press release

April 14, 2007 : Maisha Film Lab and Full Frame Institute Join Together for New Initiative in East Africa

Four Workshops, Four Countries; Maisha Film Lab and Full Frame Institute create workshops for young documentary filmmakers in 2007

(Durham)--The Maisha Film Lab and the Full Frame Institute today announce an innovative collaboration that will bring ten-day documentary workshops to four countries in Eastern Africa: Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya beginning in the fall of 2007.

The Maisha Film Lab is a New York-based 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the support and development of visionary cinematographers, directors, editors, screenwriters, and sound mixers in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania) and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka). Founded by filmmaker Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) in 2004, Maisha strives to empower visionary artists from East Africa and South Asia by giving them the tools to tell their stories through film, providing a platform for new and yet-unheard voices to participate in the global discourse. Maisha is also cultivating a self-sustaining film industry in East Africa and South Asia that will cater to and represent the interests of local audiences.

Nancy Buirski, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s founder, CEO and Artistic Director, announces this new venture at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. “One of the Full Frame Institute’s aims has been to foster creative work across continents and cultures, and to share the stories of our global community in the way that only documentary can. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to work with the Maisha Film Lab and honored to foster the work of filmmakers and future filmmakers in these four countries.”

The Maisha Film Lab is proud to collaborate with the Full Frame Institute. “We believe that the art of documentary will be vital in our quest to arm East African filmmakers with the tools to express themselves visually,” says Maisha Founder Mira Nair. "I began my career in documentary and I am always inspired to see the work that Full Frame is doing to promote and bring together diverse artists in the world of documentary filmmaking. A collaboration between the Maisha Film Lab and the Full Frame Institute seemed natural to me, as both organizations are committed to exposing the work of original, powerful, and yet hidden voices. At Maisha, we are expanding our training to include documentary filmmaking, so that East African filmmakers will have a channel through which they can share their stories with the world rather than being the subject of an outsider's lens."

Maisha and Full Frame intend to hold 4 documentary workshops in Maisha’s East African target countries (Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya) starting in the fall of 2007. Fifteen students per workshop will be selected through an application process conducted by an admissions committee. A different renowned documentary filmmaker will preside over each 10-day session, conducting hands-on shooting and editing exercises.

The Maisha Film Lab supports aspiring filmmakers by pairing them with seasoned industry professionals from all over the world. Maisha is more than simply a nonprofit arts organization. Because of the multi-faceted potential of film as a medium for expression, the film lab’s objective of developing the East African film industry has several far-reaching goals. Maisha is deeply concerned with freedom of speech and expression, and it advocates the creation of legal and social conditions in which people can freely express their opinions through film. By training diverse filmmakers throughout the region, the lab allows for a greater number of voices to influence the social discourse.

In 2005, the lab held its first screenwriters’ lab, training ten screenwriters on the craft of writing a feature film script. In 2006, the lab was expanded to include directing participants as well. Now, in 2007, Maisha Film Lab offers training to cinematographers, editors, and sound mixers as well. The lab will now be holding beginners' screenwriting workshops year-round in all of its target countries to reach more people.

The Board of Directors of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival created the Full Frame Institute to house the many outreach and educational components of the Full Frame organization. Many of these components take place at the Festival itself, but are highly mobile and often have a life beyond and outside the four days of the Festival arena. Full Frame was created with the mission to draw attention to the ideas, values, and techniques of documentary filmmaking. By creating labs, workshops and forum-like environments to discuss the messages and challenges in the films we exhibit, the Institute brings people together from diverse backgrounds to focus on the central issues of the times.

This year, Full Frame contributed to New York’s IFC Center’s Stranger Than Fiction Series with a reprise of its 2006 Tribute to Richard Leacock. The Institute was also pleased to exhibit Time Piece, the omnibus film produced by the Full Frame Institute at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. That film had is Turkish Premiere in November at the International 1001 Documentary Film Festival in Istanbul. The Institute also presented a program called Surveillance: Documentary and the Hidden Camera at Duke University, and in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Full Frame created Countdown to Full Frame, a weekly series in Durham, North Carolina of the festival’s award-winning films.

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is produced by Doc Arts Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The presenting sponsors are The New York Times and Duke University.

Contact:

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
919.687.4100
info@fullframefest.org