Second project, first finished film

I finished a short (3-minute) video, which is really more of a pitch than anything, called “Conflict in DR Congo: A Crash Course.” Once I have the revised edit ready for public consumption, I’ll post a link.

At the moment, it is being evaluated by a panel of judges for a competition to win tuition for film school. I should know by May 20 if it has made the list of finalists.

From April 9-28th, I was in Kinshasa, and arrived without a suitcase, so my camera made it but several smaller bits did not, and the tripod went missing with the suitcase. I felt a bit deflated about my project, a feeling that did not improve when I asked my friends if they would let me interview them about expat life in Kinshasa and they said no. So I waited until the very last minute, the day before I was leaving, to get some footage for the 3-minute project.

I interviewed a friend and former colleague of mine, who summarized some of the issues surrounding civil conflict in DR Congo, which was acute between 1997 and 2002, but has continued to the present, particularly in the east. This interview is interspersed with some footage from around Kinshasa and some Creative Commons photographs from Flickr.

This project was a huge learning experience, but I think that’s a different post.

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The elin o’Hara slavick project is on hold temporarily. I spent about 10-12 hours editing thusfar, and it will take at least that many again to finish. I found out that I can edit at The People’s Channel for free, as long as I produce something that they can air locally. (Of course – who doesn’t want free publicity?) So I am planning to work in some editing time over the next month or so and get that off my plate.