MILLICENT OGUTU - CHAIRPERSON

Millicent Ogutu loves acting and beautiful performances. Having made her debut in professional theatre fresh out of High School, she has acted and directed in several productions for stage and screen to date. Millicent served a memorable term as the Managing Director of Phoenix Players Theatre, the biggest repertory theatre in East and Central Africa. She is the current elected Secretary of the Kenya Actors Guild. She is also a Board Director of the Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK). She is also a lawyer by profession in intellectual property law and dispute resolution which was inspired by her passion for performance.

CLIFFORD B. OKUMU - VICE CHAIRPERSON

Clifford is the Chairman and Founder of the Coast Film Association, Chairman of Coast Film Festival and a Board member at Alliance Françoise, Mombasa. As a filmmaker he has wealth of experience in the various fields of film industry including scriptwriting, editing, directing and camerawork. He has a wealth of experience with various organizations among them the Rich Pictures Co. Ltd as a scriptwriter, director, cameraman and editor. He is currently working at Celestial Touch as a scriptwriter and director. He is also a lecture at Mombasa Academy of Arts and Kenya Coast Polytechnic (Formerly MTTI)

SERAH MWIHAKI

Serah is an Alumni of Media Network Training Institute (Now Andrew Crawford Media School. Currently she is a partner at the WordyPix Company Limited. She has vast experience in the film industry in the fields of scriptwriting, production, acting among others. She has been involved in major film projects including Nairobi half-life; Jack Zollo: My life in crime; Flowers and Bricks a TV movie for Africa Magic; Love or Die a Tv movie for Africa Magic; ‘Kona’ A Soap for Mnet; Changes a television series for MNET; ‘Tabasamu’ a television Soap on Citizen; Constant Gardener; and project daddy among others.

JACINTA KIRAGURI

Jacinta is a Media Practitioner with over 15 years working experience in the media industry in various capacities as a Coordinator and Technical Supervisor in TV studio production both live and recorded, film, live events, concerts, game shows among others. Jacinta is currently pursuing a Master degree in Communications and Media studies at the University of Nairobi. She also holds a degree in mass Communication from St. Paul’s University and a Diploma in Media Technology from Kenya Institute Mass Communication. She is currently working as the Supervisor - Studio Technical Operations at Standard Media group (KTN). She also does part time lecturing at Kenya Institute of Media studies and Multimedia University.

DR. ROSEMARY K. NYAOLE

Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor, has wealth of experience in marketing, research, teaching, curriculum development, programme monitoring/evaluation, e-learning facilitation and broadcast/film production. She started her career as a high school teacher, became a marketing and sales executive, then joined television/radio drama Scripting, directing and role casting before joining the university as a communication and film lecturer. Currently, Dr. Rosemary is a freelance communication consultant, a board member of the Media Council of Kenya, WanaHabari, Senior Lecturer and Head of Communication Department at Daystar University, Kenya. Besides, she is a regular member of the US-based University Film and Video Association (UFVA) and a fellow at the UK-based Higher Education Academy (HEA). She also served in the Kenya Film and Television Awards (Kalasha) academy for a record three years. Her academic training is in Film Technology (PhD), Communication – Electronic Media (MA and BA). She is also a Higher Education Academy (HEA) fellow and besides being published, she has presented papers in numerous international conferences.

CHARLES MANYARA

Mr. Manyara holds a Bachelor Degree in BA of Arts (Theatre Arts and Film Technology) and is currently pursuing Master Degree in MA of Arts (Theatre Arts and Film Studies). He is currently the Head of Film Department at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. He has vast experience in the different departments in the Ministry of Information Communication and Gender and Sports. He has wealth of experience in film projects as sound engineer, scriptwriter, editor, and producer among others including; Saikati 1 and 2; Lumbasi; Mine only; Forgotten; My horn my Dilemma documentary among others. He is the Overall producer of 60 films of all KIMC Film Training students’ productions (Festival materials) produced yearly.

PROF. LEVI OBONYO

Prof. Levi Obonyo is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, and also the Dean of the School of Communication, Language and Performing Arts at Daystar University. He started his career as a news correspondent in various media houses and later worked as an editor for magazines before joining academia. For over twenty years, Prof. Obonyo has taught media studies at university level in several institutions. Prof. Obonyo holds a PhD in Mass media and Communications from Temple University Philadelphia, USA. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, South Africa. He was, until recently, the Chairman of the Media Council of Kenya. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Council to Kenya National Commission to UNESCO (KNATCOM) specializing on communications. He has, and continues to serve in several boards including Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) among others. He is a columnist, has published many articles in academic journalists, chapters in books, and co-authored Journalists and the rule of law.