Anthony Wanyama is a 22-year-old journalist, photographer and research analyst that is passionate about empowering his community. Born in Eldoret, Kenya, what gets him fired up about Africa’s creative industry is the ability to create a dynamic body of work despite limited resources.
“I saw a documentary about Wakaliwood, an action film production industry in Uganda that specializes in ultra-violent DIY action cinema. Despite their [poor] background, they still utilised their limited resources and come up with content that has a vast popularity in Kenya and the world in general,” says Wanyama.
His favourite actors include legendary Nigerian actor Osita Iheme, Kenyan actor, comedian and musician Pascal Tokodi and Kenyan-American actor Edi Gathegi. Wanyama’s dream career of becoming a continental production mogul and film distributor is also bolstered by his active role in empowering talented young people in his community.
As part of the Class of 2019, Wanyama hopes to grow a network of like-minded individuals from all over the continent and channel what he learns from the programme into delivering quality content for an African audience. “I think Africa has the best mixture of luck, culture and people. I want to add flavour through re-telling Kenyan history and lifestyle through film and journalism projects that I look forward to undertake in form of documentaries and features,” he adds.