Sunday, December 11, 2005
Historical Black College Partners with Internationally Acclaimed African Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Historical Black College Partners with Internationally Acclaimed African Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo starting next spring on a new film based teaching method called "auteur learning" to reduce drop out rates.
Little Rock, Arkansas (PRWEB) December 5, 2005 -- Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo through the University of Arkansas based Clinton School of Public Service starting next spring. Bekolo will use film/video as a teaching tool in an inter-disciplinary program that allows students to discover and explore their field of study working closely with a small group of specialized faculty.
An internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, Bekolo has devised an “auteur learning” method of instruction that uses the filmmaking experience as an intellectual as well as practical approach to teaching students who prefer a learning environment that relies on “construction” rather than classic “instruction” methods. Today in America, studies show that almost 30 percent of those entering high school never graduate (Greene & Winters, 2005). The program will target African-American students who have the highest drop out rate in the country.
Born in Cameroon, Bekolo’s auteur learning method is based on his own experience challenging Hollywood’s definition of cinema as entertainment. “I don’t see a difference between film and public service,” said Bekolo. “It’s all about education. The tools are there, the interest is there, we just need to create a method of acquiring knowledge that uses what is today the most immediately accessible medium.”
Bekolo’s debut film, Quartier Mozart, received the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film, Aristotle’s Plot, was one of several films commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema and included works by Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Bekolo recently released Les Saignantes, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Bekolo studied film semiotics under Professor Christian Metz in Paris and has taught at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Clinton Foundation
http://www.clintonlittlerock.com/latest.asp?aID=119
Emerging Minds
http://www.emergingminds.org/magazine/content/index.php?itemid=2888
Philander Smith
http://www.philander.edu/Detail.aspx?NewsID=22
PRweb
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb318169.htm
Yahoo
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bekolo+philander&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo starting next spring on a new film based teaching method called "auteur learning" to reduce drop out rates.
Little Rock, Arkansas (PRWEB) December 5, 2005 -- Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo through the University of Arkansas based Clinton School of Public Service starting next spring. Bekolo will use film/video as a teaching tool in an inter-disciplinary program that allows students to discover and explore their field of study working closely with a small group of specialized faculty.
An internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, Bekolo has devised an “auteur learning” method of instruction that uses the filmmaking experience as an intellectual as well as practical approach to teaching students who prefer a learning environment that relies on “construction” rather than classic “instruction” methods. Today in America, studies show that almost 30 percent of those entering high school never graduate (Greene & Winters, 2005). The program will target African-American students who have the highest drop out rate in the country.
Born in Cameroon, Bekolo’s auteur learning method is based on his own experience challenging Hollywood’s definition of cinema as entertainment. “I don’t see a difference between film and public service,” said Bekolo. “It’s all about education. The tools are there, the interest is there, we just need to create a method of acquiring knowledge that uses what is today the most immediately accessible medium.”
Bekolo’s debut film, Quartier Mozart, received the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film, Aristotle’s Plot, was one of several films commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema and included works by Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Bekolo recently released Les Saignantes, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Bekolo studied film semiotics under Professor Christian Metz in Paris and has taught at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Clinton Foundation
http://www.clintonlittlerock.com/latest.asp?aID=119
Emerging Minds
http://www.emergingminds.org/magazine/content/index.php?itemid=2888
Philander Smith
http://www.philander.edu/Detail.aspx?NewsID=22
PRweb
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb318169.htm
Yahoo
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bekolo+philander&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
Historical Black College Partners with Internationally Acclaimed African Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Historical Black College Partners with Internationally Acclaimed African Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo starting next spring on a new film based teaching method called "auteur learning" to reduce drop out rates.
Little Rock, Arkansas (PRWEB) December 5, 2005 -- Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo through the University of Arkansas based Clinton School of Public Service starting next spring. Bekolo will use film/video as a teaching tool in an inter-disciplinary program that allows students to discover and explore their field of study working closely with a small group of specialized faculty.
An internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, Bekolo has devised an “auteur learning” method of instruction that uses the filmmaking experience as an intellectual as well as practical approach to teaching students who prefer a learning environment that relies on “construction” rather than classic “instruction” methods. Today in America, studies show that almost 30 percent of those entering high school never graduate (Greene & Winters, 2005). The program will target African-American students who have the highest drop out rate in the country.
Born in Cameroon, Bekolo’s auteur learning method is based on his own experience challenging Hollywood’s definition of cinema as entertainment. “I don’t see a difference between film and public service,” said Bekolo. “It’s all about education. The tools are there, the interest is there, we just need to create a method of acquiring knowledge that uses what is today the most immediately accessible medium.”
Bekolo’s debut film, Quartier Mozart, received the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film, Aristotle’s Plot, was one of several films commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema and included works by Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Bekolo recently released Les Saignantes, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Bekolo studied film semiotics under Professor Christian Metz in Paris and has taught at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Clinton Foundation
http://www.clintonlittlerock.com/latest.asp?aID=119
Emerging Minds
http://www.emergingminds.org/magazine/content/index.php?itemid=2888
Philander Smith
http://www.philander.edu/Detail.aspx?NewsID=22
PRweb
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb318169.htm
Yahoo
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bekolo+philander&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo starting next spring on a new film based teaching method called "auteur learning" to reduce drop out rates.
