Young film writers get chance

Poliswa Plaatjie

EIGHT aspiring writers will be given a chance to produce their own short films by the Eastern Cape Film Office.

This comes after the National Film and Video Foundation injected R50000 to train 15 aspiring film writers in the province in conjunction with the Eastern Cape Film Office.

The project, known as the Sediba Spark Screenwriters Training Programme, resulted in young people being equipped with basic skills for short and feature-length films.

The training was led by former head writer for e.tv's Scandal, Loyiso Maqoma, and head writer of Soul City Mmabatho Kau. Eastern Cape actor Sisanda Henna was the project manager.

Port Elizabeth trainee Ebert Grobler cannot wait to put the skills he is learning into action.

"The training made me realise how much I needed to know about script writing and I am now more confident.

"We are on the right path now and all we need to do is to grow more in our craft," Grobler said.

Maqoma said it had been a privilege to work with aspiring film writers and impart much-needed skills.

"My main focus was on churning out great storytellers and we have potential among the people who were selected to be part of this course. It has been a rewarding experience and an eye-opener," Maqoma said.

Eastern Cape Film Office manager Nomaswazi Mtshibe said each trainee was required to write a script.

"We will be choosing seven or eight of those to be developed further into short films," she said.

Mtshibe said the office had identified screenwriting and film funding as the two main issues that could boost the sector in the province.

She said a panel would select which scripts would be developed into short films next month.

Mtshibe said chosen script writers would undergo producers training.

They would also be getting equipment to use to shoot their films.