The training arm of Africa Film Academy (AFA), parent organisation to the popular Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) is set to hold a film training workshop for aspiring filmmakers in Kigali, capital of Rwanda.
The training which is in partnership with The International Film and Television School Cuba (EICTV) is part of the activities leading to this year’s edition of AMAA on October 20, at the Intare Conference Arena, Kigali.
Holding from October 18th to 20th, the workshop series called Film-In-A-Box will take place in Rwanda for the first time, following previous outings in Nigeria, Gambia, Malawi and South Africa.
As part of the three-day activities, AMAA announces that there will be an Africa Cinema Business Roundtable as a sideline event, focusing on content distribution with the theme; “Unblocking Distributions: The Key to the Success of African Cinema.”
AMAA’s Director of Administration, Mr. Tony Anih, in a statement on how well the scheme has impacted the continent described the founder as a visionary.
According to him, “A lot of people already know that Peace Anyiam-Osigwe has the agenda of making the African Cinema more acceptable, the world over, some of the big films that have won the AMA Awards in previous editions include: Viva Riva, October 1, The Figurine, Eye of the Storm, Run, I sing of a Well, How to Steal 2 Million, Rising Moon, Of Good Report and lots more. And these films made very successful runs at international film festivals and were also box office hits across markets in Africa, Europe and the United States.”
AFA, he noted, “has trained of 10,000 filmmakers across Africa and continues to do so with the support of the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe foundation and other partners.”
Anih reveals that one of the key resource persons that will take classes at the workshop include Rebecca Roos, guest lecturer at EICTV who will focus on visual story telling for both fiction and documentary films, adding that the intensive workshop will entail theoretical basics and practical exercises, pitching and the production of a few short films.
The training also includes an Animation Class to be presented by Edward Lapang, Nigerian animator, painter and motion graphics artist whose goals are to place emphasis on the creation of quality animation and special effects in the African film and television productions.
On the partnering institution, Anih disclosed that the vision of the EICTV is in tandem with AMAA in the area of support to national audio-visual industries in countries that lacked the infrastructure.
He said: “It is important to note that Cuba’s world renowned International Film and Television School (EICTV) was founded by a group of intellectuals, led by Columbian writer Gabriel García Márquez, Argentinian poet Fernando Birri and Cuban filmmaker Julio García Espinosa, leading figures in Latin American debates about revolutionary and politically committed art.
“Its initial aim was to support the development of national audio-visual industries in countries that lacked the infrastructure or resources to train their own professionals.
“Representatives from the film school will present certificates to the students that complete the workshop and will also take part in round table discussions sharing their knowledge in how to train filmmakers within an industry that lacks infrastructure.
“The film school has attracted many renowned international filmmakers as visiting teachers for master classes and workshops that include Werner Hertzog, Francis Ford Copolla and Stephen Spielberg.
“The film school has maintained its objective: to train artists of a high aesthetic and technical level with an ethical concept, capacity for dreaming, critical vision of the world, deep concern and positive position against injustice and oppression.
“As part of its core mission the AFA uses the medium of filmmaking as a tool for community development to train aspiring artists in all aspects of filmmaking: acting, writing, directing and producing motion pictures all across Africa.”
