Premium
On March 4, the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) — the state body that licenses film production and classifies content for distribution and exhibition in the country — issued a notice stating that "a significant number of filmmakers have been unable to commercially exploit their work or showcase them in film festivals due to non-compliance with filming, distribution, and exhibition requirements under the Act, thus denying themselves the opportunity to earn income from their films." The Act in question, the Films and Stage Plays Act, requires a filming license before production starts and a classification certificate — essentially an age rating — before any distribution, including promotional materials like posters and trailers. In effect, no film can legally be made, distributed, broadcast, or publicly shown in Kenya without KFCB approval. You will recall the January 23 Court of Appeal ruling that came out of Wanuri Kahiu's eight-year legal fight over the banning of "Rafiki" in a judgment that struck down provisions of this same Films and Stage Plays Act, including the powers that had long permitted KFCB to use force during filming and to retain excised portions of a film. Six weeks after that ruling, the same board is issuing compliance deadlines under the same statute. That March 4 notice offers an amnesty: a 90-day grace period from March 4 to June 4, 2026, for filmmakers to submit works produced from 2018 to date that have not met statutory licensing and classification requirements. Any film not duly licensed and classified by the end of the grace period will be barred from distribution, broadcast, or public exhibition. In practical terms, a Kenyan film produced at any point in the last eight years without going through KFCB — which the board's own framing describes as a substantial portion of the country's output — has until June 4 to regularize its legal status, or face a ban on all domestic distribution and exhibition.
