How’s this for an idea: creating a film school in the heart of the Kibera slum.
How’s this for a first impression: drive down a narrow dirt alley, pull the parking break, open the iron gate and duck through the narrow entrance of a small, unremarkable building that opens onto a simple room with pale fluorescent light, a simple table and some plastic chairs….and a brand new iMac computer.
In the next room, a young man from Kibera is editing a clip for Kibera TV, which tells stories about what’s really going on in Kibera – all the videos are available on YouTube.
This is all the work of the Hot Sun Foundation, whose founder Nathan Collett, made the award-winning film Kibera Kid and whose latest feature film, Togetherness Supreme, is screening in Nairobi tomorrow night and is on the film festival circuit.
You can listen to the splashy CNN story here, but I was more moved by Josphat, one of the young men who has been trained in film-making, scriptwriting and video editing by the HotSun foundation. This is a 40 second video I shot of him yesterday talking to our group – his personality, his energy, his love of film overwhelmed me and filled me with joy.
Hi there,
My husband and I started a nonprofit production company called GoodMakers Films (www.goodmakersfilms.org), after 20+ years in the commercial and ad agency business.
GoodMakers Films empowers extraordinary charities to reach a global audience through short documentaries.
A recent subject of one of our films was featured on The Huffington Post along w/ our film- Dr Frank: The Bush Doctor.
Have a look here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-roe/running-to-your-passionit_b_753013.html?ref=email_sharehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-roe/running-to-your-passionit_b_753013.html?ref=email_share
Within 1 day of our Dr Frank film circulating, a retiring Belgium doctor saw the film and donated high end ultra sound equipment worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dr Frank’s medical charity in Tanzania has been flooded with offers of support and donations. Fantastic.
We are big fans and followers of your blog (and Seth Godin- which is how I found you) and would love to offer our film services to some of Acuman’s social projects in Africa and elsewhere. We are scheduled to film for a few nonprofits in Kenya and Tanzania next summer and could cover some of your favorite projects while there.
I’ve followed some of the Acuman projects and have always been inspired and amazed. We would LOVE to create short docs (5-7 mins) of some of your projects to give your donors (and fans) an immersive experience in where their money goes and how it’s changing the lives of others.
We look forward to sharing more information about what we do.
Asante
Tilo Ponder & Cris Blyth
Tilo Ponder
Executive Director
GoodMakers Films
(310) 606-2455 studio/fax
(310) 922-2407 mobile
http://goodmakersfilms.org
GoodMakers Films receives production support from sister company MonkeyChi Studios.
Sasha,
Thanks for visiting! Looks like you enjoyed your visit!