By Susan Krashinsky
The woman’s eyes are luminous as she talks about her parents’ death. She shrugs. “We move on, right?”
This is just one of the images that flashed across the screen recently at Library and Archives Canada, during the Canadian premiere of the Burundi Film Centre.
The BFC’s pilot project allowed experienced filmmakers to share their knowledge with 36 Burundian students, most of whom had never touched a camera before. The country has no film schools and relatively low media literacy.
“We’re currently a small team, but we have big goals,” co-founder Christopher Redmond told the audience.
The introductions took place in English and French, a linguistic divide that shaped the BFC’s teaching dynamic. Redmond said it was daunting to teach in French, a language that didn’t come easily to the self-proclaimed “prairie boy.”
Burundi has two official languages: French and Kirundi. “We wanted to give them a chance to make their own stories, in their own language,” said Redmond. “Film conventions are the same all over the world. The only difference is the actual story, and the language is its strength.”
The project began as a result of Redmond’s participation in the Rwanda Initiative, a Carleton University media training project in Rwanda.
While there in September 2006, Redmond met Rwandan CNN freelance videographer Raymond Kalisa, who had an idea to teach filmmaking to the youth of Burundi.
Redmond and Kalisa launched the BFC last year with the help of Concordia student Sabrina Guerrieri and Ottawa photographer and filmmaker Bridget Farr. The organizers had no financial backing, aside from what they could dig out of their own pockets.
Over the course of six weeks, the students all wrote screenplays and then worked together to turn five of the best into short films. Each film had a budget of just $100 US.
Rudy Kimvuidi’s film “Bigger Plans” centres on a young man whose dreams of studying architecture collide with the reality of his family’s financial needs.
“The world doesn’t know much about this country,” said Kimvuidi in an e-mail written in French. “If they do have an image of Burundi, it’s mostly negative – a country of refugees. The BFC lets us shine a light on the positive side: the Burundi of everyday life, a Burundi where people are ready to grow, and to face life’s challenges.”
The films didn’t ignore the negative side of life, however.
About half of the students’ scripts dealt with rape and many more touched on abuse, HIV, and the life of refugees.
But there were also love stories, and one simple tale of a boy named after a basket.
Once the films were completed, they were shown in the streets around the capital city of Bujumbura. The travelling festival attracted crowds of up to 1,000 people whose response to the films was immediate. Gasps, raucous laughter and audible commentary on the characters’ actions was common in Burundi, said Redmond. The Canadian audience was shyer but still enthusiastic.
Ironically, the screening in Ottawa on Wednesday night was for the benefit of a program that no longer exists in Burundi. The BFC was a pilot project and does not have a permanent office or ongoing programs in the country. Redmond hopes to change that.
“This is just phase one,” he said. “We proved it could be done. Now we want a sustainable presence there.”
Kimvuidi said he also hopes this program will continue. “It’s all about the development of knowledge, of culture, and of another world.”