Hollywood star Tony Goldwyn in town for film shoot

Hollywood script writer Jamal Joseph, Kenya Film Classification Board CEO Ezekiel Mutua with actor, director and producer Tony Goldwyn and Shofco co-founder Kennedy Odede at KFCB offices on July 2,2018. PHOTO | ANTHONY NJAGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Goldwyn is in Kenya together with veteran Black Panther community member and silver screen script writer Jamal Joseph for a pre-production co-ordinated by the Kenya Film Classification Board.
  • Goldwyn portrayed Carl Bruner in Ghost, Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and most recently starred in the ABC drama Scandal, as Fitzgerald Grant III, President of the United States.

Celebrated Hollywood actor, director and producer Tony Goldwyn of the Scandal series game is in town to lay the groundwork for the shoot of a love story brewed in Kibera.

The story of lovebirds Kennedy and Jessica is almost a fairy tale. Kennedy is a man from Kibera, who married an American woman, Jessica.

Jessica and Kennedy are the founders of Shining Hope For Communities (Shofco), a community-based organisation that catalyses large-scale transformation in urban slums by providing critical services, community advocacy platforms and education.

The organisation is currently serving more than 250,000 Kenyans across the country’s slums.

FASCINATING STORY

The two have a fascinating story about how they met, fell in love and started one of the biggest charity organisations in Kenya.

The couple have written an internally acclaimed best-selling book titled Find Me Unafraid. Goldwyn and Joseph are in the country to begin the process of turning the book into a film.

Goldwyn, who acts as President in the award-winning series, is in Kenya together with veteran Black Panther community member and silver screen script writer Jamal Joseph for a pre-production co-ordinated by the Kenya Film Classification Board.

The news of the film production was announced at the Kenya Classification Board Offices at Uchumi House, Nairobi, where the producer was received by the board's CEO Ezekiel Mutua.

Mr Goldwyn and Mr Joseph are in the country courtesy of Kennedy and Jessica Odede, a couple whose book based on their love story captured their interest after it featured in the New York bestsellers list.

CRADLE OF HUMANITY

Dr Mutua said Kenya has some of the best filming locations in the world and is recognised as the cradle of humanity.

 "I am delighted to host these two Hollywood stars and to support their decision to make the film on Kennedy and Jessica’s love story here in Kenya,’’ Dr Mutua said.

"The board recognises film production as a key contributor to economic development and with the potential to create jobs for the youth."

Dr Mutua added: "We are in discussions with the two American filmmakers, the Odedes and the team around this production to see how the government can support their efforts to shoot Find Me Unafraid here in Kenya by creating a conducive environment that will enable the project to make business sense and bring glory to the film industry in Kenya."

Goldwyn portrayed Carl Bruner in Ghost, Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and most recently starred in the ABC drama Scandal, as Fitzgerald Grant III, President of the United States.

AMERICAN WRITER

Among his directing credits are the films Conviction, A Walk on the Moon and the TV series The Divide, Justified and Dexter.

Jamal Joseph (formerly Eddie Joseph) is an Oscar nominated American writer, director, producer, poet, activist, and educator.

He wrote and directed the award winning film Chapter and Verse and has written and directed multiple projects for STARZ, 20th Century Fox and A&E.

He is a full professor and former chair of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division and the artistic director of the New Heritage Theatre Group in Harlem.

He has been featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, BET's American Gangster and on Tupac Shakur's The Rose That Grew from Concrete Volumes 1 and 2.