Success!! Finally!! Now we need your help!

As you can tell from the subject heading we have a little bit of good news. Finally after a year and half of struggling, fighting, clawing and begging we have finally completed the documentary! I can’t tell you how happy I am. It’s an unbelievable sense of satisfaction for all of us and I have to thank everyone involved and all our supporters. (Here’s Diego and I drinking a celebratory pint on his flying visit through London)

So what now? Well we’ve started our festival process and have submitted to a couple of festivals and THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP!! As I’m quickly learning the festival circuit is a funny old world and it is very much about who you know. If any of you know anyone that is connected to a film festival anywhere in the world please let us know.  A simple introduction or getting the film into the rights hands makes a world of difference in getting accepted SO PLEASE, PLEASE have a think.

It has been awhile so first thing you will see is that the title of the documentary has changed. Why? Well Kenya’s Path was a title I was never really happy with and it reflected a different story that we thought we were going to shoot. As I mentioned on this site somewhere, we were going to examine the post-election violence but when we arrived in Kenya the country, at least on the surface, had moved on. So the new title “An Unexpected Family: story from a slum” is more a reflection of the story we are presenting. In light of this I’ve also changed the website name and redesigned the website. The other one was getting a bit tired so hopefully you like the new one. (Here’s a little photo of us in Nairobi where this all started!)

I particularly would like to thank all the crew who have worked for almost or absolutely nothing. Without them we simply could not have finished this film. Hopefully I’ll be able to pay you all back with well paid jobs in the future!! I would also like to introduce you to a few new members of the team (check out the Team Page). Jeb Hawkins, was our talented sound editor and dubbing editor for the documentary. Sound is often an under appreciated aspect of filmmaking but it can make or break a film. Jeb had to work hard to clean up the dialogue before we could start on the more fun and creative part of the sound mix. Jordan Andrews created some fantastic music for the film and Jeb and I used this to great effect to underline the message and dramatic elements of the film. Also new to the project is Alan Morse. Alan designed the opening & end credits as well as the title cards. It may seem like a minor thing but it was just another piece of the pie that gives this film that professional and finished look. Also I wanted to give some recognition to two of our advisors, David Krae and Dean Bajramovic. They are both friends and I worked with them on Gangster Exchange. Over the past couple of years they have given me some great advice and guided me through the process of getting this film completed. It’s because of guys like them I can now finally say the film is complete!

Now to get this film out there! Hopefully you’ll continue on this journey with us… here we go!

Thanks as always

Riyad, Diego and Christian