New York / Kampala – December 16th, 2009

Maisha Film Lab is proud to announce the inaugural session of our Script Mentorship Program.  This exciting initiative, developed with Columbia University’s School of the Arts, partners Maisha alumni with graduate students in the SoA’s prestigious Film Division.
 
Starting January 15, 2010, advanced screenwriters from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda can submit their feature length screenplays to Maisha for consideration.  Four finalists will be selected and each assigned to a graduate film student at Columbia University. During a 6-month period, the Columbia Mentors will remotely guide the East African writers through the process of refining their work.

“I am constantly inspired by the talent and dedication I see in Maisha’s students.  Our partnership with Columbia University School of the Arts provides invaluable support to these filmmakers as they continue to develop local cinema at a high standard.” says founder Mira Nair. 
 
Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) founded the Maisha program in 2005 to offer training and technical support to filmmakers in East Africa. Now completing its fifth year in operation, Maisha has offered scholarships to over 250 students in the fields of screenwriting, directing, producing, sound design, editing, cinematography, and acting.

Columbia University School of the Arts awards the Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts and Writing and a Masters of Arts in Film Studies. The School is a thriving, diverse community of artists from around the world who have the talent, vision, and commitment to become exceptional artists. The faculty is comprised of acclaimed and internationally renowned artists, film and theatre directors, writers of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, playwrights, producers, critics and scholars. Every year the School of the Arts presents exciting and innovative programs for the public including performances, exhibitions, screenings, symposia, a film festival, and numerous lectures, readings, panel discussions and talks with artists, writers, critics and scholars.

“Columbia University School of the Arts is delighted to participate in the excellent work of Maisha Film Lab,” says Carol Becker, Dean of the School of the Arts.  ”I have no doubt that the opportunity to work as mentors will be as rich and valuable an experience for School of the Arts’ film students as it will be for the Maisha Lab participants.”

Applications are available on Maisha’s website: www.maishafilmlab.com or by emailing maishafilmlab@infocom.co.ug after January 15th.

Application deadline is February 28th, 2010.

Calling all filmmakers, media artists/scientists! The Banff New Media Institute, ZER01: The Art and Technology Network, and the New Frontier initiative announces The Locative Cinema Commission (Deadline August 3rd)

The Commission seeks work that engages people using place as a key element of the experience. Employ any platform that shares a vision of place will be considered, from cell phones to the cinema black box, from GPS to handheld, from distributed to ambient.

For information & application information http://zero1.org/press/releases/banff-zero1-sundance.

Click here to download pdf

Maisha is pleased to announce the Technical Crew Participants:

Victor Dimo Okello
Jennifer Gatero
Anothony Njeri Thandi
Ayuub Kasasa Mago
Consodyne Buzabo
Dilman Dila
James Gayo
Kwezi Kaganda Ruhinda
Wanjiru Kairu

Congratulations!

Maisha is pleased to announce the 2006 Participants:

Screenwriters:
Sarah Muhoho, Kenya
James Gayo, Tanzania
Dilman Dila, Uganda
Kaya Kagium, Uganda
Vikram Balagopal, India
Ritesh Batra, India

Directors:
Robert Bresson, Kenya
Cajetan Boy, Kenya
Joanitta Bewulira-Wandera, Uganda
Carol Kamya, Uganda
Gilbert Ndahayo, Rwanda
Ishaan Trivedi, India

All shortlisted candidates have been contacted already, and finalists will be listed by June 10th.

The deadline to apply for Maisha’s 2006 Screenwriters and Directors Labs has been EXTENDED to FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2006. Applications MUST BE RECEIVED by this new deadline.

Application Form (in pdf) [html] [txt] for the 2006 Directors Lab

Application Form (in pdf) [html] [txt] for the 2006 Screenwriters Lab

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.

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