Kenya has submitted its first ever Military film to compete at the Oscars. The Kenya Film Classification Board submitted a military action movie ‘Mission to Rescue’ for a chance to bag the Best International Feature Film award at the 94th Academy Awards.
The Kenyan film was directed and produced by Gilert Lukalia and Carna Wambui. The Oscars Selection Committee Kenya (OSCK) chose ‘Mission to Rescue’ ahead of three other films: Bangarang, Kiapo and Makumi. The selection team said that after evaluation, the film met most of the requirements of the academy.
“It was a close score for all the four films in regards to the Academy’s guidelines. This year’s entries were more competitive than what we have witnessed in the previous submissions. For instance, all the four films scored over 90 per cent in terms of location and set design. However, in general, Mission to Rescue scored slightly higher than the rest,” explained Alamin Virani, the selection committee secretary.
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Mission to Rescue is a one hour forty minute- long movie set along Kenya’s- Somali border. It revolves around Kenya’s Special Operations Forces who are training for their next mission when they receive word that Al-Shabaab fighers have abducted local officials.
The storyline is based on a true story that happened in 2011 when an elderly French woman living in Manda Island was kidnapped by the terrorist group.
The film’s director was excited at the choice, and expressed hope that it would advance past the preliminary stages of the prestigious awards.
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“Getting to the Oscars is a dream for any filmmaker. A nomination or a consideration is good enough when you take into account the standards that the Academy has,” he told Nation Africa.
“Every small step such as this is a huge achievement. It feels good.”
Kenya has so far submitted a total of seven films for the award in the category formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film Category with no success.
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