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Having completed its inaugural screenwriting session, Maisha will be holding its second Screenwriters’ Lab and first Directors’ Lab in Kampala, Uganda in August 2006. The deadline for receiving all Lab applications is February 1st, 2006. All application information is located on the Maisha website, www.maishafilmlab.com. Citizens and residents of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania can apply for the program along with citizens of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Created by acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair), Maisha operates under the belief that if we don’t tell our stories, no one will.
The Screenwriters’ Labs are for intermediary writers who are working on feature film projects. It is an annual 10-day workshop providing participants with an opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts under the guidance of experienced visiting mentors. The selected screenwriters each have individual sessions with the mentors, during which they work on revising their screenplays. In addition, participants attend seminars and screenings led by the mentors to refine their storytelling and screenwriting skills.
The Directors’ Labs will also be at an intermediary level for those who are working on developing feature films. The annual Directors’ lab will span 15 days, consisting of informatory sessions on filmmaking, marketing, and distribution in addition to each participant being able to direct the shooting of select scenes from their feature film scripts. Visiting mentors with various specialties- production, direction, cinematography, and editing- will guide the students in preparing and shaping their projects. The goal of the Maisha directors’ lab is to allow the participants to learn the characteristics of a successful director- as opposed to teaching technical minutia.
For the participants, Maisha will cover costs associated with participation, including: travel, accommodations and meals as well as all production materials for the Directors’ Lab.
The Maisha Advisory Committee includes Sofia Coppola, Raoul Peck, Peter Chappell, Karen Cooper, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Spike Lee, Sabrina Dhawan, Liz MacLennan, Mumbi Kaigwa, Amandina Lihamba, Eric Kabera, and Michelle Satter. This group of internationally recognized directors, artists, and academics has been instrumental in supporting Maisha’s mission.
Maisha is financially supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, OSI Development Foundation, the Pannonia Foundation and Home Box Office (HBO). We also receive in kind sponsorship from Moonstone International Screen Labs, the Criterion Collection, Azur, and naomba.com.
Contact: Ms. Musarait Kashmiri, Program Director, maishafilmlab@infocom.co.ug
MAISHA is happy to announce the ten finalists for our inaugural Screenwriters’ Lab to be held in Kampala, Uganda from August 3rd to August 13th, 2005. Maisha, the brainchild of acclaimed director Mira Nair, is a filmmakers’ laboratory for East Africans and South Asians, based on Ms. Nair’s belief that if we don’t tell our stories, no one else will.
Following the March 1st deadline for script submissions, the Maisha team was surprised, even overwhelmed, by the 147 applications that were received. These were subsequently distributed to a 25-member reading committee across East Africa, India, and the USA. After comprehensive analysis and discussion, the Maisha program director compiled a shortlist of 25 candidates who were then asked to submit their complete screenplays. In the second round of judging, an additional reading committee consisting of 10 members carefully selected the 10 finalists. All of the scripts that Maisha received were innovative, creative, and challenging.
The 10 final screenplays are as diverse as their writers. They include a contemporary Ugandan comedy chronicling the transition of an aspiring businessman into a boda-boda (motorbike taxi) driver, a drama detailing the dilemma of an albino girl coming of age in a Tanzanian village, and a story of twin brothers and their struggle to rise out of a life of crime and poverty. A Kenyan screenplay tells the wartime tale of a legendary Kenyan general and the media frenzy that surrounds him, while another follows a young boy’s experiences in boarding school. The scripts from our South Asian candidates span the journey of a young girl with a gift for classical dance to the tragic dissolution of a marriage in modern Mumbai.
The first group of Maisha Screenwriters are:
From East Africa:
· Joanitta Bewulira-Wandera, Uganda, Jordana’s Inheritance
· Geresom A.G. Musamali, Uganda, The Fleas of Ggwangalyange
· Carrie Matiku, Tanzania, The Colour Between
· Abdu Simba, Tanzania, Unbearable
· Cajetan Boy, Kenya, Roho
· Anthony Ambala, Kenya, Chameleons
· Simiyu Barasa, Kenya, When We Were Generals
From South Asia:
· Sabina Ansari, Pakistan, The Colours of Concrete
· Anu Gopal, India, Salangai
· Debashree Mukherjee, India, Dhoop
The Mentors for this year’s lab are Mira Nair, Matthew Robbins, Vishal Bhardwaj, Steve Cohen, Sabrina Dhawan, and Sooni Taraporevala. The intensive ten-day curriculum will include seminars on the craft of screenwriting, rigorous one-on-one evaluation meetings with the mentors, and nightly screenings followed by question-and-answer sessions led by seasoned screenwriters and directors.
In addition, Maisha is seeking applications for the second Screenwriters’ Lab and the first Directors’ Lab to be held in 2006. The deadline for these submissions is February 1, 2006, and the details are available on www.maishafilmlab.com.
