Creating a film industry in South Sudan from scratch
Posted by admin on Dec 31, 2011 in South Sudan | 0 commentshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16319572
In a village near South Sudan’s capital, Juba, two women tentatively approach a small corrugated iron hut. They have come from the north to reclaim the land that was theirs before a two-decade conflict between Sudan and what is now South Sudan.
A man emerges, starts shouting and pulls a gun. They run, screaming down the road but stop abruptly mid-stride when a young man, who has been watching intently from across the street, shouts: “Cut!”
This is the set of one of South Sudan’s first homemade movies, written, directed and produced by the Woyee Film and Theatre Industry, a collective of young South Sudanese who are driving the country’s burgeoning arts scene.
South Sudan is the world’s newest country after its people voted to secede from the north in a referendum last January – and it is busy rebuilding its economy and its cultural identity in the wake of the civil war.
“Start Quote
Our big dream is to make it like the Nigerian film industry”
Woyee’s Daniel Danis
Ongina O Amos, one of the collective’s members, explains that “woyee” is a chant of praise in South Sudanese.
“If you say woyee it gives you courage to do what you want to do.”
That is what the collective is about, motivating South Sudanese to build up the country’s economy and its arts scene from within.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16319572
By James Copnall and Stephanie Hegarty BBC World Service
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