The story behind the story Sema Stori brought to you by Docubox East Africa

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

The Sema Stori (Sheng slang for Stories that Speak) project is brought to you by Docubox East Africa with the support of Comic Relief Collaboration. Drawing fine young filmmakers from the East Africa region working within their local communities, the project seeks to spark conversations around mental health, early childhood development, gender justice, and the right to safe secure shelter and settlement.

Sema Stori is working with skilled and locally rooted filmmakers to share stories about the issues from their own perspective. It focuses on creating documentary shorts which will be made through small awards to talented filmmakers in the East Africa region, and with support to assist film makers in accessing mentoring, tapping into opportunities for their films to be seen, and focusing up front on the social impact they want to create. Docubox based in Nairobi, Kenya leads the project – an African led film fund, run by African filmmakers for African filmmakers.

Judy Kibinge, Oscar Academy nominee, founder of  Docubox and known for producing critically acclaimed films including: ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Dangerous Affair’ and ‘Something Necessary,’ is well aware about the funding challenge among African filmmakers. Judy says, “I was too familiar with how difficult it was for African filmmakers to keep making excellent work without more support – funding, technical input, networks, the list goes on.  We couldn’t have been readier to have a conversation with Comic Relief when we heard about the direction they wanted to take.”

The first film to premiere on Wednesday, August 12^th, 2020 was “It’s Okay Not To Be Okay,” a film by Eugene Muigai. The short documentary film is a personal story following the life of Eugene Muigai, a boy who has struggled with depression. It follows his personal journey from childhood through adulthood, as he struggled with feelings of inferiority, feeling misunderstood, hated, and alone, without a clear purpose to justify existence in this world. Mental health has long been a subject that has drawn stigma and ridicule locally, and that is exactly why Sema Stori chose it as one of the four pillars in the Sema Stori Program.

“I am a creative who is passionate about storytelling, and I enjoy every aspect of it,” Eugene Muigai speaks of his passion for film.

Every Wednesday the project will be rolling out the films on the Sema Stori Facebook page for the public to watch and raise conversations during the week. Later on a panel will be invited the following Wednesday after the documentary premiere for a series of talks and conversations. This will run from August to October. The month of August focuses on mental health.

Creative storytelling is a growing industry in East Africa. Judy Kibinge adds on the Comic Relief website, “We’re so excited and looking forward to supporting the creation of this series of short films – important stories told by local voices. We’ve left it entirely to our filmmakers to let us know what stories they are burning to tell, and Docubox and Comic Relief can’t wait to keep you posted about them all.”

If you’re wondering what impact driven storytelling is all about, Thank You For The Rain is a great example of this

supported by a range of organizations including Docubox. Released in 2017, it follows the story of a Kenyan farmer Kisiilu who started to use his camera to capture the life of: his family, his village and the damages of climate change. During the film we see him transform from a father, to community leader, to an activist on the global stage inspiring climate action.

Sema Stori is unfolding and that story behind the story is what the project hopes will end up being as powerful as the stories themselves!