Speech on the occasion of the Namibia Film Awards 2008
By Juror Robin Tyson
Directors of Ceremony
Minister / Dignitaries / Ambassadors
Irmgard Schreiber, Director of the Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival and Director of the Wild Cinema Film Festival Trust
Honoured Guests
Fellow jury members
Ladies and Gentleman
Members of the Media
All protocol observed
Or as I like to sometimes say – All protocol reversed! Because, being a media person myself, I always find it uncomfortable that the media seem to be last on the list. Judging by the reaction – I would even say overreaction - to what the media do and say on a daily basis – surely the media should be at the TOP of the list.
That aside, it is with great pleasure that I am able to be here tonight on behalf of the team of judges in order to introduce these awards. I must say it was an honour and a pleasure to be part of this team, which was highly professional in their deliberations, and unanimous in their decisions in nearly all categories.
It was a team of judges chosen jointly by the Filmmakers Association of Namibia, the Namibia Film Commission and Wild Cinema. Thank you for your faith in us.
The process of judging took place, to a large extent, privately. Each judge was provided with a set of DVD’s, containing all of the films submitted for this year’s awards, as well as a total of 18 music videos.
In my own case, I was able to find time to view the productions in a hotel room in Helsinki, Finland, in temperatures of -8 degrees, on a laptop computer, and I am sure my colleagues would have similar stories to tell about where they watched the selection of films and videos!
We were very impressed with the diversity of productions, the broad spectrum of themes and approaches, as well as the variety of styles of filmmaking.
Obviously there are always areas for improvement. Filmmaking is a highly specialised profession, with many unique individuals (script writers, actors, lighting technicians, sound editors, etc) needed to make a professional product.
However, with such a small industry as we have in Namibia there will always be times when a director becomes the jack of all trades. In addition to directing he or she may also be the script writer, the lighting technician, the sound editor and even one of the actors!
While the saying goes ‘if you want to get something done, do it yourself,’ we need to empower fellow professionals and to encourage them to develop those specific skills, rather than taking on all of those responsibilities ourselves. A good manager is one who is able to delegate, to grow, to nurture and to encourage, not somebody who can do everything him or herself.
That said, I’m constantly amazed and impressed by the output and quality of Namibian filmmakers. And I’m also amazed that most Namibians HAVE NO IDEA that such films exist. That’s why a Festival such as this is so important, to give our budding filmmakers a platform to show their hard work.
But I would plea that such output receives a much wider platform, and plead again with our National Broadcaster as well as One Africa Television, to follow the initiatives of neighbouring broadcasters such as the SABC or Multichoice, and sponsor and nourish local film talent, by providing not only a time slot for their productions to be shown, but by paying them fair compensation for such showings as is standard from television stations all over the world.
We can go a stage further, and actually tender for local productions – setting aside a budget for a particular time slot and asking local filmmakers to come up with story outlines and programme ideas for the time slot. This, again, is common practice in nearly all television broadcasters. The SABC’s process, for example, is so transparent that a visit to their website will reveal their programme requests for the coming season on their three channels, for which South African programme makers can apply.
Let us start to treat local filmmakers with the same respect we show international filmmakers, and let us begin at home by showing our local films to ever-wider audiences.
Lastly, let us put our hands together to thank the organisers – the hard working organisers – of these film awards. They have established this as Namibia’s premiere film event, and the awards themselves are a much needed morale boost for Namibian filmmakers.
May this event go from strength to strength. This year there was a record number of submissions and I am sure that will be even higher next year.
In beauty competitions (as Barbara will know well) there’s always a word from the presenters to make it clear that everybody is a winner, that all participants are beautiful, and I would like to steal those sentiments for tonight’s event as well. All the filmmakers here are, in my estimation, winners tonight. There’s a saying that if you never write and only read, you are never fully developed. Thinking about how you could make a film is one thing – actually going out and doing it is quite another, as I’m sure you would agree.
You are not the idle gossipers, the thinkers, the moaners, the can’t do’s. You are what we need more of in this country. The do’ers, the movers, the ones who get things done, the ones who contribute to our nation, the ones the rest of us look up to, admire and respect. Keep up the hard work.
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