Ok, I'm not going to be a film star in Africa. It's not as if I was hoping that this week would be my breakthrough moment, but it appears that my too white skin doesn't bode well for a Tanzanian casting call.
The class Barry is leading involves making two short films a day. After creating a storyboard (as well as a title, tagline, and poster) everyone takes off to shoot. Today I was invited to join one of the groups. Each team member will either act or film. My team looked at me (being the wrong color) and said I could be the director. At last, I'm in charge of something! I was really good at saying 4-3-2-1-action. Nothing makes you bond with people more than having a deadline and a common project. Our movie, Beautiful Liar, involved a lady with multiple boyfriends who each found out about the other in the closing scene of our 60-second academy contender. In fact, the class chose it as is the basis for the final feature our class will show at the closing night festivities at ZIFF (Zanzibar International Film Festival). Now I'll be able to say I am a filmmaker who has a film that was played at a film festival....just don't ask me for too much detail or you'll know I'm a fraud :)
There are many immigrant stories in the films at ZIFF. Another touching film called Boi (It means fight) involved two young boys who collect scrap metal to help their family survive in Belgium. At the end of the film, the older brother asked his young sibling to punch him. He wanted to tell their dad they were robbed of their daily earnings. Now his younger brother could attend the little summer camp he so wanted to attend. I'm keeping up with my daily dose of a tear.
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