Wait, is Obama coming to Kenya good news? Anyway, here's some good news for film lovers. The Kenya Film Commission (KFC), today unveiled a newly rebranded Kalasha International Film & TV Festival & Market formerly Kalasha Film & TV Awards.

The Kalasha International is a new initiative from KFC in partnership with the French Embassy in Kenya, whose aim it to position the country as the leading country that stimulates intra-trade & worldwide activities in the film & TV fields in East Africa. The rebranded Kalasha International Film & TV Festival & Market brings under one roof 3 main activities:

• The Kalasha Eastern Africa Film & TV Trade Show – Scheduled for two days, the trade show will showcase East African companies under national pavilions, while the international TV & Film players will attend as participants. The national pavilions will include Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Mauritius and Madagascar.
• The Kalasha International Film Festival – This is scheduled for a week in various venues throughout the countr;: Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nyeri and Malindi. For the first edition, the eligible entries will be from the entire continent. Screenings will be organized in various theaters and venues.
• The Kalasha Film & TV Awards ceremony -The Awards ceremony will close the event. The range of the categories has increased to incorporate two new categories i.e.: East African & Pan-African.

Dedicated to promoting cultures, stories, creativity and skills within the East African region, the festival and market’s duration is for one week and will be organized on an annual basis.

The call for entries today means film makers will have a two month period to enter their films. The 2015, Kalasha International is scheduled to run from the 26th-30th October in Nairobi - Lizzie Chongoti the KFC CEO.

The 2015 nomination academy also unveiled today, comprised of members selected from different fields supporting the film industry. The jury comprises of 7 members namely;

• Rosemary Kowuor- Daystar University
• Millicent Ogutu- Performance Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK)
• Serah Mwihaki- Woody Pix co. Ltd
• Jacinta Kiragui- Kenya Television Network (KTN)
• Charles O. Manyara- Kenya Intitute of Mass Communication (KIMC)
• Clifford B. Okumu- Celestial Touch
• Levy Obonyo- Daystar University

The event's primary objective is to showcase Kenya as a major regional hub for film and TV productions, post-production, and distribution across all platforms and genres while reinforcing the uniqueness of Kenya as a shooting location.

“Obviously for the Embassy we are keen to facilitate development of new business deals in the broadcasting technology field while expanding market share in this fast growing region”, observed Juliette Vivier, Regional Audiovisual Attaché for East Africa.

The 2015 Kalasha International Film & TV Festival &Market is a creative hub, that intends to bring together for the first time, all the players from the Eastern African Film & TV industry in one place and at the same time, offer a platform for all the regional and international players and the festival goers from the Film & TV industry to gather, discuss, exchange, collaborate, share stories and develop new business opportunities