NAIROBI, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is seeking to enhance its cooperation with China in the creative sector, a government official said on Friday.
Victoria Goro, Deputy Director of the state-owned Kenya Film School (KFS), told Xinhua in Nairobi that Kenya can greatly benefit from the rapidly expanding Chinese film industry.
"We want to enhance our cooperation with China in order to build capacity of local film industry," Goro said during a ceremony by the Kenya Film and Classification Board to flag off Kenya's representatives to the Zanzibar International Film Festival which runs from July 7-15.
KFS is keen to partner with Chinese film schools so as to produce high quality films that can be watched locally or exported.
Goro said that Kenyans prefer to watch foreign films at the expense of domestic films partly because most local films can't compete with international films in terms of quality of production or scripts.
"China is an ideal partner due to their passionate screen culture in terms of watching their own films," he added.
Goro noted that the creative sector is largely untapped despite its huge potential in generating employment opportunities and job creation.
The government film school has been tasked to expand the pool of local talent in the film sector so that the country can achieve the goal of 60 percent of television content to be locally produced.
Goro said that the creative sector has a huge multiplier effect and so a robust industry could help reduce the high unemployment rate in the country.
She added that a vibrant local industry will help Kenya to tell its story to the rest of the world.