Togetherness Supreme

Images

Website

http://www.hotsunfilms.com

Topics

Human Development: Children, Poverty, Shelter & Housing, Social Exclusion, Urban, Volunteering, Water/Sanitation, Youth
Human Rights: Social Exclusion
Information & Media: Culture, Media
Peace and Conflict: Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Peace
Politics: Activism

Project Geography

International: Africa

Identity Niches

African, Children, Youth/Teen

Budget

Raised to date: $236,400.00
Estimate to complete: $165,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $401,400.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 06/01/2009

Status

Post Production

Media Type

Video

Project End Use

Theatrical

Key Personnel

NATHAN COLLETT
Director, Co-writer, Co-producer
Nathan Collett was born in San Francisco, USA, grew up around the world in Venezuela, Australia, United States, Pakistan and Kenya. Nathan makes his home in Nairobi, Kenya and has been filmmaking in East Africa since 1997. Nathan has made several award winning short fictional films. KIBERA KID won seven international awards, including Hollywood student EMMY 2007 for best Children’s Film. Nathan has a B.A. in African Studies, Stanford University, California, USA and an MFA in Film from the University of Southern California, USA. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Nairobi in 2006-2007 and received the New Leaders Group award in 2008 for his work promoting international understanding through youth video exchange. He is the founder of Hot Sun Films and its non-profit arm, Hot Sun Foundation.

MERCY MURUGI
Line Producer
Born in Nairobi, Kenya,  Mercy grew
up all over the country, never settling in one town for more than two years. She worked in one of Kenya’s leading TV stations, then moved to Ginger Ink Films, a leading production service company in East Africa and became Production Manager / Line Producer. Mercy has worked with National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and BBC. She is training Kibera youth how to make films while carrying out her work as Line Producer.

ANDREW NJENGA MUNGAI
Director of Photography
Andrew (Dru) grew up in Kibera, a shantytown in Nairobi, Kenya, where he attended Olympic Primary School. Dru has an Advanced Diploma in Broadcast Television Production from the Mohamed Amin Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya and many years of experience as a cameraperson/editor working for local and international organizations including Reuters, ABC News and Al Jazeera English.  He has been director of photography for commercial projects as well as the Kenyan feature film, The Unforgotten.

Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)

TOGETHERNESS SUPREME Distribution Plan
1. World premiere in Kibera will be a unique outdoor global event that will capture the imagination of the people living in Kibera and of the local and international media. The premiere will generate widespread word of mouth interest through the participation of people in Kibera and the documentation of the process of making the film. We anticipate the attendance of over 15,000 residents of Kibera at the world's first premiere of a feature film in the largest slum in Africa. We have had a series of very successful outdoor screenings of our short films throughout Kibera with over 5,000 people in attendance.

2. Video halls throughout Kibera and other slums in Nairobi and East Africa.
There are no cinemas in Kibera and very little electricity. Most people do not have TVs. There is, however, a large network of video halls throughout Kibera, and in most slums in East Africa. People line up to watch films for a minimum fee in the small video halls, which have TVs and DVD players, powered by generators.

The video halls usually screen violent B-action movies. We have piloted using the video halls network to show the short film KIBERA KID. A massive amount of people came. The response was overwhelming with thousands of people in attendance. We had to schedule extra showings to try to meet the demand. The response will be even greater for the feature film TOGETHERNESS SUPREME. We will reach people who have never had an opportunity to see a quality film about their own lives.

3. Global Network of Friends of Hot Sun Films/Foundation
From the time of the international success of our short film KIBERA KID, we have attracted the interest of a broad public throughout the world who have bought our DVDs on line, shown them in their schools, community organizations and religious groups and have even visited us and volunteered at our Kibera office in Nairobi, Kenya. We are organizing a global network of supporters who will arrange film showings in their schools, universities, communities, religious groups and independent cinema halls to show TOGETHERNESS SUPREME.

4. Theatrical Distribution in Africa
With the growth of Nu-Metro and Silverbird distribution companies and a chain of quality cinemas in East Africa, South Africa, Nigeria and other countries, there is now a much greater opportunity to reach audiences on the continent. South Africa has recently announced the development of a chain of digital cinemas making distributiion easier and less expensive. In addition to Hollywood fare, Nu-Metro has been involved in distributing several African films throughout the continent including 'Malooned' from Kenya and 'Amazing Grace' from Nigeria. Nu-Metro not only distributes and screens films but also produces and sells original DVD and VCD versions of films on the continent. We have met with them and they are looking for films like TOGETHERNESS SUPREME to sell and distribute through their cinemas and retail outlets on the continent.

5. Film Festivals
We will enter the TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film in local, regional, and international film festivals throughout the world. We will enter the market section of the festivals to find sales agents for theatrical release.

6. Cultural and Community Centers
We will make arrangements with cultural and community centers in Nairobi and throughout Kenya, including FilmAid who works in refugee camps in Kenya, to show TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film. We will cooperate with NGOs, civic associations, and religious groups to encourage the distribution of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film to groups who might otherwise not have access to quality films.

7. International Educational Market
We receive ongoing requests for the short film KIBERA KID to be used in educational settings, including high schools and universities. We have set up a separate website to offer the KIBERA KID short film DVD with a discussion kit for educators, community and religious groups. We will contact educators, community and religious groups in the USA, Canada and Europe regarding distribution of the TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film and will prepare an educational kit.

8. Worldwide Theatrical Release
Because of the quality and unique nature of the feature film TOGETHERNESS SUPREME and the story of its making, we anticipate interest in theatrical release. We will contact sales agents through film festivals and film markets.

9. Television
We anticipate considerable interest in television rights for the TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film in Kenya, Africa, Europe, Canada and the USA. MNET, an African-wide cable company, purchased the rights of the KIBERA KID short film and is interested in the TOGETHERNESS SUPREME feature film.

10. Distribution in Latin America: Amazonia and AFRICALA will be through our Venezuelan co-producer and will involve Amazonia Films. TOGETHERNESS SUPREME will be featured prominently in the AFRICALA, Africa for Latin American Film Festival, which is an annual event in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

Funders

Location