Students learn filming skills

THE MANENBERG Media Company has produced its first group of film school graduates. The 11 students learnt filming skills in eight days and told their own stories in front of and behind the camera.

The process culminated in a screening last week at Jou Ma Se Kombuis, a local event space, where family and friends got to appreciate their work last week.

An initiative of the Tree of

Life Church, project co-ordinator Freddie Reed said the programme was intensive and focused on documentary film-making.

The group learnt the value of teamwork, camera work, lighting, directing and interviewing.

Reed said: “Their films were so good. The students were so hardworking and passionate.”

The class included four women and seven men, aged 19 to 35, all from the surrounding neighbourhood. They were divided in three groups, with participants sharing their stories and selecting the strongest to be made into a film.

The films included a teen’s journey to becoming a member of the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra; a young man overcoming the loss of his parents, escaping gangsterism and striving for a better life; and a young man who came close to a professional rugby career until he was injured, but still persevered.