 Okay well it's it's kind of they asked me to be as open and true to myself so I will tell you as it is it's actually a God story for me how I got into and to film initially I was studying sports management I was very sporty growing up and I'm passionate about basketball so I was studying sports management and at some point I realized what is my master's I realized that I didn't actually care about what happens behind the scenes in sport and that's when I decided to make the switch and I went into into film well into photography sorry and when I moved this was in Cape Town when I moved to Zimbabwe I was busy as a photographer and at that point there was a journalist who came from the Guardian who was doing an article on the anti-female the all-female anti-poaching unit that I volunteer for called Akashinga so they requested me to go with them to do translation so while I was there I realized that I had a very bad a limited perception on conservation and I wanted I was challenged by that so I became a volunteer there until an article came out about me being in this conservation initiative then the writer and the director of the first film that I did saw the article and he called me and his name is Sydney Taibadashi and he asked me to to produce the film for him I had no like I had no background in film I had no interest in film however I took like maybe four months to read the script so eventually when I read the script I felt something in my spirit jump and I recalled that two years prior to that I had gone to what you call crossover service I don't know if you know what that is so at the end of the year crossing over in the new year and the the preacher there called me out and he said that I see you holding an old school field film reel that you're going to make a film for your nation that will put your nation on the on the map so in that moment I remembered this prophecy when I got it I was saying I don't know I'm interested in film and in photography I don't know about this I just put in my journal and I forgot about it but in that moment I remembered it and that made sense when I read the script something in my spirit jumped so I believe that it was God telling me to come into phone and the journey from there has just been very much God led so it's a calling from you thank you the plans are many and I think something that's very key that I keep looking at and is one of the 30 things that I work on is mentorship mentorship and guidance is so important and it's the one thing that when I reached out to the young people via my social media platforms it's the one thing that kept kept coming up and resonating and it is through mentorship and guidance actually have a mentor in this industry his name is Ezekiel Onyango he's currently doing his masters and PhD abroad in the creative arts economy and you know he started introducing me to the film industry and crazy enough that is actually how I met Tariru and attended the Kala shower so he just kept telling me you love working with the young people many of them are in the film industry why don't you just go and see what they are doing and that's something that that's part of the plan I have the first thing I believe is in doing is understanding and I also don't believe in doing everything by myself that's why I'm so glad that Tariru is here and she can be part of the mentorship and guidance to help me to understand the film industry and how we can continue to support young people in that industry in Kenya but also in Africa Well, because we're bomb, we're a bomb people group you know and I think it's so necessary for so long the Western story has been told in movies many people know New York Times Square because of movies many people want to be proposed to by the Afro Tower because of movies and it just shows the soft power that film has so firstly because of that the soft power that film has so it's necessary for us to tell our own stories because in that we are we are perpetuating our values through our stories another thing is that we have such a rich heritage as Africans our story is so rich I mean I recall being in high school and the history that I learned was I know more about from my high school I know more about Soleneh Hitler and all these people but very I didn't actually learn about Mansa Musa you know in high school and these are part of our stories and these are the stories that need to be told because if we if we tell our stories the the origins of where we come from I believe that we as a people will have a different perspective on ourselves and our future as a continent Hi Happy Mali Happy Mali Happy Mali We should look at the film Oh There is this one on Netflix I forget its name it's got two parts to it now What's the Kenyan films on Netflix? The one with two it's got two films Disconnect I like to disconnect yeah and I also like those series that came out last last year I think it was the first original series I forget the name but the one country is it come is this season 2 yeah I'm looking forward to the season 2 and actually one of the ladies that I'm looking to work at and future projects was a writer on that film Oprah so so I am I am looking to have collaboration with Kenyans in the future Well if Tariru directs it and produces it then maybe it can work but I did get a few proposals because I also work with the deaf community and the deaf the deaf community that in the film industry had asked me that they want us to do a film about the connection between the hearing people and the deaf people but they're still working on the plan and the program and doing some funding for it so we'll have to wait Thank you And challenge accepted How did this happen with the deaf community? So we thought to ask you've shown us an interest in helping the deaf in capital and private Now the question will be going forward what would you advise the deaf in terms of the creative industry how do you choose a project because the deaf gets to work And we know this thing because we assume that people are not doing that Now the question is who was the leader in the position you raised What's wrong with helping the deaf in the country? Well that's a loaded question and I think I'll also ask Tariru to step in to give her perspective but the first thing I love to do is to interact with young people in whatever sector it is in I've just come from an energy forum that's called the Powering Africa Summit and I'm not in the energy sector but because the young people asked me to champion for them that agenda and its relation to climate action that's how I got involved so for me the first step is really understanding where the opportunities for young people and reaching out to them when I went to the energy forum as those were interested in the sector to email me I left them with my email to email me and I got so many emails from young people saying this is what I've done I've studied or I'm passionate about this I have this innovation and so what I've just done I've registered an NGO it's called the Young People's Network International and through that we're going to look at the different avenues that young people are in and get to know is it mentorship that you need is it funding that you need is it just a door that you need to open for is it equipment that you need because I think this is a very equipment heavy industry and seeing how do we negotiate for our young people to get concessionary rates when it comes to getting equipment and starting equipment can we have partnership with some of these