French Embassy Supports Female Film Industry with €69,000

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Embassy of France has contributed the sum of €69,000 to Girls Voices Initiative (GVI), an academy training females in the art of film making, as part of its efforts in encouraging females to explore the film industry.

The Programmes Officer, Ms. Camilla, who revealed this in Abuja during the graduation of trainees of the academy and the National Female Filmmakers Congress (NFFC), said that the project is pegged at €100,000 but has been supported with €69,000 by the embassy.

She noted that the embassy would continue to support the annual programme in its six months plan with such initiatives, bearing in mind that a male dominated arena like the film industry needs women in it, hence the female diplomacy.

“I think the total amount is €100,000 and we are financing about €60,000 and GBI is providing the rest. We support by financing and attending programmes such as this to really show that we support what they’re doing.

“We are supporting because it is female diplomacy. The organisation is supporting women through filming and helping in amplifying their voices. It happens every year and supports six months project.

“We want to maintain sustainability with this kind of programme. We are trying to support reliable partners. We have kept financing some groups that have been doing well.

“Now for the sustainability plan, we asked candidates to new programme and we evaluate the quality of the project and what we also do is to link them with other organisations and make sure they can continue with the work they’re doing.”

The Convener and founder of GVI, Ms. Caroline Seaman, said that the motive for training women in the film industry is to leverage the opportunities after research has revealed that poor percentage of females are engaged in the industry.

Seaman said: “Training women in the film industry and ensuring they become professionals in film making was informed by a couple of things.  We did a survey in discovering the interest of women in film making and what their challenges are and if given the training, what will they do with it?

“We researched to know the level of training women have gotten in film making in times past and it help us to realise that our government has invested a lot in training for young people, but because it is a bracket of young people being targeted, the percentage of women reached is so minimal and insignificant.

“Many can even be sent abroad for training and you will discover that only two or three are women and in some cases there will be no women at all.  That has been happen since 2007.”