Hit two birds with one stone through documentary film production

Documentary film production will not only create a positive impact to the community but also employ a number of youths in the country, the Executive Director of Native Voices International, Sarah Kizza Nsigaye, has revealed.

Between the 5th and 27th May, Native Voices International together with Prof. Will Zavala of Pittsburgh University trained over 25 youths from different parts of Uganda in documentary film production.

The training was at Mourine College in Kireka, Wakiso district.

At the official graduation ceremony held at the National Theatre in Kampala this week, Nsigaye said that through film making, the beneficiaries would be able to earn a living.

“We shall partner with different media houses and make sure that their stories are bought and used because not every media house can afford to send reporters to different parts of the country to produce these documentaries,” she said.

She added that during the training, the grandaunts were given various skills in editing, script and proposal writing, production, voicing and idea creation.

“As part of the training, we grouped them into four members per group and we tasked them to produce a documentary as part of the requirement for graduation which they did” she said.

Nsigaye emphasized that besides creating employment for the youth, they expect to loud the voices of the voiceless through their documentary films.

“This shall help in raising the voices of those who are down at the grass root level since documentaries help in fighting for human rights, social Justice, environmental protection and many others other thing,” she said.

Professor Zavala, who funded the training, said that his main target is to see addressed vital issues that affect the local community through film.

“Unlike entertainment films which aims at creating excitements, our films are aimed at changing communities and that is why we target less developed regions with complex ideas. We chose to begin with the Rwenzori region which experienced a massacre recently,” he said. “Films change people’s ways of thinking and that is why we engage the local communities while producing them.”

At the event four documentaries produced by four groups were premiered and these include; Wasteful charcoal, Basketball, How deaf communicate while seeking for health services and Youth Alcoholism all centred at community based messages.

Native Voices is a non-government organisation that was established to act as platform for raising the voices of people at the grass root level, according to Nsigaye.

“When I was still a reporter, most stories were coming from government and corporate organisation and we decided to start giving priority to local stories through documentary production, “she said.

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