big companies so that young people can at least have a base and a place to start off so I think let me put it there in a nutshell and just ask Thairu also to give our perspective yeah I think that's absolutely great what Shadeen has said and I think to be more broader I think just in in relation to the young people and the future I think digital is the future I think ensuring that in many ways I know that there's now the social media here and let's find ways to monetize digital platforms because that is the future I mean I was just sharing with somebody the other day there's this new software and I'm just like it's actually quite scary as a filmmaker but there's this new software with AI you can completely watch a film that's been AI generated which can make our industry obsolete so right now let's see how we can be a step forward let's see how we can integrate technology and AI let's not be afraid of it let's see how we can teach our young children our youth to be at par with the West and with AI I will do so I imagine you have to be part of the future of the world also and ideally the concept of climate change and environment is something that the youth have are not really going in that direction I had someone say the other day that we are a copycat continent just look at so much of what's happening in the West the world to forget what's happening in the West so the question is what will you advise the youth to do telling our climate stories because Africa has forests, animals all those and we are a generation of them the next generation how do we resolve it ensuring that we will put it for our future generation because the animals that are being saved how do we make that happen how do we make that happen and where would you like the youth to come into touch I think my focus would be encouraging youth to participate in ensuring that these animals don't become extinct I think my first port wouldn't be documenting these animals because they're about to be extinct but what can we do to ensure that they don't I think telling stories to make Africans African youth appreciate the value and the heritage that is our heritage through wildlife so there's a buy-in in conservation is very necessary and a lot of the climate talk is about how we're not actually participating has Africa as much in the challenges of climate in terms of emissions we actually produce a lot more of green I think you're more in the climate space you're giving me the right terminology but we are producing more green emissions is that the term? terminology so I think also telling those stories that we are good and we can actually be champions the rest of the world because we still have a lot of our wilderness spaces intact I think Tariro started by sharing her story and the preacher told her what was in her hands I think as young people we need to start by using what is in our hands and what I love about TikTok the reason I'm in TikTok is because I have with the young people others are singers but I really follow a lot of people who contact on TikTok and they don't have to have the latest phone they use whatever is in their hands so I think as young people we need to use whatever is in our hands and any time you're given that opportunity you need to present your idea you need to give it somewhere I also work in the agriculture space and I can tell you we don't have content creators in the agriculture space we have Kaleb Karuga who's the only content creator in the agriculture space and I'm supporting him because I'm also in agriculture but I picture if we had a young filmmaker who comes to my farm sees what I'm doing with my peas goes to Kaleb's farm sees what he's doing goes to a different farm and can put together these ideas and it can become it can actually be something that he sells or he or she sells and say I have this bank of information if you want access to it you pay this much something like that so I really think as young people and I think a month ago I said a statement that didn't sit well with many people that as young people we should not sit and be lazy and I don't regret my statement because I interact with the young people every single day whether it's online whether it's through email, through phone and I can tell and I know that as young people we really need to first of all motivate ourselves and secondly we really need to have mentors in our lives and a mentor doesn't have to be somebody who's very far it could be a friend it could be a parent it could be your lecturer so I really think we need to use what is in our hands yeah Okay, so just before we wrap up Terry, if you're working in a brand new project so tell us a little bit about that and what we should do with pleasure so I am doing a a multi-national collaboration between Zimbabwe, Rwanda and there's seven countries the African countries featured there's Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Senegal Kenya Nigeria Uganda and South Africa so we have creatives from these seven countries which is the first of its kind on the continent the production's name is Alkebrilan we released the teaser I think there will be a a showing of the teaser tonight so you'll get some you'll be able to see it and if anybody wants a link to the teaser for their platforms you can get a hold of us you can see Leon there who will put his hand up and he will share with you but he is very excited about this collaboration that we're doing it's the first in a series of films the first one is Zimbabwe, Rwanda and these seven countries the second one is Kenya Amin talks already with the producer local producer looking to go to Ghana and a South African country so yeah, very excited to be sharing this finally it's been a three year journey the synopsis of the film is about identity a college student who has lost her identity and she bumps into someone special who then basically challenges her perspective I don't want to give too much but there's some time jumping, time time, what you called space travel time travel there's some time travel in there and it's sci-fi, it's afro-futuristic and it's bomb how come it took three years? we don't appreciate film on this continent that's what I'm learning doesn't matter who you are yeah, so I'm hoping that this is going to be a start to showing our skills as African filmmakers and the story that we have to tell finally, Shalini do you have an amazing thing happening tomorrow with the Deaf community? yes, yes so, yes I do have 30 things and people say they are many but I try to collaborate them into each other so we are having a blood drive with basketball at the Lindsay Sports Complex in Langata and Tarira is a basketballer wanted her to play but we're not sure whether she's ready for the team, the Kenyan team this is the thing, I didn't want a diplomatic situation when I'm now dunking on everyone you know so I thought that we bow out no problem she'll be there cheering on a girls team there's going to be a Deaf girls team versus hearing and also we'll have a Deaf men's team versus a hearing men's team so it's going to be a very unique event so encourage everyone, it's open to the public we need to plan and watch basketball Shalene, do you play basketball at all? I do not play basketball and I shoot hoops so badly would you guys be interested in Shalene and I shooting, you shoot you shoot hoops badly you can try you can try but I do have another special guest coming tomorrow whom you'll shoot hoops with that's good thank you very much are we happy? thank you very much