Young filmmaker William Julien spoke of his experience filming his This Is Africa documentary in South Africa during Thursday night’s Sundance 2024 Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years at the DeJoria Centre in Kamus, Utah in the US.
“The two-part documentary is a showcase of the beauty of Africa, with its rich landscape, wildlife, and we filmed at the Vuyelani Primary School in Mpumalanga,” Julien told TimesLIVE.
“When I was 16, my parents bought me a drone and I started filming with the drone and camera in New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, and when we got to South Africa I wanted to be able to film the documentary as well as raise funds for the school.
“Beginning in 2019, we filmed around the nearby Kruger National Park and the Africa Foundation helped us liaise with the school.
“They showed us classrooms, where four children were crammed into a tiny bench made for barely two. I helped to set up a fundraiser with Given Gain and in four months we raised $21,000 (R398,294) and the money went straight to the school.
“We went back in July 2022 to visit the school and the pupils. It was a heartwarming moment to see the new classrooms funded by donations and show the children the documentary from our visit before,” said the 22-year-old Duke University graduate who won Best Student Film in the Cannes World Film Festival for his Parisian documentary La Clé De L’Amour.
“Many of those children had never had their photo taken, so I enjoyed filming their reactions of them being in a movie — they were cheering and laughing as their friends came up on screen.
“Londolozi Game Reserve, where we were staying, helped to make lots of popcorn which they gave to the children and I hope I might be able to inspire the youth of South Africa to get into filmmaking.
“I hope to have the second part of the documentary edited by next year.”
The opening gala celebrating 40 years of Sundance honoured actress Kristen Stewart, who received the Sundance Institute Visionary Award from actor Jesse Eisenberg.
Robert Downey Jr presented Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan with the inaugural Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award.
TimesLIVE
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