·         Best Experimental Film: Delroy Kincaid by Powys Dewhurst, Canada

·         Best Documentary: A Beautiful Tragedy by David Kinsella

·         Best Student Film: Elephants by Sally Pearce, UK

·         Best Film by Youth: How Do You Score?, off the YOUNG LOVE documentary compilation, by Azariah Simon, Indigo Sanders, Austin Harris, April Monetbon, Douglas Moffat Jr, Everett Anderson, USA

Special Mention

The following films—mainly from the Industrialised North—exhibited great promise in terms of artistry and the ability of grappling with international themes of universal appeal using children aged 5-17 years. These children step in when authority figures like parents, teachers and the police display inaction or unwillingness in solving problems affecting society. This presentation of children as empowered humans with the ability to deal with issues affecting them is quite refreshing, stimulating and worth of mention:

·         Kur Paludis Elvis by Una Celma, Latvia

·         Cuento De La C by Carlos Navarro, Spain

·         Soto Il Mio Giardino by Andrea Lodovichetti, Italy

·         Babalwa’s Story by Charlene Houston, South Africa

·         Una Vida Mejor by Luis Fernandez Reneo, Spain

 
The 2009 Jury

The jury of Lola Kenya Screen 2009 consisted of the following children aged between 7 and 15 years:

·         Wangari Mumbi Kiarie, president

·         Gertrude Awino

·         Vanessa Wanjiku

·         Samantha Wangui

·         Noella Akinyi

·         Danson Mureithi

·         Phoebe Wanjiru

Presented by ComMattersKenya in collaboration with Goethe-Institut, the partners of Lola Kenya Screen 2009 were UNESCO, Africalia, Jan Vrijman Fund/IDFA, ArtMatters.Info, and Cinematic Solutions.