Assignment Uganda is a two-week course for experienced and emerging documentary filmmakers who want to cover the development, environmental, health and relief efforts underway in Uganda while learning how to work with and document the projects of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), orphanages, doctors, advocacy groups and AIDS projects in rural villages, and urban areas. You will be telling stories about orphanages, doctors, and AIDS projects in refugee camps, life in rural villages and urban areas. This is not only an intensive hands-on workshop in video documentation, but an opportunity to complete a personal body of work for your reel, learn how to work with and for NGOs and people in developing countries--while contributing to the world relief efforts with your video stories. Previous participants have found it a life changing experience, both professionally and personally.

This is a field workshop. We will provide support in finding stories, gaining access, and the entire production process. The course comprises daily classes, fieldwork and informal gatherings with fellow filmmakers providing an opportunity to share work, research, discuss discoveries over meals. You will receive honest critique on your stories and process, help with your camera, sound recording, story development and editing. In the process, you will be shaping your personal vision, improving your images, story coverage and content. Our team in Kampala has been working with dozens of NGOs that welcome photographers and documentary filmmakers. The staff and faculty will help you with story suggestions and opportunities for research into compelling humanistic stories. Perhaps most valuable will be the guidance you will receive in creating a media plan for the NGO. You will also receive valuable input on planning your career as a concerned video journalist and documentary filmmaker. A final screening of all the students’ projects is held the last day of the workshop with all participants invited. 

A DVD of the all students’ work will be sent to each student as well as to each NGO and project in Uganda that was featured. 

The goal of the 2-week class is to create a short (no longer than 8-minutes) documentary. You will work with “your” NGO and help them develop a media plan and at the end of the workshop, deliver a finished DVD to them. You will be able to create a longer film from your footage when you return home. 

The Faculty

Bill Megalos is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose series of minidramas on family planning won the World Health Organization's Global Award for Media Excellence in Beijing in 1985. Bill Megalos is a complete filmmaker-- director, cinematographer and popular workshop leader. He has photographed over 30 full-length documentaries for PBS, BBC and Channel 4 (UK) and has filmed in 50 countries. His documentaries including "Aretha," "Paris is Burning," and the Emmy Award-winning "W. Eugene Smith" with Peter Riegert for American Masters. He was the cinematographer on "A Night in Havana-Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba,” for PBS as well as the series "Quest for the Killers" and "Legendary Trails." He also shot the Academy Award-winning documentary "Down and Out in America." His biography of Jack Benny for HBO was awarded the Cine Golden Eagle Award. Megalos earned a BA in anthropology and comparative literature from Columbia University where he studied with Margaret Mead and assisted folklorist Alan Lomax. He earned his MFA in film from Columbia then went on to teach theater at the graduate School of the Arts. Bill has been leading workshops in Maine for the past 10 years and in Uganda since 2005. He has traveled with Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate for the past four years, filming the feature doc, “To Catch A Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America.” He teaches film at USC School of Cinematic Arts, the nation’s top film school. 

Kirsten Scully is a freelance photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Jerez, Spain. She has organized and coordinated workshops in Spain, Cuba, Morocco and Uganda, several of them working with Maine Media Workshops. Among her clientele are humanitarian aid and development organizations, America’s Cup, Barcelona World Race, Frommers Travel Guides, Hidalgo Wineries and others. Her photos have been published worldwide in publications such as the Guardian, the Sunday Times, House and Gardens, Architectural Digest, Sailing World, Multihulls, Navegar, Cowboys and Indians, L’Eventail, Spain Magazine and La Luz Magazine. Her love of travel and adventure is clearly expressed through her images, being able to achieve this through a willingness to work alongside and take the same risks as her subjects. 

Support and Logistics

Our headquarters are in Kampala, a busy city where there are ample services, accommodations, facilities and support. We have a classroom and office along with technical and administrative staff to help you with access, transportation, language, accommodations and directions. 

We have selected Uganda as the location of the workshop for a number of reasons. It is not only a beautiful African country, but there is a great deal of subject matter for documentary filmmakers who want to work with NGOs while learning to cover world relief crises and situations. ! The NGOs we work with provide access into the situations, and the Video Journalists (you) provide the NGOs with images and video documentaries to help them fund-raise. 

