Kwetu’s film production training to yield movie economy

Kwetu Film Institute also known as the Rwanda film institute on May 3rd announced the introduction of the first ever long course training on the fundamentals of film and TV production in Rwanda under the support of the Germany government, a development expected to contribute enormously to the growth of a movie economy in Rwanda.

The course cordially managed by the Rwandan school and their Germany counterparts is known to the codename, Rwanda Media Project.
The first in take into the course will be opened for interested candidates to register, in July of this year.

According to Eric Kabera, one of Rwanda’s prominent film personalities and the founder of Kwetu Film Institute, the two year long Rwanda Media Project course intends to build a larger pull of picture industry professionals in the runner up to turning this relatively barren sector into an economically viable one in the near future.

“You cannot produce good quality films without good producers and for that matter well trained technicians. This is what we intend to do through the two year training we have introduced so that we can possibly turn Rwanda’s movie industry from just being a source of entertainment to a more economically viable sector that will contribute largely to the economy,” Kabera offered.

The Rwanda Media Project according to Mr. Kabera was sought after for a long time but constraints of both financial requirements and technical skills put it off for a while until the Germany Government offered support.
“TV and film production schools are very expensive undertakings, one that most certain we could not pull off all by ourselves. The equipment itself is worth millions, not to mention the expertise required to train the learners which we could not get anywhere in Rwanda.”

In support, the Germany Government offered the Kwetu School all necessary equipment in addition to two production professionals to help impart the required skills to the learners.

Based on the interest to give hands on skills to the trainees, the two year course will take in only 15 students who will benefit from intensive training and practice. The tuition according to Kabera will be around US$2000 annually.

Besides the two year course, Rwanda Media Project has a second component which involves workshops to be conducted in the benefit of people already operating in Rwanda’s picture industry.

This particular component focuses on yielding a more skilled workforce in the industry which will be in position to release quality products that can lure local and international market interest in Rwanda’s film products.
Elaborating on the workshop component of the Rwanda Media Project, Professor Klaus Keil said, “We will take the beneficiaries through all the various steps in producing a film, right from conception of the idea to script writing, putting together the crew and all the way to when the product is marketed and distributed.”

Klaus is Production Management teacher at the Konrad Wolff University for Film in Potsdam-Babeldsberg in Germany.
According to the Senior Advisor International Cooperation and Film and TV Business Development and Coordinator for the Rwanda Media Project on behalf of the Germany government, Martin Brandes, the subsequent intentions of the trainings is to foster Rwanda’s picture industry to becoming economically viable, and thus be in positioned to provide enormous jobs to Rwanda’s youth.

“All that matters most when it comes to business is making sure that the entity makes economic sense. Thus it should not just be referred to as the film industry but rather the film economy,” the man who refers to himself as a “film merchant” advised.

From just organizing the annual Rwanda film festival and later to offering short courses on TV and film production which have undoubtedly had a meaningful contribution to producing the current skill level in the industry, Kwetu is going even broader; presenting a full-time film production school for the first time in Rwanda.