Little Rock, Arkansas (PRWEB) December 5, 2005 -- Philander Smith College, a historical black college located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is partnering with African filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo through the University of Arkansas based Clinton School of Public Service starting next spring. Bekolo will use film/video as a teaching tool in an inter-disciplinary program that allows students to discover and explore their field of study working closely with a small group of specialized faculty.
An internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, Bekolo has devised an “auteur learning” method of instruction that uses the filmmaking experience as an intellectual as well as practical approach to teaching students who prefer a learning environment that relies on “construction” rather than classic “instruction” methods. Today in America, studies show that almost 30 percent of those entering high school never graduate (Greene & Winters, 2005). The program will target African-American students who have the highest drop out rate in the country.
Born in Cameroon, Bekolo’s auteur learning method is based on his own experience challenging Hollywood’s definition of cinema as entertainment. “I don’t see a difference between film and public service,” said Bekolo. “It’s all about education. The tools are there, the interest is there, we just need to create a method of acquiring knowledge that uses what is today the most immediately accessible medium.”
Bekolo’s debut film, Quartier Mozart, received the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film, Aristotle’s Plot, was one of several films commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema and included works by Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Bekolo recently released Les Saignantes, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Bekolo studied film semiotics under Professor Christian Metz in Paris and has taught at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Clinton Foundation
http://www.clintonlittlerock.com/latest.asp?aID=119
Emerging Minds
http://www.emergingminds.org/magazine/content/index.php?itemid=2888
Philander Smith
http://www.philander.edu/Detail.aspx?NewsID=22
PRweb
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb318169.htm
Yahoo
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bekolo+philander&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
Thursday, July 07, 2005
TRIBAL CINEMA WORKSHOP
TRIBAL CINEMA WORKSHOP AT THE AMAKULA KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
How to identify and write great film idea for a global audience?
by
Jean-Pierre Bekolo
http://www.amakula.com/
As I was teaching a film course program in Zimbabwé, I asked my students what their favored film was, and the answers were Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pretty Woman etc... Then I asked them what film they would make if they had the ressources they need, they all had ideas about social issues such as child abuse, education etc... Finally I asked them if they would go out and pay to watch their own film? The answer was obviously No.
This is the reason why I thought about a workshop that would help young African identify what a good film idea could be. And I found this idea of Tribal Cinema, as you can imagine the name is not a coincidence even if Tribal Cinema is not a specific African thing.
What is a tribe?
A tribe is a community of people who live together with a shared way of life. There are all kinds of communities with a shared way of life out there.
But what makes tribes so interesting?
Because film is about behavior, cinema is behaviorist. A group of people who behave strangely are always a curiosity, interesting to watch. We learn something about them for sure but also about ourselves. We might like it or not agree with them or not. A tribe is always compelling to any other human being.
Who are the tribes in films?
Gangsters, cowboys, italian maffia, American cops, soldiers, lawyers, french lovers, homlesses, dancers, sportsmen, bikers, families, students, animals...
...
What caracterises those tribes?
They have their own language, dress code, behavior etc...
Making a Tribal Cinema Workshop in Africa doesn't mean that we are going to find African « traditional » tribes to work from. What we will do will be to identify contemporary type of tribes and why not make some tribes.
But here is the key, as Africans with our better understanding of tribal culture, how do we bring that African tribal perspective into a contemporary tribal idea?
Putting into practice this idea of Tribal Cinema could help develop interesting African film ideas for a global audience.
How to identify and write great film idea for a global audience?
by
Jean-Pierre Bekolo
http://www.amakula.com/
As I was teaching a film course program in Zimbabwé, I asked my students what their favored film was, and the answers were Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pretty Woman etc... Then I asked them what film they would make if they had the ressources they need, they all had ideas about social issues such as child abuse, education etc... Finally I asked them if they would go out and pay to watch their own film? The answer was obviously No.
This is the reason why I thought about a workshop that would help young African identify what a good film idea could be. And I found this idea of Tribal Cinema, as you can imagine the name is not a coincidence even if Tribal Cinema is not a specific African thing.
What is a tribe?
A tribe is a community of people who live together with a shared way of life. There are all kinds of communities with a shared way of life out there.
But what makes tribes so interesting?
Because film is about behavior, cinema is behaviorist. A group of people who behave strangely are always a curiosity, interesting to watch. We learn something about them for sure but also about ourselves. We might like it or not agree with them or not. A tribe is always compelling to any other human being.
Who are the tribes in films?
Gangsters, cowboys, italian maffia, American cops, soldiers, lawyers, french lovers, homlesses, dancers, sportsmen, bikers, families, students, animals...
...
What caracterises those tribes?
They have their own language, dress code, behavior etc...
Making a Tribal Cinema Workshop in Africa doesn't mean that we are going to find African « traditional » tribes to work from. What we will do will be to identify contemporary type of tribes and why not make some tribes.
But here is the key, as Africans with our better understanding of tribal culture, how do we bring that African tribal perspective into a contemporary tribal idea?
Putting into practice this idea of Tribal Cinema could help develop interesting African film ideas for a global audience.
