By Sainabou Sambou
The Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in The Gambia, Wiebke Oeser attended the opening ceremony of the 5th Cinekambiya International Film Festival (CIFF) held on Friday, December 6th, at the University of The Gambia (UTG) School of Journalism and Digital Media (SJDM).
Speaking at the event, Ms Oeser expressed excitement for seeing stories on the big screen done by the UTG films students and other young professionals from the field.
“I am proud that German Cooperation has supported the story-telling and story-making with German colleagues that came here to conduct a workshop with UTG SJDM students and I am very excited to see some of the results,” she said of the ‘Weltfilme eV’ capacity building projects supported by the German Government.
Ms. Oeser revealed that when she came to The Gambia, she looked for a movie theater, unfortunately couldn’t find any. She said she is nonetheless delighted that Mr Sankanu organised such event where films are played on big screen for people to watch.
Mr Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, UTG lecturer of Film Studies, CIFF, founder and President of Film Producers Association of The Gambia (FPAG), expressed appreciation for the German Government, Weltfilme e.V organization in Berlin and his colleagues at the University of The Gambia for the genuine and enduring support.
“Germany has been a very good and reliable partner in building the capacity of our young film industry. We will strive to have our own movie theater as part of the legacies and impacts of The Gambian-German Cooperation in the areas of cultural diplomacy. Germany should know that their taxpayer’s money is not wasted but invested in something useful here in The Gambia within the contexts of North-South Development Cooperation and international understanding. The talented youths at the Cinekambiya International Film Festival have given tangible testimonies on the impacts of German support to our nascent film arts sector,” Mr. Sankanu remarked.
He also expressed gratitude to The Gambia Government through the Office of The Government Spokesperson, the National Centre for Arts & Culture, Migration and Sustainable Development (MSDG) Arts Production Fellowship of Dr. Gibril Faal GK Partners, the African Union Media Fellowship, the UTG community and The Gambian music star “Nyancho” for the timely support.
