There is hope that the future of Rwanda’s film industry lies in the right hands with lots of efforts being put in empowering youth with technical and professional skills in filmmaking. One of the projects is the recently launched ‘Tumenye Cinema’.

Funded by European Union, the project is being implemented by Mashariki Africa Film Festival (MAFF) in partnership with Goethe Institut with an objective to empower young filmmakers with creative and technical skills, create a platform for collective action focusing on domestic content creation, promote self-employment while encouraging self-expression through own story-telling and reach 400 unemployed youth with an interest in joining the film industry.

Loosely translated as ‘Let’s Know Cinema’, the project started with 200 aspiring filmmakers from Musanze and Huye Districts and empowers them with skills varying from directing, cinematography, scriptwriting, acting, sound and editing as well as cooperative management, among other skills.

Launching the project on Wednesday, May 19, in Musanze District, Northern Province, Tresor Senga, the Executive Director of MAFF, which regularly organises annual film festivals that brings together different renowned filmmakers from across the globe, said the project can only produce positive results if the skills exchange during the series of training held on a number of occasions are well put into action.

"Through this project, we are looking forward to having more talented filmmakers in this particular film industry. With the skills, they are getting from the training centers established under this project, we look forward to seeing them make the best of the skills in competing well on the filmmaking market and contribute to the development of the sector at large,” said Senga.

In January this year, MAFF, through the ‘Tumenye Sinema’ project, established a film training center through which a number of young and aspiring filmmakers are trained with various skills ranging from production, directing and scriptwriting, editing, cinematography among other skills.

During the project launch, the center, which is home to 107 students, received new filming kits to help them during practice.

Aimable Twahirwa, the Director of Cultural Promotion at the Ministry of Youth and Culture, hailed the project’s mission to empower youth with capacity building in filmmaking towards a better future for not only the film sector but the whole creative industry.

Twahirwa said the Ministry will keep working with stakeholders in the creative industry like MAFF to provide guidance and support for the development of culture, arts and heritage.

"The creative domain in Rwanda, especially the film industry is one of the potential areas that attracts a big number of young people. We are committed to supporting this industry as one of the aspects of the economy in creating jobs and generating incomes that contribute to the country’s sustainable development,” he added.

Nicola Bellomo, the Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Rwanda hailed the MAFF for the impact the project is already having on the beneficiaries and pledged to keep supporting the film industry in pushing for job creation to a bigger number of industry players.

"There is potential in Rwanda’s cultural sector and the ambitious development objectives of Rwanda, we see arts and culture as the space and, thanks to this project, we’re going to contribute our support to make arts and culture not just as an entertainment industry but as a sector of the economy as well,” Bellomo said.

'Tumenye Sinema’ is a four-year project that started in January this year and will run until 2024. At least 200 young filmmakers from the Musanze and Huye Districts are being empowered under the project which also targets to benefit the same number in the districts of Muhanga and Rubavu by the end of this year.

Bellomo hands over the filming equipment to a student being trained in filmmaking under Tumenye Sinema project.

L-R: MAFF Executive Director, Tresor Senga, Aimable Twahirwa, the Director of Culture at the Ministry of Youth and Culture, EU Ambassador to Rwanda Nicola Bellomo, Musanze District Mayor, and Catherine Hey of Goethe Institute.