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UFFO Founder Selected For Film Industry Award

15 Nov 2011 1:44 PM | Anonymous

Sierra Leone's two officially recognised film festivals - the Freetown Film Festival and its sister, the Sierra Leone Film Festival were recently accepted into membership o the Unversal Film Festival Organisation, the new membership organisation for film festivals around the world

Now, in recognition of his work in establishing the UFFO, its founder, Tyrone D Murphy has been selected for the prestigious film industry award from the Production Base of the “Above and Beyond The Call of Duty Award".

The founder and CEO of The Universal Film and Festival Organisation Tyrone D Murphy, was selected for the Production Base industry award for his work in creating the UFFO film festival code of practice.

The award nomination comes after Murphy successfully created and implemented a Film Festival code of Practice, recently dubbed “Fest-COP”.

Fest COP was created following the recent scandal in the media about the Swansea Bay Film Festival and the Queens International Film Festival in New York; it was discovered that there was no legislation or control of any kind, anywhere in the world, to protect filmmakers from disreputable film festivals.

Tyrone D Murphy, an award-winning filmmaker created a basic 10 point film festival code of conduct practice that was debated on social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook by worldwide filmmakers and festival directors. The result was a workable code of practice for film festivals which has two main objectives: firstly to bring together the highest quality of Film Festivals and the filmmaking community. This is achieved by encouraging film festivals to become sound in principles and business practice. Secondly, the code acting as a blue print for filmmakers so they are knowledgeable about what to look for when submitting their work to film festivals

Maureen O’ Hara the international president of UFFO said “Every once in a while there is something that stands out and compels us to notice it; I think that is what struck me most about UFFO when it was first brought to my attention. I am so tremendously honoured and proud to be the President of such an international organization that promotes ethics in an industry I love so much”

UFFO has 101 film festival members, including the Sierra Leone and Freetown Film Festivals, that have adopted the code of practice, it also has 54 international committee members from 32 different countries around the world and a large database of filmmakers.

The UFFO organisation has gathered support from many international organisations including the International Student Film Organisation, Combined Mind, Film crew Pro, the Centre for International Media Ethics, CIACE (3000 cinema network), The Directors Guild Trust and the Directors Guild of Great Britain. The Chairman of the DGGB Mr Ivor Benjamin said “The Directors Guild Trust and the Directors Guild of Great Britain recognises that UFFO is spearheading a much needed drive to separate genuine film festivals from those rogue festivals that are just set up to take money from filmmakers right across the planet”

Tyrone D Murphy the UFFO founder and CEO said “Although I am very honoured to be nominated for this award, I believe that it validates the necessity of an organisation such as UFFO and the festival code of practice.”

The award ceremony will take place on Thursday November 17th from 6:30pm at the Hospital Club, Covent Garden, London. For tickets to the awards ceremony visit www.productionbase.co.uk

Press Release: Sierra Leone Film Festival Success!

04 Nov 2011 10:17 PM | Anonymous

The Sierra Leone Film Festival has successfully ended its inaugural outing, exceeding all expectations. The festival, taking place in the year of Sierra Leone’s 50th Anniversary of Independence, ensured that the film programme was carefully designed to reflect this and explore related historical, social and cultural changes.

Films included a rare archive film from 1961 of Britain handing over power to the fledgling country, as well as films from young filmmakers born since Independence. The work of these filmmakers reflected the input of various NGO projects and finally culminated in the premier of the latest independent drama and a foretaste of the potential to come from this embryonic film industry.

The festival is just the latest in a string of successful initiatives by Ian Noah, Chairman of the Sierra Leone Film Foundation, and his colleagues over the last five years, to support and promote the sl film industry.

"The Festival owes its success to the many filmmakers who strive to make films despite the poverty and other challenges." said Noah."Thanks to their work and the support of our audiences, Sierra Leone can now boast of not just one but now, with the SL Film Festival, two nationally developed and internationally recognised Film Festivals."

The challenges facing the organisers were not insignificant; launching and establishing a brand new event, establishing its credibility in the industry, limited financial and personnel resources and less than ideal time for planning. In addition, not content with planning a screening in one city, the festival comprised of a week-long tour of five towns and cities (London, Hastings, Hull, Birmingham and Liverpool) across the UK. Admirably, the organisers pulled it off very professionally and it is a credit to their hard work and commitment as well as the venues involved, that they were able to do so in the face of many difficulties.

With the success of the Festival now being added to its achievements, the Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation is keen to work with partners to continue its growth as the leading organisation supporting the development and promotion of the Sierra Leone film industry.

About the Sierra Leone Film Festival: The Festival is the first official international showcase designed to promote Sierra Leone films to audiences around the world as part of a long-term, strategic awareness and fund-raising campaign.

