Justin Edwards, Director of WSO, presents a donation to the Kenya Film Commission.
WSO is proud to be a part of the first-ever Kalasha Film & Television Awards, Kenya’s version of the Oscars. The Awards will take place in May of 2009. Our donation will go towards making the event night happen, as well as sponsor individual awards going to future filmmakers of Kenya.
WSO Proposal to Daystar University
WSO has had a busy February, with a lot of work cut out for us this season!
We are currently hard at work in preparing course descriptions for Daystar University’s pending 4-year degree program in Film Production. Please feel free to peruse the proposal we prepared for them with the PDF link above.
We are also ironing out the details for our first production workshops, which will take place in Nairobi in April. We are partnering with Hot Sun Foundation to provide these workshops to new filmmakers from Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum.
Lastly, the first-ever Kenya Film & Television Awards are at the end of March, and we are in discussions with the Kenya Film Commission to play a part. What this entails remains to be seen, but we have offered our services, creative and otherwise, to be a part of this special night.
WSO Mission Statement & Vision
Click the link above to download a PDF of our updated Mission Statement packet (9 pages). It is complete with our vision, methodology, sample curriculum, sample budget, history, and more as of March 1, 2009.
WSO’s Kenya Film Industry Report
Click the link above to download a PDF of our report on the Kenyan film industry. Written in September of 2008, it provides a general overview of the current state of the industry and suggests what steps it might take to further its development.
In short, it all begins with education.
WSO is wrapping up 2008 with the satisfaction of accomplishing our goal for the year.
About a year ago this month, Justin Edwards, WSO’s Founder and Director, began synthesizing ideas for what would eventually become the World Story Organization.
By March of 2008 it became clear that establishing WSO as a non-profit, educational organization was the way to proceed. WSO filed for tax-exempt status in April, with Edwards moving to Kenya in hopes of tapping into the budding film industry in East Africa.
WSO’s goal for the calendar year was to find interested parties in Kenya that would be willing to partner with WSO in bringing film production and storytelling education to prospective students.
We have proudly established contacts within Daystar University, the Kenya Film Commission, and Hot Sun Foundation, with plans for collaboration in the near future. We hope to hold formal screenwriting and production workshops in the spring of 2009.
It is WSO’s hope that these workshops will serve as pilot courses for further implementation of the curriculum we have been developing specifically for Kenyan film students.
To begin the new year, WSO will be meeting with a film professor from the University of Southern California who has been working with the Hot Sun Foundation in Kibera. We hope to discuss curriculum building techniques and the viability of starting a film school in the Kibera slums with the Hot Sun Foundation.
We hope your year wraps up well, and we look forward to continued success in 2009!
