Thanks to many of you I am back in South Africa full time overseeing the visual arts department at the non-profit Kuyasa. We’ve successfully launched a new Level 1 film class of nine dedicated students. Thanks to the continued efforts of my former student Odwa, many of them are starting with a greater knowledge of cameras than the pilot program had in 2008.
After weeks of class work we recently evaluated their first short films, typically the movies that students look back at and laugh, and they are excited to hone their skills. When they sat down for their first personal interviews for the documentary I was truly inspired. We strive to create a very open environment of sharing and vulnerability and that was no different with this class. Students shared openly and honestly and I’m glad for the opportunity to truly know them through this process.
One of my favorite moments in this very busy week happened around the editing bay (sitting in front of our old mac laptop) with a student named Emmanuel. He was one of our first round of directors for their task 2 assignment, which includes their first crack at editing their films. It's a steep learning curve the first time, but to edit their own film is an invaluable lesson in directing as it helps you to think through how you would shoot things differently the next time. There are often shot opportunities missed and they always wish they had more coverage of each scene (shooting from different angles and more close-ups etc). It was so fun to sit down with Emmanuel - take his short film and just teach him one on one. He just soaked up the information, and at moments threw his hands in the air in amazement at how we were able to change and adjust his short to make it that much better. By the time we finished, he turned to me and said, "SisKatie, I'm so proud of myself, cause I've never done anything like this before. I didn't even know that I could do something like this."
It's one of those moments that makes all the work worth it.
It's one of those moments where my sacrifices, big and small fade to the background.
It's one of those moments that you can be proud of the dollars that you send in support of this project.
When passion meets opportunity there is no end to what we're capable of doing together. Thank you for believing in this project, in these students and in me. I'll never be the same.
1 comment:
SisKatie - "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Thank you for painting a picture of what this verse means to us in a tangible way, Katie. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to sacrifice self so God can be glorified. I continue to pray that God will pour out his faithfulness and grace on you while you are there in Kayamandi.
Post a Comment