About the Sierra Leone Film Foundation: The Foundation is the first non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing together national and international film industry stakeholders to encourage the support and development of a sustainable, indigenous filmmaking industry for the benefit of Sierra Leone as well as for audiences world-wide.

Waterloo Applauds Sierra Leone Festival!

02 Nov 2011 12:12 PM | Anonymous

Waterloo, a suburb of Liverpool, created a twinning partnership with Waterloo, Sierra Leone, in 2005. The official launch of the Waterloo Partnership, as it is called, was held in the Plaza Community Cinema. Thus, by serendipity, it turned out to be a most appropriate venue as part of the first Sierra Leone Film Festival.

The large cinema, having been abandoned by its original commercial operators, is run entirely by the community as a voluntary project. Consequently, the cinema is much more than just a place for screening fikms, and serves as a venue and resource for wider arts and community projects. Another excellent example of what can be done by a dedicated few.

The Waterloo Partnership set up a display of information about their work in Sierra Leone, which was a fitting compliment to the Festival's films. The programme of the films were altered judiciously to ensure maximum engagement and relevance for the audience in the time available. The feedback from the audience Q&A after the screenings confirmed that the evening had been enlightening as well as entertaining. Consequently, despitee the fact that Halloween celebrations had reduced audience numbers, it was deemed a great success and a fitting end to the first Sierra Leone Film Festival.

Our grateful thanks to Christine and her colleagues at the Plaza Community Cinema for all their hard work behind the scenes, that made the evening run so smoothly, as well as to the Waterloo Partnership and its members for all their help and support. We look forward to developing a closer relationship with both organisations in the year ahead.

Birmingham Studies Sierra Leone Films!

28 Oct 2011 11:10 PM | Anonymous

The Centre of African Studies, Birmingham University, in conjunction with the student liaison committee, had chosen the Danford Room, home of the important Danford Collection of African artifacts, for our screening. This room housed a large collection of African artifacts (including masks from Sierra Leone!) donated by Danford on his travels in Africa. The artifacts displayed included masks from Sierra Leone, making it an inspiring atmosphere in which to screen films from Sierra Leone and lending academic gravitas and cultural relevance to the whole evening.

We had an interesting undergraduate student audience who were keen to know more about the background of Sierra Leone, but who were also very interested in the dramas as some were familiar with Nollywood. Indeed, in the discussions afterwards, we explored the question of how contemporary Sierra Leone films could distinguish themselves from films of Nigeria and other countries... It was all very enjoyable (especially the food and drink supplied by David and Sebastian) and there was unanimous interest in a repeat performance next year. We look forward to working with the CWAS, David and Sebastian when we begin to plan next year's festival.

Our thanks to everyone involved in the arrangements, especially Dr.Reginald Cline-Cole, Joanna Skelt, David and Sebastian.

I'm spending the weekend staying with a friend who is kindly putting me up (or putting up with me!) in Birmingham, then it's off again for the last leg of the Festival taking place in Waterloo, Liverpool! More later.

Festival Screens In Hull's New School Theatre

27 Oct 2011 10:55 PM | Anonymous

Back in Hull again, but this time instead of the grand surroundings of the Guild Hall, we were privileged to be offered the use of a brand new modern theatre that is part of stunning new building facilities for Winifred Holtby school that reputedly cost over £40m! The students (and the local community) are of course very happy to enjoy such facilities and it was an honour to be one of the first groups to see and use these facilities, due to the school's support and active exchange programme with Sierra Leone.

Following our previous visit to the Freetown Society's event, members of the Society tackled the long journey from central Hull for the screenings, and we very much appreciated their enthusiasm. They were particularly interested in the films that reflected the reality of the Sierra Leone that many of them knew personally, and we agreed that these had strong potential for wider educational use.

Our thanks to the Freetown Society for their support as well as to Matt Stephenson and the staff of Winifred Holtby School for ensuring we had a great venue.

Festival Screens in Hasting's Classic Cinema

25 Oct 2011 9:53 PM | Anonymous

Hastings is a delightful little town on the coast twinned with Hastings in Sierra Leone and it was good to meet up with members of the the Hastings Friendship link.

The cinema is itself an inspiring place. It was originally a project setup by friends who wanted to screen their own films. They used one of the floors of a Georgian house, in one of the pretty streets of the 'Old Town' and from these humble beginnings they have created a charming 'classic cinema' atmosphere with deep red walls and old cinema furnishings.They show excellent independent films and the whole project is run entirely by volunteers with the ticket sales covering their running costs. Very inspiring for us in Sierra Leone...

It was a real pleasure being able to screen in these surroundings, marred only slightly by the gremlins that threatened to disrupt this wonderful evening by causing the (two) DVD players to suddenly start rejecting our DVDs (even the originals!), but we were able to soldier on with alternative films from the directors in our Film Festival collection.

