Rwandan filmmaker Fisca Jean Paul Habimana is eyeing an international award after his movie ‘Mugisha’ was nominated among the 97 finalists vying for prizes at the 2021 Focus On Ability (FOA) Short Film Awards.

Organised in Sydney, Australia, the annual film festival, in its 13th edition, is designed to encourage filmmakers to focus on the ability of people with disability.

The idea to produce ‘Mugisha’ came about last year when the first Covid-19 lockdown was lifted.

At the time, he met a deaf couple and was intrigued to know how they cope and how they raise their child who can speak and hear.

"The story of my movie is inspired by a true story. The couple cannot speak nor can they hear but their child can. As a filmmaker, I realised that this couple has a good story to tell the world, that’s how I came up with the idea to do a short film about them,” Habimana tells Weekender. 

Habimana, 30, has been in filmmaking since 2012. He works on different advertorial and other multimedia content with NGOs and local museums under his multimedia company Itara Films.

He may be a university graduate in business-related studies that he pursued in Cyprus, but Habimana’s passion for filmmaking kept him in the zone to document life-changing stories.

He submitted ‘Mugisha’, which is loosely translated as ‘Blessing’, to the Focus on Ability Short Film Awards to advocate for people with disabilities and use the international platform to tell the story of the couple to the world.

The five-minute film is now among 87 movies that stand a chance to win a prize in this year’s edition where it is contesting in the ‘International documentary’ category. But to win, Habimana needs people’s support by voting for his film ‘Mugisha’ here.

The voting exercise started on August 10 and will run until August 16 at midnight, Sydney time. To decide the winners, films are judged by a professional judging panel and an online voting process.

The film with most international online votes will win 5,000 Australian Dollars UD while the judges’ choice in both ‘short film’ and ‘documentary’ categories will take home the prize worth the same amount as the movie with highest votes.

About FOA film festival

This is the 13th consecutive year that NOVA Employment presents the Focus on Ability Short Film Festival.  

The film festival asks filmmakers to "Focus on the Ability” of people with a disability and tell a story on film for the world to view.

In 2009, the festival came to life with a belief in the ability of people with disability, and the goal of bringing that belief to the world through the medium of film.

Martin Wren, the brains behind the festival, recognised the power of film in challenging people’s fixed beliefs and perceptions about the lives and abilities of people with disability around the world.

The Focus on Ability Film Festival is for people of all talent levels with many first time filmmakers taking out major prizes.