The Future of Filmmaking is inspiring.
The Future of Filmmaking is authentic.
The Future of Filmmaking is collaborative.
The Future of Filmmaking is meaningful.
If you want to get a film out there,
you're going to have to start with a really profound story.
ROSIE COLLYER FILMMAKER AND JOURNALIST
My first documentary was called Aisha: Boko Haram Huntress
and it's about a woman who is a hunter.
So a traditional hunter, as has existed across Africa,
you know, since time immemorial.
This secret society of hunters still exists
and Aisha happens to be one of them.
When unfortunately insurgents or terrorists
came to her town in around 2014, Aisha, the main protagonist,
decided to stay, along with other hunters who were mainly male,
and defend their town from terror.
Aisha played a really significant role
and then it turned out that women would come to her and ask her
if she could go into the forest, into the mountains with other hunters
and look for their kidnapped children.
What I love most about Aisha's story is
a woman taking matters into her own hands,
but also for the good of her community.
An element of my sort of filmmaking journey,
or my journalism journey actually,
has been about finding my roots or better understanding my African roots.
I made radio documentaries
and that took me to very, very rural places in Africa.
That evolved to more photography, and then to documentary filmmaking,
and really, finding these characters that will just make people
really think twice about what it is they
thought they knew about Africa.
It’s very important for me to embed myself
with the protagonist or main character.
And eating the food they eat, and sleeping where they sleep,
showing them that I have stamina.
Because I'm behind the camera, so it's really about not being seen,
not being part of the story, putting people at ease,
and that's also one of the reasons I started off with a Canon EOS 5D.
Essentially I'm a run and gun filmmaker.
I work in some pretty hostile environments and so for me,
in terms of a camera, what's really important is that it's robust,
it can handle the heat, but also shouldn't be too heavy.
So I looked into it and a Canon EOS C300 was perfect.
The Canon C300; exceptional in terms of autofocus.
I can just stay on my protagonist in all kinds of different situations
and I just love the colours, especially filming in Africa
where you have really bright, rich colours,
and then making that transition from the
Canon EOS 5D to the Canon EOS C300,
then I can shoot in Log and that just gives you so much more
dynamic range and I really appreciate that.
Over and above all, what inspires me in my work are people.
Ordinary people who just choose to do extraordinary things.
People who are kind of bucking trends,
turning stereotypes on their heads.
That’s ultimately what I look for.
Besides finding a character that’s doing something extraordinary,
I always like to dig deep enough to find an issue
that they are trying to overcome,
that everyone, anywhere in the world could relate to.
The advice I would give to an aspiring filmmaker
is similar to the advice I received myself
when I felt I was ready to make a documentary,
and that is start with a bang.
Find a story that you can just describe in one sentence
and it has wow factor and just go for it.