Gulu filmmakers for Zanzibar festival
Jun 27, 2013
We all know the Ugandan movie industry is still growing. However, that hasn’t stopped some individuals from pouncing at every opportunity that comes with filmmaking, like these three upcoming Ugandan scriptwriters, Christine Awor, Daniel Komakech and Joseph Omagor.
By Steven Odeke
We all know the Ugandan movie industry is still growing. However, that hasn’t stopped some individuals from pouncing at every opportunity that comes with filmmaking, like these three upcoming Ugandan scriptwriters, Christine Awor, Daniel Komakech and Joseph Omagor.
The three participated in a script-writing competition organized by Zanzibar’s International Film Festival (ZIFF) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). Having impressed, they got nods to attend the grand film workshop in Zanzibar, with their their short film script titled “Breaking Walls” a contender.
At the workshop, which is to take place between June 30 and July 4, their script will be in contention to win $1000 if it convinces the jury. Out of the five scripts our script writers are competing with, only three will be professionally enhanced during the festival, and pitched to the jury. The winner will be announced at the ZIFF event on July 16.
Under their umbrella organisation United Youth Entertainment, an organisation of talented youth in filmmaking and graphics based in Gulu, the trio learnt of the competition from a friend in Zanzibar, who cajoled them to participate in the short film competition.
The task was to write a short film about the East African integration and submit it. This task was not as simple, since the three had to hit the streets to do some research about East Africa. In two weeks, they finished their research, wrote the short film and submitted, not expecting anything big.
To their utter shock, they received an email congratulating them, putting them among the five East African winners whose scripts had met the selection criterion.
Their synopsis entailed three east African nationals of different cultures who were invited to a friend’s son’s wedding, boarded the same bus and engaged in a conversation that reveals much about them.
The three instantly got invited to the forthcoming film festival in Zanzibar, but only one, 27-year-old Awor, will attend the all-expenses paid trip to Zanzibar to represent his mates later this month.