CINEMADAMARE AFRICA IN MOMBASA COUNTY
DATES 8TH – 15TH DEC 2019
The trip to Mombasa County was widely anticipated by participants.This is because of the fact that this is the only county in the program that has coastal beaches on the Indian Ocean .They already knew that soon they will have fun filming at the beach and swimming as they enjoy the breeze that the ocean had to offer.
What was not so clear to most of them though is that the weather tha awaits them will totally be different from all the 4 counties they had visited earlier say for those who had been to Mombasa before.
However the expectation of getting close to the end of the program was embraced with different feelings among the participants.Some were feeling homesick while others were had established acquintances and would want to stay in the program more.
The long journey commenced at around 8.45 am after everyone boarded the 2 school buses that the county government of Makueni provided .
As a gesture typical of African culture of escorting your buest when its time to leave,the officials of the county offered to escort the team to Mombasa and hand over to the county officials of Mombasa just like the Nyandarua county team did.
The trip cut across a number of counties among them Makueni County,Tana River county and Taita Taveta county .
After 8 hours of travel, the team finally arrived at the coastal city of Mombasa.The venue of accommodation was at Mombasa Secondary School for the Physically Handicapped in Bamburi.The weather here was too hot,something which quickly prompted the team to switch to their summer wears.
Everyone settled on their various designated rooms.As usual Men had their separate place from ladies.
The following day was a date with the county for an official launch at the Swahili Pot hum next to the historic Fort Jesus . The county organized tour buses that came to pick up the participants
Participants were treated to the coastal dishes during the launch with music typical of the coastal people (Taarab).The spectacular Fort Jesus was just adjacent to the venue Swahili Pot and overlooking the Indian Ocean from the front
Speeches after speeches were made.The main speech came from the Minister of Culture for Mombasa county Mr. Abdul Wahab who passed welcome message from the governor H.E Hon. Ali Hassan Joho who was away on an official duty.
Participants were take through the various sceneries that would interest them to visit and make films.
The event came to a close at arount 1.30 pm and everyone took a lunch break till 2.30pm when they were expected back for a master class on acting for film.This informative session was facilitated by Mr. Oliver Litondo- award winning Hollywood actor and the President for Lakewood Films Inc. as well as the goodwill ambassador for Cinemadamare Africa Chapter 2019. He was co facilitated by Madam Bella Auma,CEO Lakewood Films Inc. and producer for the film Ndovu –the ivory syndicate.
Participants as well as local film enthusiasts attended the workshop that lasted 3 hours.


After the workshop everyone was free to explore the city and look for inspirations for their films for this county that was to be submitted to the last weekly competition.