Kenyan short film titled ‘Shoto’ has been nominated for the prestigious New Filmmakers Award.
The nomination was announced in California’s tinsel town, Hollywood with the Kenyan-made film has been nominated in the category ‘Best New Media’.
The short film ‘Shoto’ was a project by young emerging Kenyan filmmakers who are supported by Stories Found. This is a program by the U.S Embassy in Nairobi whose primary goal is to train young filmmakers and teach them skills in film production. This is usually at no cost. The young filmmakers went through a rigorous 5-day training session led by professional film instructors that included both Kenyans, Evie Maina, and Ishmael Azeli, as well as US-based filmmakers, James Martin, and Bud Simpson.
Taking to Instagram, the young budding filmmaker thanked many for their part in his big achievement. He wrote, “Tonight I want to take this opportunity to first thank God, thank the stories found Team : James Martin, Bud Simpson and Evie Maina in conjunction with the US Embassy Nairobi,not forgetting the AMAZING AMAZING students who took a 3week online course and 1 week Crush Ground/practical course, to make this a success project together with our main cast SHOTO.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ishmael Azeli™️ (@azeli_ishmael) on
The elated filmmaker Ishmael Azeli spoke to The Sauce saying, “The twelve emerging Kenyan filmmakers produced two short documentary films. Both have received international exposure at film festivals across the United States and we’re glad ‘Shoto’, one of the two films, has nabbed a nomination.”
A 14-member jury usually picks the winner. The jury is made up of professionals who work in the Los Angeles and larger Hollywood film industry.