Maisha recognizes all the generous individuals who comprise our Advisory Board: Sofia Coppola, Raoul Peck, Peter Chappell, Karen Cooper, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Sabrina Dhawan, Spike Lee, Liz MacLennan, Mumbi Kaigwa, Amandina Lihamba, Eric Kabera, and Michelle Satter. This group of internationally recognized directors, artists, and academics has been instrumental in supporting Maisha’s mission.
The Maisha Foundation is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Open Society Development Fund, the Pannonia Foundation, the Home Box Office (HBO). We also receive in-kind sponsorship from the Moonstone International Film Labs and the Criterion Collection.
Contact: Ms. Musarait Kashmiri, Program Director, maishafilmlab@infocom.co.ug
MAISHA ANNOUNCES DEADLINE FOR FIRST SCREENWRITERS’ LAB FOR EAST AFRICANS AND SOUTH ASIANS
Contact: Ms. Musarait Kashmiri, Program Director, Maisha maishafilmlab@infocom.co.ug
Maisha will be holding its first Screenwriters’ Lab in Kampala, Uganda in August 2005. The deadline for receiving Screenwriters Lab applications is Tuesday, March 1st, 2005. All application information is located on the Maisha website www.maishafilmlab.com. Citizens of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania can apply for the program along with citizens of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Screenwriters’ Labs will be for intermediary Screenwriters who are working on feature film projects. Twelve Screenwriters will be chosen to attend the Lab. The Screenwriters’ Lab will be an eight-day workshop providing participants with an opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts under the guidance of experienced visiting mentors. The selected screenwriters will have individual story sessions with the mentors, during which they will solve problems and brainstorm issues concerning their scripts. In addition, participants will attend seminars, led by the mentors, regarding storytelling craft and screenwriting techniques.
For the participants, Maisha will cover costs associated with participation, including: travel, accommodations and meals.
To help Maisha in its efforts to further the art of filmmaking in East Africa and South Asia the Maisha Advisory Committee includes international directors and personalities including Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, Raoul Peck, Peter Chappell, Karen Cooper, Sabrina Dhawan, Liz McGrath, Bingham Ray and Michelle Satter.
Maisha is funded with the support of Open Society Institute, Pannonia Foundation and Home Box Office (HBO). We also receive in kind sponsorship from Moonstone International Screen Labs.
Storytelling has the power to forge bonds across boundaries in an increasingly global yet fundamentally disconnected world. Now more than ever, at a time when it is critical to foster global understanding, we need to listen to stories from places across our political and cultural borders. Out of a concern that young screenwriters and film directors in East Africa and South Asia do not have access to the professional training and production resources necessary for these storytellers to articulate their visions, filmmaker Mira Nair was inspired to establish Maisha (which means "life" in Kiswahili).
Mira Nair Launches MAISHA, Film Laboratory for East Africans, South Asians
Contact: Ms. Musarait Kashmiri, Program Director, Maisha maishafilmlab@infocom.co.ug
Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair will be present at the 7th ZIFF Festival of the Dhow Countries (June 25-July 4) to unveil her latest project, MAISHA, a film makers laboratory dedicated to developing and supporting visionary screenwriters and directors from East Africa and South Asia. As part of the festival programme, ZIFF will screen Nair's feature films, Monsoon Wedding, Salaam Bombay! and Mississippi Masala, and the new documentary, Still The Children Are Here, directed by Dinaz Stafford and produced by Nair in 2003. Additionally, Nair has been invited to conduct a master-class on her films
at the festival.
MAISHA, (meaning "zest for life" in Kiswahili) provides emerging filmmakers with professional training and production resources to help them hone their storytelling skills and articulate their visions. Through MAISHA, Nair aspires to bring a diverse selection of East African and South Asian stories to both local and global audiences. MAISHA is motivated by the belief that a film which explores the truths and idiosyncrasies of the specifically local often has the power to cross over and become significantly universal.
The first annual MAISHA lab will focus exclusively on screenwriting and is scheduled for August 2005 in Kampala, Uganda. Beginning in August 2006,
the annual lab will include both Directors and Screenwriters. For these labs, MAISHA will select twelve screenwriters and twelve directors from East Africa, South Asia and the respective diaspora communities. Alumni from each lab
are encouraged to apply for successive labs to further develop their projects and progress to production.
Further details about the lab program can be found on the MAISHA website
at www.MAISHAfilmlab.com
Over the span of her extensive career, Nair has championed several programs that encourage a newer generation of filmmakers and artists to tell their own stories and describe their unique experience. Recently, she was invited to be the film mentor for the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative where she will join fellow mentors Jessye Norman, Sir Peter Hall, David ockney, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Saburo Teshigawara. Nair has chosen Aditya Assarat as her protégé and will guide the young Thai writer-director through the process of making his first feature film, Hi-So. She currently lives between Kampala and New York City with her husband, Mahmood Mamdani, and their son, Zohran.
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