By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
In a bid to empower film makers in Sierra Leone, ‘We Own TV’, a local media organisation in the country, is planning to disburse a $60,000grant to seven film makers in the country.
Arthur Pratt, Co-founder, We Own TV, told a presser in Freetown that the amount,equalled Le 360 million, was meant for individual documentary film makers, who had sent in proposals of documentary projects in February 2016, to be implemented during the “We Own TV Story Challenge”.
He said the competition was part of a year-long mentorship programme which would also provide grants for documentary film makers in three West Africa Countries - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. He added that the support was part of their contribution to the post Ebola effort intended to support governments of the three affected nations in the Mano River Union basin.
Pratt explained that a total of 17 proposals had been received from film makers in the three countries and ten out of that number were shortlisted but only seven were able to make it to the finals.
At the end of the competition, three winners emerged and the others were runner ups to the winners, noting that they were all film makers based in Sierra Leone.
“The aim of the story challenge was to select a number of brilliant ideas for documentary films and further empower the directors of these story ideas with both technical and financial support for the realisation of their goals,” Pratt said.
He disclosed that the project was implemented with title: “Now the healing begins”, which aimed at using the stories of film makers as a means of national healing.
The ‘We Own TV’ executive said his organisation was supported by a partner based in the United States of America, who saw the need to provide grant to independent and creative film makers, that wish to explore the area of storytelling as a means of providing a platform for innovation and promoting freedom of speech and expression in the three countries.
Lansana Mansaray, Production Manager of ‘We Own TV’, said the competition was new in the country because many film makers were limited to film productions and were not used to making documentaries.
He said the process had been highly competitive in the past month, because it was not only meant for Sierra Leoneans but also for other nations in the sub region
“This competition was quite a bit stiff and a tense one but most of the winners came from Sierra Leone because Sierra Leoneans naturally are story tellers and have a lot to say about what is happening in their lives and in our country”, Mansaray said
Commenting on the process of selection of winners, Mansaray said, the process was genuine and very transparent, citing that selection of the winners was done by the Executive Director of ‘We Own TV’, Banker White, who is based in California with a panel of judges abased in the United States of America
Winners for the 2016 story challenge were: ‘Life After the Army’, directed byJohn Solo;‘ Hole in my Heart backyard’ by Director George Lewis;‘Bridging Communities’ by Director Michael Kargbo.
Runners up were: ‘The Devils Stone’ by Director Mohamed Conteh;‘Okada’ by Director Mohamed Sheriff;‘ The Journey’ by Director Michaela Sellu; and ‘Risk Life’ by Director Amara Lugbou Kamara.
A winner of the grant, director of the film ‘The Journey’, Michaela Sellu said she was pleased and proud, being a woman, to have been selected among men in the competition.
“I know majority of film makers in Sierra Leone are focused on feature film, but let’s take documentary seriously because documentaries can help us tell our stories and other stories that are of human interest”, she urged.
She encouraged other female film makers to endeavor to do documentaries.
The winners would undergo a week-long training which was scheduled to commence on Monday 2 May 2016 and they would receive individual funding to start their respective projects after the training.
(C) Politico 03/05/16
