AIFF, Canon hold cinematography, photography workshop

Organizers of the 13th Abuja International Film Festival in conjunction with Canon Central and North Africa office, held a cinematography and photography workshop for young Nigerian filmmakers in the basics of Canon DSLR filmmaking techniques and photography. The eight-day training which began on September 28 in Abuja was for 60 shortlisted candidates selected from the […]

Organizers of the 13th Abuja International Film Festival in conjunction with Canon Central and North Africa office, held a cinematography and photography workshop for young Nigerian filmmakers in the basics of Canon DSLR filmmaking techniques and photography.
The eight-day training which began on September 28 in Abuja was for 60 shortlisted candidates selected from the 927 applications received by the organisers. They were trained in the fundamental rudiments of cinematography and Photography.
According to the Strategic Operations Professional of Canon, Katie Simmonds, the workshop comes under the ‘Project Maraisha Initiative’ which is Canon’s expansion into the greater continent of Africa.
She said: “We have established Project Miraisha, a sustainability initiative looking at providing education and training for young people in the areas of professional photography/filmmaking and printing. The objective is to train groups of young Africans in the skills required for them to find sustainable employment or indeed to establish their own business.”
AIFF founder, Fidelis Duker, said the vision of the film festival was to build capacity within the creative sector and also act as a catalyst and platform for economic empowerment of those working in the creative sector.
He said: “There is no way majority of this applicants will ever remain the same after completing this training workshop as we are simply teaching them how to fish rather than giving them fish. They will ultimately garner skills and also become self-sustaining creative entrepreneurs.”
On completion of the Cinematography training, 5 short films will be made and screened during the festival while the photographs of those in the Photography class will be exhibited.
AIFF Executive Director, Events, Temitope Duker, said the festival featured master classes and workshops for the industry stakeholders.