We’ve held film trainings since 2017, under the banner of Mobile Film School, a project run by Dilstories, who in 2023 founded a non-profit organization to continue these trainings. It is a collective for Ugandan filmmakers to network and share expertise and easily produce films. See details on how to join here. Our trainees have won awards, while others have gained employment in the film and media sector, since we focus on practical lessons and our mentors are experienced professionals. Through Dilstories, participants of this training get opportunity to work as paid interns, and many get employed whenever gigs come up. In 2024, the collective conducted film trainings in five districts of Uganda, including Kampala, and you can read the stories here.
This training is open to anyone interested in film making at a professional level, and is open to every kind of artist regardless of your level of experience. After ten months of training, you will be a well rounded filmmaker capable of producing high quality films and audiovisual products. Our main requirement is that you are interested in film, and are already active in the arts. This can be proven with your previous works which could be as simple as a blog, or poetry, or painting, or work in theater and other performing arts, and so you are looking to transition to film. Or, it could be that you already have experience in film and are looking to refine your skills, or learn a new thing. For example, a cinematography seeking to learn editing, or a writer seeking to enhance their technical skills. We have you covered. Women are particularly encouraged to get into these technical behind-the-camera roles.
At the end of the training, three selected participants will win a cash grant of UGX 2.5M each to produce a short film, an equipment grant, and full access to our film studio for any film location. Some participants (or all if everyone qualifies!) will be taken on as paid interns for a TV Series or feature film that the collective will produce in Nov-Dec 2025.
Requirements
- A filled application form.
- A letter expressing your interest in the training. Please include your bio and tell us about your experience in the arts.
- A sample of work demonstrating your art. This includes writing, poetry, blogs, podcasts, painting, acting, dance, theater, photography, videography. We need to know that you are an artist.
Overview
Every participant will be trained in all the modules of filmmaking, including screenwriting, directing, producing, cinematography, audio recording, and video editing. It is important for those interested in a specific category to participate in each category, for filmmaking is an eco-system and you perform best if you are knowledgeable in what happens outside your area of interest. There will be a special training on pitching and fundraising. We will provide all equipment for the training, but if you have a laptop, you will be encouraged to bring it along.
Screenwriting
Participants learn the fundamentals of scriptwriting, including screenplay format, story structure, character development, writing visual scripts (without dialogue), and writing dialogue for the screen.
Resources: Laptops/computers, KIT Scenarist
Directing
You learn the art of telling stories through film, and techniques of script analysis so as to prepare for shooting. Directors will learn how to prepare actors for their roles, and other crew will learn how to interpret the script so as to help the direct realise their vision.
Producing
This will involve learning the basics of film production, including budgets and schedules, to the advanced class of pitching, creating pitch decks, and how to raise money for your productions, as well as how to sell your film.
Sound recording and audio production
Each participant will master the fundamentals of sound. Each will produce a short radio play, or podcast, and participants will learn how to record sound using professional equipment (and your phone!), and to edit this sound using open-source audio editors.
Resources: Tascam DR-60D MKII, Zoom F8n, Zoom F6, Rode NTG-2, Seinhheiser, Laptops/computers
Cinematography
Here participants learn film language, and how to use the camera to tell a story. Directors will learn how to use shots effectively, how to stage dialogues, blocking scenes, and other techniques necessary to make a great film. Emphasis will be on visual storytelling and participants will be required to make a short film with as little dialogue as possible.
Resources: Smart phones, DSLRs Canon T3i, Canon M50, BlackMagic Pocket 4K with Prime Lenses
Film editing
How exactly do you put together a series of clips to make a great film? Aah, did you know that films are ultimately made (or destroyed!) in the editing room? We shall learn both the creative side of editing (how to edit actor’s performances, how to re-write the story in editing to fix broken stuff, how to put two clips together to make a good film) and the technical stuff, editing audio, colouring the film, a bit of visual effects, rendering….
Resources: Laptops, Gaming PCs, Kdenlive (open-source), Davinci Resolve 19
Schedule
The training will be held in four phases.
PHASE 1: BASIC TRAINING. Here, participants learn the fundamentals of film at an entry level phase. At the end, each participant will a) write a script of under two pages, b) produce a radio play of under three minutes c) produce a scene of a film of under three minutes.
Duration: 15 Days; 12th – 12th January 2025.
PHASE 2: INTERMEDIATE TRAINING. In this phase of the film training, each participant will write and produce up to four short films in a real life working environment. The idea is that the more you do, the more you learn. Participants work at a pace suitable to their needs, in groups, but each participant will a) write four scripts of under two pages, b) produce a scene of a film, or other audiovisual product, of under three minutes.
Duration: 12 Days (spread over eight weeks); 1st Feb 29th Mar 2025
PHASE 3: ADVANCED TRAINING. Participants may now wish to specialize, with focus shifting to professional equipment and workflows. Every two weeks, participants are given an exercise in: a) scriptwriting b) cinematography c) audio recording d) editing e) pitching. Here, participants learn to pitch and to fundraise, and Film Production 101. Select participants will write scripts of up to 10 pages and create a pitch deck for the script, while others will practice on professional equipment given their areas of interest.
Duration: 15 Days (spread over three months); 1st Apr to 30th Jun 2025
PITCHING: A date will be set in July, for participants to pitch their short films to a panel of industry professionals. After the pitch, three films will be selected for production.
PHASE 4: PRODUCTION. Three short films, of ten to fifteen minutes, that were pitched in Phase 3, are selected for production. The crew will be other participants. While the short film format is encouraged, we understand some participants may opt for documentaries, or podcasts, or other audiovisual product.
Duration: 12 Days (spread over two months), starting 1st September to 31st October 2025
PHASE 5: SCREENING/PREMIER. The short films produced in Activity 5 are presented to the public, at Goethe Zentrum/UGCS premises in Kamwokya.
Duration: 1 Day. (screening date to be confirmed)
PHASE 6: INTERNSHIP
Dilstories will produce a TV series, or a feature film, between November and December 2025, and so selected participants will be invited to intern. This means that one person may get to direct, or be cinematographer of, or edit, or record sound of an episode. This, on addition to the short film, will be a professional credit that a participant can use to further their careers. The internship will be paid, but it’s not competitive, or mandatory, or automatic. It will be the sole discretion of Dilstories to choose interns based on the qualities and abilities the participants have demonstrated.
Terms And Conditions
- The call for applications will open on 1st December 2024.
- The Deadline for submitting applications is 8th January 2025.
- Participants must be above 18 years old at the time of application.
- The maximum number of participants is 15 persons.
- The training runs from 12th January until 31st October 2025, with November and December 2024 reserved for internship. Participants must be available full time to attend all sessions. If a participant fails to attend all the sessions, or drops out before 31st October, for whatever reason, then the participant will pay a fine to compensate the collective for the resources they have spent since a drop-out will not be fully trained.
- This is a non-residential training to be held at Dilstories Film Studio, near Misindye, along Namugongo-Seeta Road. Sisi Film Collective will provide participants with breakfast and lunch. Participants will cater for their own transport costs.
- Upon selection, participants will pay a registration fee of 100,000/= (one hundred thousand, Ugandan shillings), as a contribution toward costs of the training, and does not include membership in the collective.
- Participants will own all copyright(s) of their works, and works they write or produce must not be in violation of any existing copyright(s) of any individual or organization.
- Participants will grant Sisi Film Collective, Goethe Zentrum/UGCS, Dilstories, Stitching DOEN, and all their partners, permission to use photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings bearing the images of the participants, as well as names and biographies of the participants, for publicity and for fundraising purposes.