Using selected local digital film spaces such as VIUSASA, this article examines how the digital media culture has not only (re)shaped film distribution and consumption patterns but also created a unique film aesthetic in Kenya.
Paper long abstract:
This article examines how digital media culture has not only impacted film aesthetics, but also (re)shaped the distribution and consumption patterns of film in Kenya. Using selected local digital film spaces such as VIUSASA, the paper explores two epistemological questions concerning the digital sphere and film aesthetics in Kenya. First, how do films produced, released to digital media for exhibition and consumption than the traditional release channels engender a monumental paradigm shift in film production and consumption in Kenya? Secondly, how does the digital sphere spur, mediate and reconfigure a unique film aesthetic delineated within the Kenyan context? The paper argues that the digital media culture in film aesthetics is intertwined with that of inevitability and becoming. It also shows that the intersectional shifts in film aesthetics arising from the everyday digital sphere and cultural media goes beyond the liberational idea of, ‘if you can imagine it, you can create it’ to the idea of, ‘that if it is not your norm, it does not mean that it does not exist’. Ultimately, this article contends that digital media stands out as an inescapable path towards the future of film aesthetics in Kenya.