Westgate Attack Movie to Be Shot In South Africa and Here Is Why We Cannot Complain

Back in 2013, Westgate Mall was the scene of one of the most heinous crimes, the cold-blooded murder of 67 people while scores of others were left for dead.

A story that gripped not only the country but the world and now there are plans to make a movie based on this horrific attack.Unfortunately, the movie’s location will not be in Kenya,it will be shot in South Africa.

And the reason why we cannot protest this is that making a movie in Kenya is now proving to be a tall order.

‘‘Kenya is a beautiful country with a lovely pool of talent. Unfortunately, it is the only country without incentives or rebates to attract filmmakers. That is why many movies about Kenya are made in South Africa. The government is lenient with licences but the incentives are not there. For example, for $10 million spent making a movie, the South African Government gives back $2 million. ’’ Richard Harding the producer of the upcoming producer revealed to Daily Nation.

Richard who also created the movie based on Kimani Murage called ‘The First Grader’ said that shooting a movie in Kenya leads to monetary losses and sometimes the producers are forced to go home empty-handed. Revealing that he was paid nothing to create the movie ‘The First Grader’ despite all the hard work and money he put into it. This was because attempts to get the Big Kahunas in Kenya to invest in his movies proved futile as the only thing Kenyan millionaires were interested in investing in was real estate. Help from the Kenyan government was not forthcoming also.

A situation that Richard describes as very sad as Kenya used to be  a prime location  for shooting movies like ‘Out Of Africa’ and ‘The Constant Gardener.’

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