Story Potential

You should begin your research into Uganda before you leave home. There will be an extensive on-the-ground briefing once you arrive, but you need to begin searching out NGOs, possible stories and projects, now. Areas of concern include AIDS, poverty, rehabilitation of child soldiers and street kids, displacement of families into refugee camps, child-headed families and the difficulties of providing education to orphans. You will have access to and be able to visit and photograph in local homes, schools, clinics, orphanages and refugee camps. This is a unique opportunity to gain access to people, homes and villages for compelling stories of the human condition, to learn more about the world humanitarian efforts and how you as an individual can make a difference with your ability and skill as an image-maker and storyteller. It is also a unique opportunity to open your heart and make yourself a better filmmaker or photographer. Feel free to contact Bill Megalos and Kirsten Scully as you do your research and reach out to make contact with Ugandan resources. 

Who Should Attend

This 2-week workshop and field project is for DV journalists and photojournalists, reporters, documentary filmmakers and researchers who are experienced travelers, able to cope with problems inherent in the cultures of the developing world. You must be comfortable with the digital filmmaking process and have your own camera and laptop with Final Cut or other editing software. A resume must accompany your application. This is not a workshop to be learning to use a DV camera or editing. 

Cameras and formats

You need to bring your own DV camera, cables, microphones, spare batteries and charger. Voltage is 240 volts, but laptop and camera battery chargers are auto ranging and plug adapters only are needed (not voltage transformers). Bring a Macintosh laptop with Final Cut, or PC with editing software which you are familiar with. Bring a fire-wire hard drive on which to store and backup your work. Include your camera’s manual, and a back-up disk of your editing software. A still camera is also recommended. We will have a digital projector for classroom work and group critiques. 

Warning!

Uganda is disorganized, a real world experience. Water and electricity may go out at odd hours. The roads are bad, things do not happen on schedule, but Ugandans are friendly and welcoming; and they like Americans. The food and the accommodations are fine. 

Visas

Citizens of most countries require visas to enter Uganda. The visa is available at the airport upon entry for $50 US. All nationalities require an International Health Certificate showing proof of a yellow fever vaccination within the past 10 years. 

Health risks: HIV/AIDS, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), malaria, yellow fever. 

Costs
Tuition: $2,995 covers tuition, briefings, support and assistance in finding stories and gaining access, critiques, the final screening and the DVD of all selected work from Assignment: Uganda. Not included: transportation, accommodations, meals, in country travel, visas and personal guides.

Hotel Accommodations
We will be booking a block of rooms at the Mosa Court Apartments in Kampala. You can visit them at www.mosaapartments.com

A good buffet breakfast is included, and there is a pool. The Hotel claims some of the rooms have high-speed Internet access and that you will only have to configure your laptops. While they do not have safe deposit boxes, all valuables can be left at the reception desk.

When to Arrive
Plan to arrive in Kampala at the Mosa Court Apartments hotel by Monday afternoon, October 21st, or earlier. Meet the staff and faculty and the other participants at the on the patio by the pool at the Mosa Court Apartments on 21  October at 6 PM. We will then walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The Staff and Faculty will brief you on the upcoming experience and answer questions.

Airline Reservations
Arrival Airport: Entebbe (EBB). This is the nearest airport to Kampala, Uganda. You should be researching your airline options for Uganda right now.  From the US, you will connect in London, Amsterdam or Brussels depending on whether you fly British Air, KLM or SN Brussels. Note that these airlines do not fly from the United States to Uganda every day and so you will need to plan accordingly. You may want to plan to arrive in Uganda a day or two early to acclimatize and overcome jet lag before the workshop begins.

Mosa Court can aid you in securing reasonable ground transportation to/from the airport. Give them your flight Info and ask for pickup service.

When to Leave Uganda
The last day of classes, critiques and meetings is November 3rd. That evening we will screen selected students’ work and end with a final dinner. You will most likely fly out the next day.

Insurance
Travel insurance covering accidents and sickness are required. We also recommend emergency medical evacuation coverage. Check your equipment insurance policy's limitations before making any assumptions about coverage. Many U.S. based insurance companies do not cover property lost or stolen equipment overseas.