A sunshine driven media initiative addressing social and environmental challenges through short films has taken off from Cape Town. Sunshine Cinema is a mobile cinema that converts solar power to social impact. It also facilitates workshops and how-to videos through community engagement.
“Our aim is to connect change makers to wider networks, amplifying the voices of grassroots active citizens,” says Sydelle Willow Smith, researcher at Sunshine Cinema. “We celebrate local stories, educating, uplifting, inspiring and connecting people.”
Made up of a small team of storytellers, filmmakers and researchers who are passionate about creating an alternative distribution platform. “We believe in making our media screenings a soapbox for local voices to engage. We believe media can be used as a tool to activate social dialogue, which is why we also run media training workshops with active citizens at our screenings” explains Smith. In addition, they are shaking up the local media industry. “Our production company Makhulu is apprenticeship based. Our core team is comprised of passionate individuals, many who are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds that gain on the job training.” They run a scholarship partnership with SAE film school in Woodstock, Cape Town. A Sunshine Cinema full scholarship is awarded each year to an up-and-coming filmmaker. The 2016 Sunshine Cinema/SAE Scholarship recipient was Lufefe ‘Fez’ Figlan.
They run a pop-up cinema with their screen, sound and projector all using solar power and an inverter from their partners at MLT Power, a Cape Town solar manufacturer. “We screen to up to 200 people at a time. We also have a smaller cinema system that fits into a small pelican case, with micro projector, wireless speakers and a mini solar power and inverter which we use for smaller scale events for up to 50 viewers.”
During the International Aids Conference, held in Durban between 19 and 22 July 2016, Sunshine Cinema hosted a series of free film screenings in surrounding townships. Supported by the Open Society Foundations Public Health Program the films provided perspectives of youths from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania facing the challenges of access to care and social stigmas. These events provided a platform for engagement and dialogue within communities that otherwise would not have access to the conference and challenged community members to consider how they may impact the fight against HIV and AIDS.
In 2016 Sunshine Cinema were the official satellite screening partner of The Encounters Documentary Film Festival hosting screenings in Khayelitsha and Langa.
Since 2013 they have screened to more than 6000 direct audience members in shipping containers, community halls, schools and various other pop up cinema locations. “We plan to continue building our alternative distribution platform,” says Smith.
They too are partners of the Zambia Festival of Action, the fifth annual festival took place in July in Livingstone. Run by Greenpop the festival is a learning project that teaches sustainability and active citizenship as they plant thousands of trees at schools and community farms in an area where deforestation is an issue.
Sunshine Cinema plan to partner with an international film festival focusing on African cinema to ensure more African cinema is seen on the continent.