The evening finished with some interesting discussions from the audience (some of whom had been to Sierra Leone) about the challenges of encouraging 'indigenous' filmmaking in a modern international world and we look forward to reviewing these ideas later. Our thanks to everyone involved for supporting us in this, our first (of many more) Festival Screening in Hastings.

SL Film Festival Launches To Acclaim!

24 Oct 2011 11:07 PM | Anonymous

The South London Gallery provided the elegant venue for the auspicious launch of the first Sierra Leone Film Festival which was graced by the presence of the Sierra Leone government in the form of the Dep.High Commissioner for Sierra Leone, Mr. Tamba M.Ngegba and also Sierra Leone's UK Trade Commissioner, Mr.Akie Deen. weare grateful to both of these individuals for being able to attend, particularly the Dep.High Commissioner who kindly went out of his way to attend our launch before having to leave for yet another appointment in Parliament.

Our appreciation also goes out to all those who braved the weather to attend, amongst whom were notables from UK or Sierra Leone film and television includeing Ellen Thomas, Helen Appio, Hazel Chandler, Ade Daramy and director/producer Gianni Brusati whose film 'Okada Love', premiering at the SL Film Festival, was a highlight of the evening.

We particularly want to thank the South London Gallery. Not only did they kindly and generously provide the venue on a complimentary basis, but they also opened the Gallery (which is closed on Mondays) specially for our event. Many thanks to all the staff for their support, but especially to Ashley Whitfield who arranged the evening for us, having already worked with young people in Southwark and the Sierra Leone community to produce the film 'Looking For Sierra Leone, which was also included in the programme.

More details and photos of the event will be posted later. Suffice to say, it was a privilege to be able to share Sierra Leone films with such an enthusiastic audience, and it vindicates our hope that the Sierra Leone Film Festival will be able to help SL filmmakers reach out to new audiences and win support for their hard work. The SL Film Festival has arrived! Thank you to everyone who helped bring this day to pass, not least; Ernest S.T.F.Mannah who has worked tirelessly with the National Film Workshop for many years, in a voluntary capacity in Sierra Leone, to selflessly support and promote SL filmmakers; Alison Bancroft, whose input through her company gave life to the dream of the SL Film Festival; and the last minute assistance of Matt Stephenson who brought our films from SL at the 11th hour....and many more names. A big thank you to all.

Following these first tentative steps of the Festival, we look forward to working with communities and organisations in the UK to make the next SL Film Festival bigger and better!

Film Festival Preview Drinks

23 Oct 2011 9:43 PM | Anonymous

It was a good evening in a relaxed venue; the Old Nun's Head; there were drinks, delicious cake (provided by Helena Appio, who, in addition to being a successful film/tv producer and lecturer, is clearly gifted in culinary matters too!), and excellent films brought by Chester Yang (now based in the UK), and Gianni Brusati (who was visiting and was able to bring his latest film for the Festival.)

A big thank you to all those who came and supported us. It was felt that there should definitely be opportunities for more 'film meetups' like this for those interested in seeing SL films and networking... Watch this space,

Freetown Society Invites Festival to Hull for Preview

20 Oct 2011 11:18 PM | Anonymous

Although many people know that William Wilberforce was from Hull, and the City has been twinned with Freetown for over thirty years, However, fewer recognise that most of the abolitionists working with Wilberforce in London's 'Clapham Sect' were also from, or had links with, Hull.

Following an introduction from Matt Stephenson, the Chairman of the Freetown Society of Hull, Rev.Allen Bagshawe, kindly invited the Film Festival to the city's 'Freetown Day' event. This event was the highlight of a whole week of 'Celebrating Freetown', so we felt very honoured to be invited to be included in this special evening by our friends in Hull.

The evening went well, in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Cllr Colin Inglis, (who had also named the Freetown Society one of his chosen personal charities for the year), with reports from the Society about the various visits to Freetown and the projects being undertaken by the Society's members and partners. Given the pressure on time in the evening's schedule, we screened 'Dark Knight' by Josta Hopps, which was much appreciated by the audience.

The Film Festival thanks the Freetown society and Hull City Council and looks forward to working closely with them to contribute films for an exciting and positive Freetown Week next year.

The Sierra Leone Film Festival wins accreditation for Sierra Leone!

19 Oct 2011 2:07 PM | Anonymous

The Sierra Leone Film Festival has followed the Freetown Film Festival, its older sister festival, by also receiving accreditation of membership of the UFFO (the leading global organisation "founded to support and implement a good business code of practice for film festivals throughout the world").

"We are honoured and privileged to be able to represent, promote and help Sierra Leone

filmmaking through this international professional organisation" said a spokesperson for the Sierra Leone Film Festival.

A Press Release will be made available soon.