Cine Femme: The nursery bed of female filmmakers in Rwanda

IN Hollywood, women make the list of some of the best film makers. Mira Nair, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston and Maya Angelou among others are some of the female stars at the helm of Hollywood. However, back home, the film industry is just taking off. We don’t have household names when it comes to women in filmmaking. But a group of Rwandan females with a passion for film making are determined to change the status quo. Cine Femme, an association of Rwandan women filmmakers is at the helm of nurturing a new breed of female film makers. Already five of the association’s films are going to feature prominently at the Zanzibar Film Festival scheduled for June 14-22, 2014. “Cine Femme was founded in 2013 by two ladies in the filmmaking arena,” says Odile Uwimbabazi, the vice president. “For long, women have taken a back seat because they were new in the industry. This made it difficult because it wasn’t just about us but also the generation to come. How can young ladies get encouraged to join filmmaking when there is no substantial output from us?” Uwimbabazi asks. With this in mind, Uwimbabazi and her partner, Jacqueline Mulekeyisoni, started an association of women in filmmaking. Gradually, the association has grown to seven women experts who today share experience and knowledge with other upcoming filmmakers. “When we came together, we learnt a lot from each other and things got better and easier to handle because everyone of us had an advantage,” she says cheerfully. With this, the ladies decided that it would be selfish to keep that knowledge to themselves. They reached out to young potential talent to learn a thing or two in filmmaking and also make a difference and perhaps help them make a living from film making. “We get raw talent; train them on how to write a proper script and how to move from one stage to another. Basically they learn everything there is to know from script writing to shooting and editing,” Uwimbabazi adds. The last training they conducted lasted three weeks and they trained seven beneficiaries who are currently working on projects of their own. Swaga and Swing, a teenage movie and one of Cine Femmes bestsellers, is directed by Peace Kinani who attributes her success to the training and help she got from Cine Femme. “I had directed a movie before called UmugoreW’umutima and it was shown during the Christian Film festival. It was from this film that Cine Femme saw my potential and decided to call me in December last year. I got first hand training on camera, script writing and effective directing,” Kinani says. Kinani describes the training as a transition from amateur filmmaking to professional cinematography. “After getting this training, I revised my ways of making films and my next film had a lot of maturity in it. I have greatly improved in script writing and directing,” Kinani explains. Through Cine Femme, Kanani has found it easy to develop her filmmaking skills and is now turning her dream into reality. “Now I am being called for international festivals and I feel like I have greatly developed. I have learnt a lot and hope to make my fans proud in my next films,” she says with a smile. Swaga and Swing got its motivation from Kinani’s desire to pass on a message about teenage pregnancy. She believes film is a very good way to communicate with the youth. Another beneficiary of Cine Femme is 14-year-old Magnifique Nsanzemariya, the brain behind Kazi ni Kazi, one of this year’s best sellers as well and also featuring at the Zanzibar Film Festival. However, Nsanzemariya is away at school. Tahirih Uwimbabazi, the producer and director behind the short film The Sorrow, says she is what she is today because of Cine Femme. “I had a dream to become a film director and was very interested in pictures and had even started working on some. It became very hard for me though but when I joined Cine Femme, it’s like I got a scholarship to aid me in making more films,” Uwimbabazi says. She got first hand training from experts who had been in the industry for some time and this was vital as she was just starting out. “I was taught how to write a good script and how to go about many of the challenges that came my way. Basically they gave me and other new film makers the experience that has made film making easy for us today,” Uwimbabazi adds. Being a producer and director, the need to have the difference between the two explained comes naturally. “A director has to know the film inside-out, totally understand it because he/she is the lead on everything that goes on. On the other hand, the producer is the one that puts their money on all expenditures that are incurred during the shooting of the film, and hopes to have his return on investment later,” Uwimbabazi explains. Much as there is a lot of success registered, Odile Uwimbabazi says the association still faces many challenges. “We are preparing another training episode soon, but this time we want it to be much better. We used a lot of our funding and time in the past but we are thinking of other alternatives to make the next training an even bigger success,” the VP of the association says. Much as there is difficulty with logistics, the upcoming filmmakers sometimes also make it very hard for the trainers. “Filmmaking isn’t a very easy industry to venture in; it needs a lot of patience, time and commitment. Sometimes this discourages young filmmakers and they feel like giving up. When they drop out we also feel discouraged at times but the great team we built is very optimistic and it keeps them moving,” she says. Cine Femme is currently organising a women’s film festival soon and it will be the second in Africa after the Fespaco Festival in Cameroon. Is there a future for Rwandan women filmmakers? For long, there were just a few ladies in the film industry but today they are competing with men at international level. With different associations like Cine Femme, ladies have shown a lot of maturity and professionalism in the films they produce. Just a few months back, the films produced were so good that they are going to feature in the Zanzibar Film Festival. Joel Karekezi, award winning film maker ****************************************** Women put a lot of passion in what they do. They are patient and pay attention to detail. I think with the growing industry they have shown a lot of effort towards its development. We are going to see a lot of great things come out of film with ladies and gentlemen all showing the need for film in Rwanda and Africa. Fiona Uwayezu, actress ********************************************** I think there is a great future for women in cinema. We have seen the development of associations like Cine Femme, a recently recognised association dedicated to the promotion of female Rwandan filmmakers. Their five short films are evidence of the growing relevance of the film sector within Rwandan society as well as the important role played by women artists. Dr Peter Stepan, Director, Goethe Institute Rwanda

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Cine Femme: The nursery bed of female filmmakers in Rwanda