The Machakos Short Film Festival was held towards the end of last year in December. One group, Watatu Production, made up of university students was quite lucky as their first production “Gunpoint” scoop two awards, in the categories of Best Actor and Best Director. At the same time, emerging as the first runners up.
The film is basically a story of two couples travelling to Mombasa together. Somewhere along the way, the driver swerves off the main road and takes a dirt road. He is over speeding and everyone in the car most especially his girlfriend tries to plead with him to slow down. He eventually stops, orders everyone out of the car, and with a gun pointed at them, he makes his girlfriend and his friend kneel.
He accuses the two of having an affair behind his back and after some bitter words are said, asks his friend to stand and run. He then shoots him in the back. He also does the same to his friend’s girlfriend. To his girlfriend, he offers a bottle of water and tells her it is poisoned, only for her to find an engagement ring in the bottle and his boyfriend gets down on one knee.
I got a chance to talk to the script writer, Lawrence Murage about Gunpoint and here’s what he had to say.
Where did you get the idea for the script?
The idea came to me naturally. I was just thinking of story lines and bam!
Was it tough writing the script?
No, it wasn’t. I have done this before so it was quite easy.
You’ve written several other scripts. Has any won an award before?
No, this was the first one.
In my opinion, the short film was quite okay. The script was original, though I personally would not have accepted that proposal (:D) Clearly, the film deserved the awards. I however think that more could have been done to improve it especially in terms of casting.
Congratulations to Watatu Production and Kampus Buzz wishes them all the best in the upcoming Riverwood Awards.
