AWFH Activities – Cinematography Workshop 2020

ICAPA builds capacity in African Women Filmmakers

The Women Filmmakers Of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) association merged with the African Women Filmmakers Hub (AWFH) last year to become the Zimbabwean Chapter of the AWFH. The AWFH is an initiative to build capacity in African women filmmakers, with an emphasis on new voices and on providing a career path for African women filmmakers whose expressions and careers have stagnated due to constellations of power in the film industry on the continent and globally. The initiative is currently active in nine African countries, including Zimbabwe. The local chapter has forty-eight members.

      

The first AWFH Zimbabwe activity in 2020 was a basic cinematography workshop conducted at the ICAPA offices.

Participants were recruited to the workshop through a call at the beginning of the year. The workshop was facilitated by ICAPA Technical Director, Olaf Koschke, who selected nine participants from a pool of seventeen applicants.

     

The selected group included participants who had some training in camera operation and those who were new to camera operation, with one male also attending. At least one applicant had completed training in film production in South Africa, but registered for the workshop to refresh her skills due to scarce opportunities to practice in the field in Zimbabwe, particularly for women.

The four-day programme began with an exercise in camera operation, using the new model Sony Alpha 7 III mirrorless camera. Other topics included elementary blocking, lighting for documentary, framing and composition. Both technical and aesthetic aspects of cinematography were engaged with. Participants reported that the exercise was an enlightening opportunity to learn the elements of camera use.