The days leading up to a film festival are full of confidence and pride in one’s work as a filmmaker. It’s a huge deal to be selected to screen at any festival, so if your work has been shown on a big screen congratulations!
My short documentary directorial debut happened this October 2018 at the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in NYC. The film “Boda Boda” is a look at the effects of wildlife poaching on the communities bordering the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Specifically the young “Boda Boda” (motorcycle) drivers who are targeted to transport illegal bushmeat and ivory along the Western Corridor of the Serengeti. I spent over a month with the community only 200 meters from the border of the National Park.
Serengeti National Park
It was a beautiful moment to hear the reactions of the audience members after the short screened. The ability to introduce the audience to the former poachers, park ranger, community leader, and the young boys fighting to end transporting ivory is a special aspect of filmmaking. It is why I fell in love with the art of visual storytelling. The responsibility to share a subject’s story with the world is an undertaking that I don’t take lightly. It is a driving force in my work to make people feel seen, heard, and valued when they are watching their story being told on the screen.
Fortunately for me, I also had friends in the audience, so it was extra special for me to be able to share my work with friends. Ask any artist and they will tell you that the support of friends, family, other artists, and really anyone who cares is the biggest compliment in the world.
Lena has been supporting me from the very early days of video storytelling! She also let me film a “Coffee Conversation” segment with her two years ago in NYC that you can watch here.
The hardest part about watching my own work is the need to critique and improve upon my editing or videography skills. This short documentary was edited a year before I began editing for my feature length documentary, so little things like the audio transitions and font/graphics for the captions really bothered me watching it back a year later. However, I was the only one who was criticizing the piece, and I began to look at it as a representation of how far I have come in my career and skills so far.
While most film festivals are not as glamorous as Cannes Film Festival or Sundance, it’s a wonderful feeling to get dressed up to go to the theatre as an audience member, director, editor, producer, etc. at the festival. It’s a sign of respect to all of the hard work that went in to each film being screened at the cinema over the course of the festival (Hence the white boots and vintage dress I’ve been saving for a special occasion such as this one!).
For me, the biggest take away from watching my short documentary in front of a large cinema audience is to be proud of the work you’ve created in every stage of your life and career. We are always evolving, and that is a beautiful thing.
Answering questions after the screening.
BODA BODA
Official Selection: Wildlife Conservation Film Festival 2018