15 young Rwandan filmmakers are being trained in screenwriting at the 6th Maisha Screenwriting lab organised by Rwanda Arts Initiative in collaboration with Maisha Film Lab, a non-profit initiative for East African filmmakers. 

During the eight-day training that started on July 21 in Kigali, selected participants are working with mentors to refine their work and broaden their horizons on the film business and the art of filmmaking. The winning script will receive an award of USD 5,000 to produce a short film.

According to Fibby Kioria, the programme director of Maisha, the purpose of the lab is to help participants develop 7 to 10 pages script, to be able to develop their skills in screen writing.

Sam Sangwa, programme coordinator of Rwanda Arts Initiative, said the training builds capacity for young cineastes to master how to build a story.

"A good film comes from a good script. Script writing is the backbone for good cinema. How do you build a narrative, make it interesting? 15 young Rwandans applied and they are receiving coaching and this will contribute to upgrading the audiovisual industry in Rwanda,” he said.

"Rwanda is endowed with different TV stations that need content. And content can only come from the creative industry. TV stations are paying taxes and this content can help them attract an audience and get advertisements. If we have 15 new films each year, we are developing the industry,” he said. Augustina Urwibutso, one of the participants, said the training will help improve her career.

"I used to do things randomly. I could not justify why I’ve inserted a certain event. We have realised a lot of things to change, especially in film sequence. It’s really interesting,” she said.

Based in Uganda and runs programmes in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, Maisha has been working in the region since 2005 and 700 filmmakers have since been trained.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw