Maisha Foundation
Click here to ask for more information about this project:
Images
Maisha Foundation logo
Some of the participants of the Maisha Film Lab
A Film Lab participant directs her crew.
Participants film a scene for a short produced during the Film Lab.
Filmmaker Spike Lee and editor Barry Alexander Brown with a Maisha participant.
Setting up a shot during a directing workshop.
Participants learn sound and lighting techniques.
Participants learn sound and lighting techniques.
Maisha Film Lab participant.
Document
Topics:
Target Audience:
Community Video, Documentarians / Storytellers, engaged artists and non-profits, festivals & events, filmmakers, philanthropic community, public television audiences, underserved communities
Geographic Area:
Budget
Raised to date: $185,000.00
Estimate to complete: $159,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $344,000.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 07/02/2009
Key Personnel
Mira Nair
Founder
Mira Nair, the visionary behind MAISHA, firmly believes that if we don't tell our stories, no one else will. Her debut feature, Salaam Bombay!, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Picture. Nair's second film, Mississippi Masala, was the first feature to ever be shot in Uganda. Since then, Nair has helmed more than a dozen films, including Monsoon Wedding (2000), The Namesake (2006), Amelia (2009), and the recent documentary "The Young Ones Who Won't Stay Behind," which examines the plight of children in conflict-scarred northeast Uganda.
Musarait Kashmiri
Program Director (Uganda)
Musarait studied at University of Toronto, Laval University and York University, earning several certificates and degrees including a Masters in Project Management. She brings to Maisha management capabilities and proven skills in organizing, coordinating, communicating and team building. Prior to joining Maisha, Musarait served as Chief Operating Officer of an integrated marketing and communications company in Kampala, Uganda. She served as Deputy Managing Director for FGA, a registered German NGO operating relief and rehabilitation projects in East Africa, particularly in Southern Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda. Prior to being promoted to Deputy Managing Director, Musarait served as Administrator & Project Coordinator, where she managed daily operations of an agricultural project in the field; supervised Ugandan and Sudanese staff members and worked in close cooperation with community elders, local officials and other organizations within the area of operation; managed the coordination of emergency supplies for 9 orphanages in Rwanda; and liaised with both donors and government official on a regular basis.
Ami Boghani
Program Coordinator (New York)
Ami has a Bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and English Literature from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She has been working in the film industry for nearly 10 years. Before joining Mirabai Films, she was an Associate Producer and grant writer at Projectile Arts in Brooklyn, NY and an Associate Producer on the television show Staffers. She has since gone on to help produce AIDS JAAGO, a series of 4 short films funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation designed to raise awareness about AIDS in India. She was also a producer on Mira Nair’s segment of “8”, a feature film by 8 different directors each addressing one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Ami has been involved with Maisha since its inception in 2004 and has spent 4 summers in Uganda coordinating the Labs. This past summer she served as a field producer on Maisha’s documentary for UNICEF, which was shot in Northern Uganda.
Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi Film Commission | $100,000.00 | ||
| Goteborg Film Fund | $60,000.00 | ||
| Luma Foundation | $25,000.00 |
Short Synopsis
MAISHA is dedicated to providing training, resources and professional support for visionary filmmakers in the East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda, and the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Programs include labs and workshops for aspiring screenwriters, directors, actors, technicians, and documentary makers.
Description/Treatment
MAISHA (meaning "life" in Kiswahili) provides aspiring filmmakers from East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda) access to the professionl training and production resources necessary to articulate their visions. Maisha's mission is to preserve, cultivate, and unleash local voices from these regions, and it is the first targeted program to offer structured and accessible support to these emerging artists. The centerpiece of Maisha's year-round curriculum is an annual Lab for screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, sound recordists, editors, and actors, held in Kampala, Uganda. The participants in these labs receive professional instruction and an opportunity to critique and develop their work with the guidance of film industry mentors from around the world. Maisha also operates four screenwriting labs per year, held in different East Asian countries, and annual documentary workshops. By partnering local filmmakers with an international roster of renowned filmmaking mentors, we promote a global exchange of ideas and creative visions. Maisha is motivated by the belief that a film which explores the truths and idiosyncracies of the specifically local often has the power to cross over and become significantly universal. As its mission, Maisha strives to:-Empower visionary artists from East Africa by giving them the tools to tell their stories through film;
-Enrich world cinema by providing a platform for new and yet-unheard voices to participate in the global discourse;
-Establish roots of a self-sustaining film industry in East Africa that can cater to and represent the interests of local audiences.
Click here to ask for more information about this project: