Maisha will be holding its first Screenwriters' Lab in Kampala, Uganda in August 2005. The deadline for receiving Screenwriters Lab applications is Tuesday, March 1st, 2005.
All application information is located on the Maisha website
www.maishafilmlab.com. Citizens of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania can apply for the program along with citizens of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Screenwriters' Labs will be for intermediary Screenwriters who are working on feature film projects. Twelve Screenwriters will be chosen to attend the Lab. The Screenwriters' Lab will be an eight-day workshop providing participants with an opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts under the guidance of experienced visiting mentors. The selected screenwriters will have individual story sessions with the mentors, during which they will solve problems and brainstorm issues concerning their scripts. In addition, participants will attend seminars, led by the mentors, regarding storytelling craft and screenwriting techniques.
For the participants, Maisha will cover costs associated with participation, including: travel, accommodation and meals.
To help Maisha in its efforts to further the art of filmmaking in East Africa and South Asia, the Maisha Advisory Committee includes international directors and personalities including Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, Raoul Peck, Peter Chappell, Karen Cooper, Sabrina Dhawan, Liz McGrath, Bingham Ray and Michelle Satter.
Maisha is funded with the support of Open Society Institute, Pannonia Foundation and Home Box Office (HBO). We also receive in kind sponsorship from Moonstone International Screen Labs.
Storytelling has the power to forge bonds across boundaries in an increasingly global yet fundamentally disconnected world. Now more than ever, at a time when it is critical to foster global understanding, we need to listen to stories from places across our political and cultural borders. Out of a concern that young screenwriters and film directors in East Africa and South Asia do not have access to the professional training and production resources necessary for these storytellers to articulate their visions, filmmaker Mira Nair was inspired to establish Maisha (which means "life" in Kiswahili).
For More Information, contact :
Ms. Musarait Kashmiri,
Program Director, Maisha
E-mail:
[email protected]
Posted on Saturday 6 Nov 2004
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