By Deborah Anita Talemwa
For any creatives, the greatest joy they can experience is seeing their work appreciated by a wider audience. This dream came-true for the creatives of My First Year film
at a Uganda Film Festival Movie screening at Metroplex Naalya. It was almost a full house on Sunday 26th May.
The film directed by Brian Kabogoza is third in the My Series trilogy. It tells the story of Joan, a communication and journalism student in her first year. The story stretches to encompass a couple of her classmates and their own campus experiences as “freshers”.
As one of the talents, I can say the experience was nothing short of amazing. Knowing the time and hard work that was put into the story and seeing it finally on a big screen was exhilarating.
As I sat in the auditorium watching the film, I kept remembering the different scenes and how they were shot. A scene that comes to mind, is one where Joan goes to class for the very first time. It was amazing to watch especially with the knowledge that it was shot in the night. The extras had been asked to stay for just an hour but the shoot took longer. And they still stayed!
Another is the scene at the bar. This must have been one of the most exhausting days on set. It rained so hard and being a Monday, it was hard to find extras. The shoot went up to night . By the time we left the set, it was 4am in the morning. The crew had to stay behind to dismantle the set and pack up , so I can’t even tell what time they left.
The project came with its own set of temptations. The biggest manifestation of this is the dedication to see the project through to the end. Quitting was such a big temptation from the beginning especially when we were required to show up on set before the break of dawn. Another happened during the bar scene late at night. I was personally impressed by the amount of self discipline the students demonstrated. It was proof to university christian value grooming and the casting director’s brilliant job of bringing together a disciplined team.
Generally, what appeared on that screen was a testament of hard work and sacrifice. Some of the cast had to travel and find lodgings around Mukono throughout the preparation season. At times the crew had to skip meals to get the shots. There was disruption from rain for example at the scene at the well , but the team kept moving forward. We laughed, we cried and it was amazing to watch all the sweat, laughter and tears projected on a big screen. It was a well-deserved victory.
This is a sign to all dreamers out there. Everything is possible if you are willing to work hard at it. I remember when we first shot My Degree, the first film of the trilogy. It looked pathetic to many and there were a couple of naysayers. There were so many descriptions of the Director, Brian Kabogozza as being overly ambitious and dedicated to what would never amount to anything.
The productions were done through independent student extra curricular activity, where they pooled their own private resources to accomplish a common held passionate dream of making films.
At UCU students have opportunity to engage in a wide range of skill and spiritual development activities that work towards the goal of a complete education for a complete person.
The director of the film, Brian Kaboggoza has since won a fellowship for film training in Nairobi while Emma Ilungole, the chief camera and video editor operator, won a European Union grant to produce his own film. Other crew members have taken up careers in video production.
Here we are now! There is no dream unworthy of pursuit except one with an unworthy pursuer. We look forward to more from the team and I congratulate everyone that participated in the process of giving birth to this debut film.
