A traditional Zanzibari dhow crosses the horizon near Stone Town, Zanzibar, 19 June 2011

The East African community is awash with fabulous stories itching to be told, and that’s certainly been my impression this week as I’ve led a camera storytelling workshop here at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) running through 26 June 2011. Many times I’ve said that I always receive far more from my overseas workshops than I give in return; the local filmmakers being so grateful for the guidance and insight that I can provide them.

I have noticed however an interesting paradox among the filmmakers pitching their documentary ideas during this morning’s pitching sessions. First, there was the preponderance of misery-themed proposals: the poisoning of a river at a copper mine in Zambia, a massacre of villagers in Kenya in 1926; the rise to power of a warmonger in the Sudan. For Westerners these subjects while interesting hold diminishing appeal; indeed much of the world has grown weary of the near constant tales of woe and despair across the Dark Continent.

I am far more interested in the countless little stories here in Zanzibar and in the rest of Tanzania that far better illuminate the nature of daily life in this part of the world. Several recent polls of the world’s people have consistently shown East Africans to be among the happiest people on earth, far happier, for example, than the Swedes, the French, or the Canadians. Some things are definitely going right about the quality and character of life here, and I for one am dying to see more of those stories, and less of the disease, depravity and colonial victimization subjects that seem to be so dominant among many of the filmmakers.

It will be very interesting to see the finished productions on Sunday night, and see if I’ve had any noticeable impact on the filmmakers in my workshop, not only from the perspective of raw skills and craft, but also from the point of view of the choice of subject matter itself.

Comments are closed.