A brief history of cinema in Kenya
The first film I watched in a cinema was Space Jam, the 1996 sports comedy film featuring superstar athlete Michael Jordan. There I was a wide-eyed, fidgety, little girl, seated at Kenya cinema in Nairobi, my legs helplessly dangling from the chair. Of course, my childhood memories are insignificant within the wider context of this piece but like many who graced the halls of cinemas across the country before and after me, the history and politics of these spaces was something we couldn’t run away from, no matter how unaware we were. My journey to understand the history of cinema in Kenya begins first with this innocuous memory and then with a reflection on the country’s past…
The earliest film shot in Kenya was “Roosevelt in Africa”, a documentary account of US President Teddy Roosevelt’s visit to Kenya, in 1909. Recorded by Cherry Keaton, the film documents Rooselvelt’s trip across what is today Kenya and some parts of Uganda. In essence, Roosevelt in Africa was the ultimate colonial fantasy, a valiant account of white men conquering the dangerous African jungle, hunting down wild animals and saving the natives from their ignorance along the way.
Roosevelt’s expedition to Africa saw him travel from present day Kenya, to Congo before following the Nile into present day Sudan. By the end of the year-long expedition an estimated 11,000 animals had been killed or trapped. Of the animals killed during the exercise were 17 lions, 11 elephants, 11 black rhinos (now extinct) and 9 white rhinos (now critically endangered). In the film, all Africans are Zulus. The Kikuyu women and warriors featured in some of the scenes are Zulu. So are the Maasai morans whose homes are called “kraals,” and not “manyattas” which is in fact the name for a maasai home.
By 1910, the film had made its way to screens in London and Washington, thus setting the stage for many more travelogues and safari themed productions that would be filmed in Kenya — the land of exotic peoples and animals. Films such as The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Trader Horn and others in the 1930 and 1940s, followed in the direction of Roosevelt in Africa, depicting a world where African people (if at all they appeared) were mainly cast as extras, porters or ‘primitive’ tribesmen who were viewed in the same lens as fauna and flora.
The history of cinema in Africa is one that is inextricably linked to colonialism and the pursuit of colonial agendas. 10 years after the 1884 Berlin conference where European powers divided Africa amongst themselves, the Lumiere brothers used a device of their own making, the Cinématographe to broadcast moving pictures to a paying audience for the first time in history. Ngugi wa Thiong’o in his reflections on empire observed that “the development of cinema in Africa was shaped or misshaped by the historical moment in which the art was born…Cinema came to Africa under colonial conditions and the necessary technology, finance, the distribution machinery remained with the racial descendants of the ‘Lumieres’, the ‘Melieres’ and the ‘Edisons”. Thus effectively making Africa a consumer of images of itself.
The use of film as a tool of subjugation and misinformation went well beyond images of safaris and exhilarating hunts in the African wild. Since the beginning of cinema coincided with the height of European imperialism, it is not surprising that European cinema portrayed colonization in a flattering light, an adventure, a civilization mission, a gift to savages. Cinema served as one of the most effective tools of domination, oppression and indoctrination and in the post-colonial era, most of the African nations have not been able to adopt it as a tool to reverse the damage inflicted on African identity, history and cultural understanding.
In the early days of its existence, British cinema had been a significant channel of propaganda for the empire. Many of the earliest empire films were ‘simplistic adventure stories reflecting heroic moments in the empire story’. — Michael Paris
During the second world war, the colonial government in Kenya introduced mobile cinemas as an experiment in educating native populations. As cinema was a novelty to many local communities, the colonial government was quick to realize the effectiveness of using it to boost the morale of the people. The first mobile cinema shows in Kenya during the 1940s were mainly concerned with war propaganda and pacifying local communities. Later, the mobile cinema shows were increasingly used for general mobilization and education of the people; thus films on better farming methods, hygiene and civic affairs were common.
When the Mau Mau uprising broke out in the 1950’s the mobile cinemas were effectively turned into propaganda tools. Realizing that the Mau Mau movement had the potential to spread beyond central Kenya and into other parts of the country, the colonial government was determined to quash the rebellion as fast and effectively as possible. The decision to alienate the Kikuyu from other tribes who were seen as having no opposition to colonial rule was made and mobile cinema vans circulated through the country displaying anti Mau Mau propaganda.
