By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Sixteen females have benefited from a training in film making skills at a training conducted at 29 Jones Street in the west of Freetown, by a group of Cinematographers, on Tuesday September 27, 2023. The participants were also certified after they completed the one-week training on technical skills in filmmaking.
The training helped the 16 women to acquire valuable skills in operating cameras, video editing, lighting and acoustics.
In the past few years the film Industry in Sierra Leone, has been a male dominated one especially with regards to the production aspect of it with male filmmakers occupying almost every position, including ‘video and sound editing, camera operating, etc., which has exposed female entertainers to harassment, intimidations and bullying among others.
In a bid to alter that gender imbalance and the negative consequence it produces for women and girls, the group of professional cinematographers which included, Papa Tacho Shaw, Aminata Bockarie, Schwabu Eastwood Kamara and Zachariah Lloyd Sesay, working with the Sierra Leone Adult Education Association (SLADEA), decided to facilitate the one-week free training in film making skills for females.
According to Shaw, the training was not only meant to change the dynamics in the film industry of Sierra Leone, but to also enhance the self-reliance of females in film production in particular and in the society generally.
He said that in the past years, Sierra Leone’s film industry did not have many females who had the necessary technical expertise to make films. “So, we want to bring changes to our film industry. Training females to become professional filmmakers will make our film industry look beautiful as compared to other nations,” he said.
According to him, the project is an annual event that is aimed to reduce the rate of unemployment in Sierra Leone and equip unskilled female youths with useful skills that would aid their survival and help them contribute to the development of Sierra Leone.
Shaw encouraged parents to support their children to do whatever they love doing. He emphasized, “Because parents were not allowing their children to follow their dreams, we had a lot of unprofessional individuals in our institutions in Sierra Leone, and every day they are causing damages in those institutions. Today we have unprofessional doctors, nurses, teachers, among others. People will never apply the best of their abilities in doing what they don’t like. So forcing them to pursue careers in what they don’t like, will not only affect them as individuals, but will also affect society.”
Nancy B. Kamara, one of the participants, applauded the facilitators for having accorded the opportunity to acquire the skills.
She added that empowering females is like empowering the whole nation. “The world has come to a point where women should not be dependent on men to get everything done as well as for their happiness. Women are strong people. In fact, they can do better than what men can do. In Sierra Leone, many of us women usually step back because we lack the platforms. But since the platforms have started coming, we can no more step back and leave everything to men,” she explained.
Kamara, who is 17, encourages youths, particularly females to acquire as much skills as they could, and urges parents to support their kids to follow their dreams. “We have many potential graduates from many renowned institutions who are living in the streets without jobs. Had they learned some skills?” she concluded.