Crowdfunding campaign about to open

In the end we have chosen Ulule, an European platform that allows content to be published in different languages, so we will have all contents (video and texts) in an English version and in an Italian one. I do mind that we can't have one in Swahili though... We are just waiting, impatiently, for the platform to put our project online and then we will publish the link for you to check out our campaign. See you soon! In the meanwhile some pictures about the presentation yesterday in Florence!

                      
Foto di Sabrina Masoli


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Preparing the crowdfunding campaign

We apologize as we have left the blog to itself in the last 10 days or so. We were very busy preparing the crowdfunding campaign and shooting the pitch video was much more difficult than planned. As a documentarist, I ask people to be real and expose themselves in front of a camera, which means in front of anybody. Generally, a documentary really works when it manages to get inside a person, feel his/her humanity, grab his/her inner secrets, frailties, flaws. Well, having to be in front of the camera this time, I realized how much I am asking from people. It has been difficult, but it was also liberating in the end. And now I feel an even stronger connection with the people whose stories I want to tell.  I am sure that this experience will be precious when I will be in front of them again trying to capture their emotions. We will be online with the crowfunding campaign very very soon now. Thanks for following us.

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For those in Florence...

On the 30th of October we are meeting you in the city centre. It is an event organized by three leading women associations based in Florence. On this occasion we will present the documentary, ourselves, show the inedited trailer and explain the crowdfunding campaign. An anthropologist of the Univertsity of Florence will also give a brief speech about women and taboos in the world. 

Hoping to you see there!!

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Update on production

Countdown to crowdfunding starts. Shortly we will start a campaign on Indiegogo, an International platform, choosing the option all or nothing. This guarantees all supporters that their money won't be waisted. If we won't raise the amount set (which is the bare minimum needed to get to the next and most urgent stage), then all supporters will get refunded. If we get more, then we will do things a bit more comfortably (which means suffering a little less, and assuring better quality to our work). In the lucky event we should get much more, we will commission the entire series of drawings which are part of the documentary and carry on with production. So we count on your support, and if you can't give directly, you can still help by passing it on. There will be little rewards for the various contributions. If you have something to suggest, please do (we may consider it, we have a few more days to go). Thanks. In the meanwhile we are waiting for something very special to be published from Kampala. And if you haven't seen yet, have a look at this introductory video.

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Women in Ugandan society

Fifth article introducing you to culture and geography of Lake Bunyonyi.

All over Uganda, women are subordinated to men, despite the huge social and economic responsibilities that women have in many rural Ugandan communities. Women started to engage in politics in the years of independence, when they tried to obtain laws concerning marriage, divorce and inheritance, especially in regard to property rights and custody of children. But during the seventies and eighties, each small progress was destroyed by the violence which raged in the country. Social and economical degrade and the lapse of public services and infrastructures reduced access to schools, hospitals and markets, making life conditions for women even tougher than ever before.

In the last part of the eighties, Museveni’s government worked to eliminate gender discriminations in politics and official practices. The number of women in parliament has increased and since 1976 the Ugandan Association of Women Lawyers is providing legal services to women defending their rights in case of divorce, separation and widowhood.

However, in rural communities with low access to education, very few progresses have been made towards equal rights. Land is vital in the culture of local communities as they get from it their entire livelihood. But traditional roles have completed transformed in the last decades. Men have no more bushes to clean nor huts to build. As a consequence, it is women who interact with the land on a daily basis, while majority of men is unemployed and not taking responsibility for the care of the children.

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Meeting you in Florence

Hello, who is in Florence on the 30th of October is invited to attend an afternoon event where we will introduce the project, screen the unseen trailer and present ourselves. We will publish the program soon.
Stay tuned.

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Hanging out at Mrs M.

This inspires me to push beyond my limits and do all I can to get this documentary made.

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How I ended up in Uganda

The very first time I went to Uganda, I wanted to go to Malawi, really. I had been dreaming of Malawi for a long time, seen pictures of that beautiful lake which looks like a sea, heard amazing reports from travellers. I was seeing myself sitting by those golden beaches talking to Malawian mzee about life and the universe, quite naively I must admit. I even wrote my dissertation in Human Geography on Malawi, with the intent of doing research on field. Life had other plans though, like often happens. I had to postpone any travelling arrangements, for a health problem. So I wrote my thesis without going there. About the fight between little Malawi and the huge World Bank on the ongoing discussion "Free Market versus State Intervention", which Malawi won at that time, subsiding their farmers. But that’s another story.

When I could finally travel, it had to be Malawi, but I wanted to find something to do there. Don't like much travelling in Africa as a tourist. After knowing from my Ugandan friend that the word mzungu originally means “someone who roams around aimlessly”, I understood that it is probably why. Ok, searching on the web for something clever to do in Malawi, I saw a picture of this dreamlike place. Didn't have a clue where it was, but it was definitely love at first sight. It didn’t even look like it was part of this world, but in case it was, I had to go there. If I was very lucky it could even have been Malawi. It turned up to be Uganda, region of Kigezi, district of Kabale, Lake Bunyonyi. I found an association there, Edirisa, contacted it and was asked to work on a documentary to promote craftsmaking. Great and clever enough. Got a little camera and went, dying to see that beautiful place. It didn’t let me down. Even if it was hard, at first. Sitting by myself in my hut with just candle light at 8pm - and one match only on the first night -, heavy rain falling on the metal roof, mud all over the outside which made toilet trips out of question, nothing to munch on, and Teddy the dog – sadly not longer with us –barking loudly and excessively at the moon. Not to mention those freaking African dolls sitting on a shelf and staring at me. “Breath”, I was saying to myself!

I breathed. In every possible way. And went back for more.

By Laura Cini

punishmentisland@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/PunishmentIsland

Akampene's inhabitants today.

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