2015 was a good year and turning point for budding filmmaker Deve Shema. He attended a filmmaking workshop organised by the Maisha Film Lab, and the knowledge and skills he acquired from the workshop emboldened him in his resolve to pursue a career in film.
2015 was a good year and turning point for budding filmmaker Deve Shema. He attended a filmmaking workshop organised by the Maisha Film Lab, and the knowledge and skills he acquired from the workshop emboldened him in his resolve to pursue a career in film.
From the tender age of eight, Shema exhibited an interest in motion pictures and frequently patronised makeshift cinemas, where he loved to watch Hollywood movies with Kinyarwanda audio translations.
Today, he is steadily building his profile as a film director, producer, and screenwriter.
Running, his first film, came shortly after that filmmaking workshop in 2015. Running is a short fiction film that portrays the life of Victor Mporera, a deaf- mute, whose mother is languishing in coma in hospital and whose father is in prison. Realising that he is surrounded by so many problems, he decides to work hard and become an athlete in the hope of salvaging his suffering family. It’s the typical ‘disability is not inability’ themed film.
"It’s a fictional story that opened doors for me and I started engaging other filmmakers who started their careers before me,” he explains.
Since 2015, Shema has worked with seven short films in different capacities –as producer, location manager, and assistant director.
This month he will be travelling to Egypt to attend a film directing workshop at the 6th Luxor African Film Festival in the Egyptian city of Luxor from March 10-22.
The workshop will be conducted by Haile Gerima, an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. Thereafter, he intends to embark on the shooting of his next short film.
"I had planned to shoot my short film this January, but because of the festival I had to postpone it. I already have the script and everything is set. I plan to share the knowledge I will acquire in Egypt with friends because I do not work alone,” he explained.
"Going to the festival is a blessing to us since we’re still upcoming. We applied last year in November and December and submitted scripts for our short films and were selected together with Moise Ganza (another young Rwandan filmmaker).”
The two will spend one week at the film directing workshop, and the other week at the festival proper.
A third Rwandan filmmaker, Mutiganda wa Nkunda, was also invited to the festival, courtesy of his short film, La Femme Nue, (The naked woman).
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