18 graduate from Kilimanjaro Film institute
The first cohort of 18 budding filmmakers have graduated from the Kilimanjaro Film Institute Zambia (KFIZ), the county’s foremost film school, after successfully completing the institute’s two-year training course in in film-making. The ceremony was held at the institute’s offices in Lusaka this morning.
Through a partnership between KFIZ and the EU-ACP support programme to cultural industries in ACP countries and funded by the European Commission, Plan Zambia and Hivos, the two-year course has been developed to respond to an increased demand for skilled media professionals in Zambia.
Speaking at the ceremony, KFIZ board director Mulenga Kapwepwe hailed the progress made by the institution in providing the relevant research and education required to meet modern standards in filmmaking.
“The institution has remained in the fore-front in providing quality and relevant education and training and meeting the excellence required in this country. We want to continue to serve and champion development in the private and public sector in zambia and even beyond. Again, the excellence of the institution is reflected in the webometrics ranking and performance contracting. There is no doubt that the achievements are due to the good governance and management practices engaged by the institutions trainers and management,” Kapwepwe remarked.
“KFIZ is making good progress in enhancing the research kitty especially real life based documentaries. I exhort the institution for undertaking research, in a bigger direction, towards innovation and knowledge transfer through development centers. The institution’s research, production and extension division will be critical for end users, providing opportunities for uptake to solve societal problems through extension and other outreach activities.”
She challenged the 18 graduands to uphold the ethical values acquired from the institution as they endeavor to serve their fellow zambians.
“You must make use of the knowledge you acquired and be good ambassadors of this reputable institution. I wish you well in all your future endeavors.”
Speaking earlier, KFIZ general manager Mary Manzole expressed confidence that KFIZ graduates will bring enhanced knowledge and skills in fields such as production, camera handling, sound, production design and post-prouction.
“We are providing our students with skills so that they have a much better chance to find jobs is one of the main aims of KFIZ. At KFIZ Tanzania, our mother organization, over 80 percent of the graduates got well-respected jobs in film and tv. In Zambia we expect even better results.”
At the same occasion, European Union in Zambia representative Fabienne Van Den Eede said: “the most sustainable way to help youths is to provide them with relevant training and sustainable jobs. The EU encourages KFIZ to continue to train young people from challenging backgrounds.”