http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2009/Kenya-media/Kenya-media-filmmakers/

DFID - Department for International Development

23 November 2009

"Our films can change behaviour"

Elsie Kariuki, 30, from Nairobi is an environmental studies graduate employed as project officer for the organisation Community-based Biodiversity Conservation Films.

"In countries like Kenya where the environment is tightly intertwined with people's daily lives, many take it for granted and see the environment as an endless resource.

Conservation films are not very popular in Kenya: we were not brought up watching National Geographic or BBC Natural History programmes and many people just don't feel that connection within nature.

Most of the conservation films shown to Kenyan audiences are not made with Kenyans in mind. The language used, the expressions, the style of presentation, may sometimes hinder the audience from really getting the message.

I think that films made with a good understanding of the audience, and better yet, with personal experience of the subject matter, have the power not only to promote public awareness and interest in conservation issues but also to elicit changes in attitudes and behaviour.

I have recently made a series of short films on ecological survey methods in the Lake Natron Basin. In future I hope to get involved in bigger film projects and perhaps even collaborate with a local TV station to create a conservation-related series."