The declaration of the State of Emergency in 1952, gave the colonial government an excuse to ban indigenous publications, radio transmission was tightly controlled and censored, as propaganda against the Mau Mau heavily intensified. Research on this period reveals that the British colonial government’s use of propaganda played a key role in the suppression of the Mau Mau rebellion. The government used propaganda to justify the repression, torture and tactics that were being used against the Mau Mau and turn attention away from the atrocities they were committing.
An even lesser known fact is that freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi was shot and arrested the morning after he attended a mobile cinema screening in which the Mau Mau were depicted as evil, treacherous, blood thirsty hooligans. Films such as these broadcast mostly in central Kenya were intended to play on the audience’s psychology by getting the public to support government efforts and turn against the Mau Mau.
“ Although this was meant to tarnish the image of the freedom fighters and put a wedge between them and the villagers…the films always had a boomerang effect and made the people deride the colonial government even more and add to the admiration of the freedom fighters. ..Kimathi used to make his way to the villages at night to watch the movies and make his way into the Aberdares forest before the morning light” — Karimi J.
Before mobile cinemas there were no theaters for Africans, this meant that films could not be seen by locals because the mobile cinema vans which were the only option, were exhibiting propaganda and cinema only created for that purpose to captivate native viewers.In 1959/1960 when the state of emergency was ended, the mobile cinema unit was disbanded and officials who had been deployed to work with the mobile units, moved to other departments within the Ministry of information.
After independence, the independent Kenyan government did not see the need to reverse the unfortunate nature of film being used as an information propaganda tool of the state. Mandates on filming and policy making on film matters remained under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rather than at the Ministry of culture where they belonged.
In 1966, three years after independence the government reintroduced mobile cinemas. By 1980, the ministry had fifteen mobile cinema vans. According to a study carried out in 1980, after radio, the mobile cinemas in Kenya in the 1980s had the highest audience numbers in the country which included the semi-urban and rural population who comprised the backbone of the country’s economy.
Prior to independence, existing movie theaters in major towns across the country were only available to White and Asian patrons. After independence many places were desegregated and opened to all races. These spaces include Odeon Cinema, Globe Cinema, Shan Cinema, Embassy, Cameo Cinema, ABC, Fox Drive-In, Bellevue, and 20th Century.
Fast forward to 2018, Kenyan historian and journalist John Kamau described Nairobi as a cemetery of cinema halls. What happened he asked? Is it the counterfeit films which flooded the country? Is it the DVD/VCD players from China that could be found in many homes playing 20 in 1 CDs? CDs that you could casually by at the market for 50 ksh or less ? Is it the lack of government support for creative arts and heritage? Perhaps it is one and all of these things. After their decline many cinemas were repurposed — Shan Cinema, once a bastion of Indian movies, is today known as the Dome and is home to Sarakasi Trust, an arts and culture enterprise. Odeon Cinema has been transformed into an education hub with the Kenya Aviation College opening its Nairobi campus there.
In the reminiscing of simpler times John Kamau wrote
“Those who walked this city from the ’60s to ’90s have nostalgic memories of Odeon Cinema, Globe Cinema, Shan Cinema, Embassy, Cameo Cinema, ABC, Kenya Cinema, Fox Drive-In, Bellevue, and 20th Century. Apart from the 20th Century which still has some presence in Nairobi, the rest are dead business — and all we have about them are memories.”
This article is part of the No Direct Flight (NDF > NBO) an online series exploring the journey of films made by Africans on the continent and African Diaspora. #ImagineRadically #ComePlay #ImmersiveJuaKali #TheNairobiTouchdown #EastAfricaArts #NDFNBO #ArtistCrushWednesday
For more content on Archives, Aesthetics and Access to African films check out Choma Picha
Research Sources
Evaluation Of Kenyan Film Industry: Historical Perspective — Edwing Ngure Nytuho
Why Nairobi is a cemetery of cinema halls — John Kamau
The story behind the fox drive in theater — Standard media
