In the rapid growing creative landscape, the film industry faces a number of challenges and opportunities, to help understand and create possible solutions to this, the county government of Mombasa and the French embassy in conjunction with other stake holders in the creative industry had a dialogue at the alliance Francie with the main motive to closely look at the key issues affecting this dynamic sector. Restructuring the creative industry being the key issue at hand, having the film and series production process to undergo a transformation, emphasizing a more systematic work flow to enhance efficiency and quality production of the artistic work, the availability of opportunities in the industry heavily depends on production activities. There is need to diversify and invest in core production industries to boost content and facilitate product exploration.
The other issue being challenges in distribution of the content, with limited distribution network and content distributors hinders the reach of films to the masses and targeted audiences, both within the country and across the continent. The government is making initiative to support creative industries through policies, investments in talents and cross-country collaborations, especially with children. Though the country currently lacks institutions offering comprehensive filming education and industry training in the critical issues that needs to be addressed so as to nurture talents.
Another controversial issue is age limitation in funding of the artists, with categorization of youth and art in the same section this limit those above the age of 35 in accessing such funds. This age-based restriction is viewed as a great hurdle to the growth of experienced talents. The society is not left behind in their perception of artists often fall short of recognizing the artists contributions. To help on this the content creators are urged to improve on branding and packaging of their artistic products so as to help change on people’s perception.
