The 4th Annual H20
(Hip-Hop Odyssey) International Film Festival closed out this past week in New
York and presented awards in over nine different categories.
One major winner was the documentary film "Hip-Hop Colony,"
which took home two major awards.
The film received the Best Feature Documentary award and the
Heineken Emerging Filmmaker Award.
The documentary – which was written by Russell Kenya and directed
by Michael Wanguhu – documents Hip-Hop’s roots in East Africa, Kenya.
“A lot of people – especially in America – are not familiar
with how big African Hip-Hop is getting to be,” Wanguhu told AllHipHop.com.
“So it is quite an honor to be recognized at such an event, especially
in New York the Mecca of Hip-Hop. We are also thankful to the H2O film festival
organizers.”
Other honorees included Kid-n-Play, The Last Poets and brothers
Reginald and Warrington Hudlin, who were responsible for the House Party series.
"Hip-Hop Colony" has also received awards for Best
Urban Documentary at the Houston Black Film Festival and Best Urban Documentary
at the San Francisco Film Festival.
“These awards will go along way for us because we’ll be
able to show those in position of power in Kenya that we are worth it and they
can start to listen and even do business with us (African youth involved in
Hip-Hop) and even start funding our projects. I know of so many events that
have not happened in East Africa just because the young people organizing them
are not connected to some businessman or officials, causing true artistry to
be sidelined and undermined.”
H20 is a media program that works with new and experienced filmmakers,
encouraging them to develop and create work that showcases positive images of
Hip-Hop culture.
For more info on
the film, visit www.hiphopcolony.com.
