Screening & Lecture At Birchmount Collegiate Institute - UPDATE

UPDATE - Thanks to the people that made it happen; Lisa Foster and Natalie Lapko. It was a wonderful opportunity to share my experience with the people of Kibera with a multicultural class of young people here in Toronto. Thanks also to the school and faculty at Birchmount Collegiate Institute! And of course my lovely amazing wife Emeralda who came for moral support, and took the awesome photo above!

I'll be screening Matatu Express at Birchmount Collegiate Institute tonight at 830PM. Following that, I will be giving a talk on technology and hip hop in youth culture and it's impact on the future of informal settlements. It's for a continuing education International Business class. Needless to say, I am super looking forward to sharing my experiences. Although this event is not open to the public, if you are interested in me giving a talk somewhere else on this topic, please feel free to email me at colmhogan@gmail.com

Matatu Express Now available on DVD from Amazon!

You can now order your copy of Matatu Expess from Amazon by clicking here. The DVD includes 2 versions of the film (short - 6 min.) and (long - 22min). Special features include a tour of Kibera, an interview with a Matatu Driver and an amazing freestyle from The Hustlers! Order yours today!

Matatu Express Screening in Collingwood.* DATE CHANGE

PLEASE NOTE: This event has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict, sorry everyone. Please stay tuned here for upcoming screenings.

Matatu Express will be shown along with 2 other great docs (The Ponzi Scheme & Cinemall) in Collingwood, Ontario at the Gayety Theater Thursday, March 22 (not the 14th, as originally planned) at 7PM.
The Gayety Theater is located at 116 Hurontario Street. Along with the other two directors, I will be available for a q&a after the film. For more info click here.

Now & Toronto.com Give Matatu Some Love.

Matatu got a quick write up in a few corners of the interwebz thanks to the recent triple bill screenings at The Projection Booth. Now is a very popular weekly alternative paper, and News4U is site that features local Toronto news. We even got a quick mention in Toronto.com with a link to the matatu website, which is nice.
For the Now article, click here.
For the News4U article, click here.
For the toronto.com article click here.

Matatu Express Premiere at The Projection Booth

Thanks to everyone that made last night such a success. A big thank you to Jonathan Hlibka from The Projection Booth for making it happen. Last night was the first night I was able to watch the other 2 films being shown (The Ponzi Scheme and Cinemall) alongside Matatu. They're both great films and very unique, compelling stories. It's a great lineup, so if you missed last night don't worry, you can catch all 3 flicks this week Mon-Thursday at 9PM. Thanks again everyone!

Matatu Gets Multiple Screenings at The Projection Booth in Toronto, Canada.

I'm very happy to announce that my film Matatu Express will be screened from Feb. 3 - 9, 2012 at the historic Projection Booth Cinema in Toronto, Canada.
The film will be screened with two other excellent films entitled Cinemall and the Ponzi Scheme.
Here are the following showtimes.

Feb 3 - The Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall & Matatu Express - 7pm
Feb 4 - The Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall & Matatu Express - 1pm
Feb 6 - Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall and Matatu Express - 9pm
Feb 7 - Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall and Matatu Express - 9pm
Feb 8 - Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall and Matatu Express - 9pm
Feb 9 - Ponzi Scheme with Cinemall and Matatu Express - 9pm
The Projection Booth is located at
1035 Gerrard St. East at Jones.

For more information, please visit matatuexpress.com and projectionbooth.ca

Hustlers Release A New Video.

I was lucky enough to meet the Hustlers while in Kibera working on Matatu Express. Not only did I get an amazing interview with these three incredible Hip Hop musicians, they gave me a tour of Kibera and welcomed me into their homes. Once I heard their music I was so blown away by their talent - one thing led to another, and they ended up doing the soundtrack for Matatu. I still keep in touch with them and last week Hustlers front man Sururu let me know they just released a new video. Check it out below, and show them some love by liking their Facebook page, and listen to more of their awesome music on their Reverbnation page.

Kenya Int'l Film Festival: Re-Cap.

Once again, I've been sidetracked by a number of other projects on the go, so apologies for only being able to re-cap on the Kenyan Premiere of Matatu Express. Unfortunately I was not able to attend, but I'm very happy to report that my brother John Hogan was able to, along with Peter Opudo, my guide and Still Photographer for Matatu. Both of them were invaluable in getting the film completed, so I'm really thrilled they were able to make it to the premiere. By all accounts, the audience apparently loved the film, and clapped at the end, which is all I could have hoped for!

Someone in the audience reached out to me about a week after seeing my film in Nairobi. Her name is Simone Bazos, and she is a filmmaker working on a documentary profiling Pamoja FM, one of the great organizations profiled in Matatu. The movie is called The United States of Kibera - check out her site here, and the trailer below to learn more about it, and go here if you think you'd like to help out with a donation. Remember these are stories that need to be told, and it's tough going for indy filmmakers so dig deep, and keep spreading the word about Kibera!

Matatu Express Arrives to Kenya!

I am super excited, elated and happy to announce that Matatu Express has made it into this year's Kenya International Film Festival. The Kenya Premiere of Matatu Express will take place
Saturday October 29, 2011 at 3:30PM in Nairobi at the Century Cinemax Prestige Theater.
Click here for the Kenya Film Festival and view the complete 2011 program here.

Matatu Express Gets A Nod From PhotoJunkie!

Matatu Express was singled out as one of the films to look out for in this years NXNE festival. Check out the post and find out which other movies made their mark by clicking here.

NXNE Recap.

It's been an extremely hectic summer, and I'm only now able to give a quick recap of the world premiere for Matatu Express. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to it. I have to say it was a success, and I'm really happy and proud to have been a part of it. I won't lie - I was a nervous wreck for the two weeks leading up to it, but once the day came, it was just a such a relief that I was finally fine. The film certainly seemed to be well received, and I had a great Q & A session after the second screening. I feel really lucky and honoured as well, because my film opened up for a really neat film called Made in Birmingham, which is a documentary that chronicles the rich musical history of Birmingham. I really enjoyed the film, and will soon be writing about it in my other blog Digitized Graffiti. The above photo courtesy of NXNE is a brief chat I had with Made in Birmingham Co-Producer Jez Collins between screenings. Thanks to NXNE and the NFB and everyone that came down to the screening!

Daniel Dache's "Above The Storm".

Daniel Dache is founder of the Bridge of Hope, and was kind enough to give me some time for an interview featured in Matatu Express. Daniel has worked extensively with orphans in Kibera who are HIV positive. He's also just recently written a book, called Above the Storm, which appears to be a faith based perspective on his extensive experience. His book is launching this Sunday July 17th at 10AM local time, and will air on Citizen TV available on DSTV in Kenya. Congratulations Daniel.