The Ghetto Film Club
One day I was listlessly following my fabulous Italian roommate through a Nairobi slum and I found myself inside of a red metal shipping container sitting on a couch and looking at Patrick. He was talking about his Ghetto Film Club. Turns out the shipping container is actually a radio station called Koch FM, a recording studio, a newspaper headquarters and a film studio.
Since 2006 the GFC made 7 movies about life in the Nairobi slums for $0. Local young people starred and learned to operate equipment borrowed from media professionals. The club meets once a month or so to screen their movies on a sheet strung up in a dusty schoolyard or other ad hoc venues.
The newspaper covers issues and news in the slum. It comes out once a month and a crew of volunteers write and edit it. Ditto the radio station, which you can hardly hear through scratchy airwaves but broadcasts round table discussions and other talk about life in Korogocho.
ABOUT THE ARTICLE: “Good” magazine will run my GFC profile in the August issue.