The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.

Le Blog sur les femmes africaines dans le cinéma est un espace pour l'échange d'informations concernant les réalisatrices, comédiennes, productrices, critiques et toutes professionnelles dans ce domaine. Ceci sert de forum public du Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinémas.

ABOUT THE BLOGGER

My photo
Director/Directrice, Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema | Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma

Translate

Search This Blog

28 June 2010

African Girls Make Movies Too

"I plan to be a professional camera woman, I will go back to my community and teach my colleagues how to make movies" says Aishah Umuhoza, a young Rwandan participant in the One Minute Jr. workshop. 

The initiative is part of “The World Cup in my Village” project sponsored by UNICEF in collaboration with community and governmental partners in Zambia and Rwanda.

The film project in the Rubavu District of Rwanda entails a five-day intensive workshop during which the students learn to write a script, direct, shoot, and edit a one-minute film, as well as act in the production. The main objective is to provide the students with the skills to report on the important issues that they are dealing with in their communities and then share them with the international community.

Similarly, in Mongu, Zambia, the radio production project gives the young participants the opportunity to express their concerns. The audio reports are broadcast on local, national and international radio stations. In addition, video reports of the initiative are posted on various websites, notably, the Children’s Radio Foundation, who is a partner in the initiative.

As South Africa is host of the 2010 World Cup, “The World Cup in my Village” serves another important function as it provides a venue for young people who live in villages without electricity and broadcasting services to follow the tournament. Giant inflatable out-door screens and projectors are set in place for the occasion. To promote awareness building, UNICEF-produced public service announcements regarding education, health and children protection are part of the programming.

As evident in the encouraging words of Aishah Umuhoza above, several girls have enthusiastically embraced the media-training project. A selection of the one-minute films produced during the film workshop is posted on the "unicefworldcup’s channel" on YouTube, among which are works by Dancille Nyiranteziryayo: A Better Future and Mamy Manirakiza: Raising Awareness.

View the One Minute Jr films @ the unicefworldcup’s channel
Updated to include: She is my mother, a short documentary film made by six girls in six hours during a workshop called Girls Make Movies organized at the Rwanda Film Festival in 2013.


Claudine Ndimbira Shenge was part of the Girls Make Movies workshop during which she directed the film My Mother My Hero in 2013, a heartbreaking story of a soon-to-be mother, and the young child who saves the notes written to her in her memory: my mother, my hero.

 

Blog Archive