What is a collective?
A collective is a group of individuals, or entities, with a common interest or goal, who work together to achieve a common objective. Unlike cooperatives, collectives are not necessarily focused on economic benefits. We can say that all collectives are cooperatives, but not all cooperatives are collectives. At Sisi, emphasis is on community building. Economic benefits are regarded as a by-product of filmmakers coming together, and working together.
Collectives are often characterized by attempts to share political and social power equitably among the members, which means they tend to have no, or negligible, hierarchies, and emphasis is on decision making through consensus and egalitarian means.
Who founded Sisi, and why?
Dilman Dila, a writer and filmmaker, started the initiative in 2023. He explained his thought process and motivations in an article on his website, which you can read here. He gives two main reasons, one being bureaucratic as he needed a new organization to separate non-profit activities from the purely commercial ventures of his company, Dilstories. The big reason is that emerging filmmakers pester him to produce their work, or to give them employment, and so he thought of a platform where they can collaborate to achieve their different objectives.
Is this a non-profit organization?
Yes. Sisi is registered as a company limited by guarantee, which makes it a non-profit organization without share capital. It’s core objective is to enable filmmakers to network, and share resources and expertise so as to advance their careers. However, Sisi can engage in commercial ventures on condition that any profits are re-invested toward achieving the objectives of the organization, which include training filmmakers.
What do you mean by training?
Learning never ends. At Sisi, there are two types of training. One is the classroom or workshop type, where people sit with a teacher and learn a thing or two. Sisi holds regular workshop for this kind of training, and it is largely supported with grants, particularly from The DOEN Foundation who have funded Dilstories training initiatives since 2017.
Then, there is the situation where an experienced filmmaker wants to learn a new trick. For example, a cinematographer may want to become a producer, or a director may want to perfect their skills in handling actors, or an editor may want to improve their ability to create visual effects. Sisi will make resources available so that such a filmmaker can take practice shots in order to perfect their craft.
Why don’t you have a category for actors?
Acting is central in a film. Without actors, you have no film. However, for a collective to work, the general principal is ‘give what you receive’. In other words, expect what you give. Acting, thus, may limit a member’s participation if it is their only offer. Due to complexities of casting, an actor may not fill in the available roles. For example, the actor may be a young woman in her twenties, and the film requires casting middle-aged women. Actors will of course be welcome to join, though they’ll be encouraged to pursue careers in other departments, like directing (actors make good directors!), writing, producing, so that they can be of help to every member.
How do you finance productions?
Our main patron, at the moment, is Dilstories, whose assets include equipment and a film studio, which members will have access to. Hopefully, other members will have equipment of their own to throw into the pool, but Dilstories ensures that members have a starting point.
In the long run, production funds will come from any profits the collective accrues, since by law profits have to be re-invested into objectives of the organization.
Other partners, who have supported our film trainings since 2017, are The DOEN Foundation. Training is always expensive, with no financial rewards, hence the need for grants to offset some of the costs. These will fund mostly the short, non-commercial projects.
How do you ensure members are not exploited?
Emphasis is on community building, rather than economic benefits. For a person to get support of the collective, they must be active members for a minimum of six months. Besides, the policy of ‘help others to help you’ filters out those who want to be helped, but won’t help anyone.
Before venturing into commercial projects, members will be encouraged to work on non-commercial films to build a community, and establish workflows and rules of engagement.
On addition, every commercial project will be treated as a subsidiary company, with those who participate in it forming the shareholders. Say the total budget of a film is 1M UGX, and a cinematography is supposed to be paid 100K UGX. This means the cinematographer has a 10% stake in the film, and so they get paid 10% of the net sales. To enforce this, the collective will own rights of any commercial project it supports.
Where are you located?
We are based at Dilstories Film Studio, in Misindye, along Namugongo-Seeta Road. All our trainings and productions happen here. However, since the collective champions networking and team building, some socializing activities, like film club or film night, may happen wherever members choose, including at homes of members.