The creators of the MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival bring you a new concept - The Feature Film Project. This new program will discover and launch one feature film each year, with the help of over one hundred cinemas and the interactive opinions of movie goers across the United States.
The project involves a feature film selected from a global call for entries that will screen in over one hundred cinemas across the USA. Audiences at each venue will receive a voting card at each cinema and be asked, ‘Should this film return to this cinema for a week’s theatrical release in six weeks?” If the majority of the audiences vote “yes”, then that film will receive a theatrical release in that cinema six weeks later. The Feature Film Project is presented by the organizers of the MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival, one of the largest short film festivals in the world taking place in over 300 cinemas across six continents during one week each year.
The Selected film for the first annual Feature Film Project is Nairobi Half Life, directed by Daniel 'Tosh" Gitonga.
Nairobi Half Life, the feature directorial debut of Kenyan filmmaker Daniel 'Tosh" Gitonga, follows Mwas (the incredible Joseph Wairimu), a young, aspiring actor from upcountry Kenya who dreams of becoming a success in the city of opportunity; Nairobi. Traveling to the crime-ridden Kenyan capital to follow his dreams, Mwas quickly understands why Nairobi is nicknamed Nairobbery. Robbed of his money and belongings, and left alone in a city where he doesn't know a soul, luck or the lack of it, brings him face to face with a young, small time gang leader who gives Mwas a chance to earn a living. Drawn into a new world of theft and violence, Mwas still tries to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. But caught between two social classes, and between a life of crime and a life on the stage, Mwas struggles to keep his identity -- and his life.
Nairobi Half Life has already earned critical acclaim at various foreign film festivals around the globe, and it was the official submission of Kenya to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 85th Academy Awards 2013. The URBAN-15 Group will be screening Nairobi Half Life on Friday, March 22nd, 2013 at 9 pm at the URBAN-15 Studio, located at 2500 S. Presa. Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for military, artists, students, and seniors. Tickets can be bought online or at the door. For more information, check out www.thefeaturefilmproject.com, www.urban15.org, email [email protected], or call the URBAN-15 Group at 210-736-1500.
