Nakuru on Saturday proved that the cosmopolitan county has got talent as for the first time a local Christian movie was launched at a ceremony attended by Governor Kinuthia Mbugua among other guests.
The Winning Losers movie is a story of a young man, a staunch Christian, who struggles with a love of a worldly girl.
His pursuit for the love of this girl sets him on a course that wins more souls including that of his dream girl.
The production, acted by 50 youth from Nakuru County, was made possible through collaboration between St Paul’s University-Nakuru and the Great Rift Valley Hearts Production (GRVHP) after an MoU earlier this year to promote film production in the county.
The university is providing equipment while GRVHP , the technical expertise in production of film and acting.
This is said to be just the beginning as more movies are on the way and these parties together with the county government of Nakuru have urged companies in Nakuru and well-wishers to support this undertaking in order to boost talent among the locals.
Morris Juma, the founder of GRVHP who was the assistant director in this production said; "A time has come to tell the Kenyan story through our own experiences and point of view and I have no doubt that in spite of people doubting us that we have no stories to tell, we have much more to tell as a people. Movies have been made about Nelson Mandela, we are yet to make and tell a story about Jomo Kenyatta."
He added that it pains him that the story of Westgate terror attack was written and told in South Africa, through the eyes of a third party.
"This must stop. We must tell our own stories. We should be able to tell the triumphs of our solders in Somalia" said an emotional Juma.
On his part, Governor Mbugua commended the partnership between St. Paul’s University and Great Rift Valley Hearts Production, noting that it truly captures the vision of the county governmentthat of bringing various stakeholders together and harnessing forces in support of homegrown talent for youth empowerment.
He promised the county government of Nakuru's support towards this initiative, saying the market for production in Kenya is huge as the nation is the fourth largest market of Nollywood (Nigerian) movies.
"As a people inescapably tied with the sole objective of improving each other, we have to innovate ways of our county tapping into this mega potential. A time has come for us to promote production for our own films so that we can enjoy a share of this cake," said Mbugua.
He commended the national government’s plan for offering incentives to this industry, urging the MCAs and Executive at the county level to come together and forge a way of supporting local production at the county level through policy formulation and implementation.