Nigerian Music Nigeria – On The Power Of Documentary Films

Source: 234Next, August.2010

U.S Filmmakers Bart Weiss and Kim Snyder were recently in Nigeria to attend an American Documentary Showcase organised by the public affairs section of the US Consulate in Lagos and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers.

The event, which took place at the Ozone Cinema, Yaba, Lagos, afforded Nigerian movie directors an opportunity to exchange ideas with the established American documentary film experts. The highlight was the screening of three American documentary films – ‘Come Back to Sudan’ (which documents the lives of three ‘lost boys’ of Sudan and their adoptive white American mother)), ‘Street Fight’ (chronicling the bare-knuckled race for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, between 32 year old Cory Booker and Sharpe James, the four term incumbent mayor) and ‘Wiz Kids’ (the story of three remarkable and passionate scientists who compete in America’s oldest and most prestigious science competition). After each screening the facilitators fielded questions from the audience, consisting of established and emerging Nigerian filmmakers.

A film of truth

In his opening remarks, Bart Weiss, an award winning independent film producer and founder of the Dallas Video Festival, introduced the audience to various techniques of making a documentary, with emphasis on cinéma vérité. Defining the term as ‘a film of truth’, Weiss said, “It involves a camera man following his subject in real life rather than constructing images. The crew follows things as they evolve. It helps you experience the emotion because everything is not based on the imagination of the director”.

Citing ‘Street Fight’ as an example of Cinéma vérité, Weiss added that the intensity or emotions of any story can never be lost if the technique was adopted into use.

Looking beyond the challenges

Whilst challenging young filmmakers to be daring, Kim Synder, who recently co-founded the BeCause Foundation to produce a series of documentaries designed to raise awareness about global issues and inspire philanthropy through the power of film, said: “You do not have to wait until you have sophisticated equipments before you shoot a short film or documentary. Go out and shoot with minimal equipments which you have and you can shoot a state-of-the-art documentary. Start with what you have and collaborate with friends or professionals.”

The Nigerian question

As the discussions progressed, the question about how Nigerian filmmakers could benefit from the expertise of the visiting filmmakers arose. Weiss addressed the issue, saying, “[Nigerian movie practitioners] can benefit through exchange programmes as well learning the movie making techniques of both countries.”

Although the organisers expressed displeasure at the sparsely filled theatre hall, despite the large number of invites sent out, the audience present had more than enough lessons to take away.

As the event wound to a close, Weiss had a last word for upcoming filmmakers: “If you want the government to partner and work with you, it won’t readily happen so you have to be persistent and hard on yourself. Filmmakers have a charge to help and encourage each other to get things going because if you want to do it all by yourself, it is going to be hard.”

Nigerian Music Nigeria