EAC stakes Shs95m in short film competitions, 33 slots for winners

The East African Community (EAC) has staked Shs95m (25000USD) for each of the 33 youth who will emerge in the winning category of a short film completion.

The film competition is part of a citizen’s engagement crusade, which targets reaching out to over 10 million East African citizens dubbed the EAC I Deserve’.

It was launched in January 2020 at Makerere University in Kampala as part of a series of activities to reawaken enthusiasm and ignite the spirit of pushing forward the agenda tagged around promoting regional integration.

Consequently, the EAC Secretariat has opened the portal for submission of the inaugural Short Film Competition and extended the deadline for submissions to 30th April 2020.

Announcing the opening of the web portal for submitting the short films, the EAC Secretary-General, Ambassador Libérat Mfumukeko said the contest the first of its kind by the East African Community is part of a year-long effort to reach out to over 10 million citizens using new innovative tools as part of a new campaign dubbed “The EAC I Deserve” a Citizens’ Engagement Campaign.

“The EAC Short Film Competition will involve young people from all our six Partner States. A total prize of $25,000 awaits the innovative 33 youthful winners, short films in the French language will be accepted that have English subtitles and the submission deadline has been extended to 30th April 2020 to allow for more young people to collaborate using online tools. The short films will be judged based on creativity, originality, popularity, entertainment value and advancement of the integration agenda” Mfumukeko said.

“The EAC Short Film Competition creates a new opportunity for us to hear stories directly from the citizens on what they think we have so far achieved, the impact we have made to their world and the future EAC they want to live in,” he added.

Speaking about the cause of extending the submission deadline, the Secretary-General said this is a result of disruptions caused by restrictions of movement of people in the region due to safety measures implemented by the Partner States as a result of the spread of coronavirus in some part of East Africa.

According to the secretariat, the rationale for the short film competition was obtained for the nature of today’s population where majority EAC youth are tech-savvy, while there is the increased use of social media within the region.

There are over 30 million social media users in the East African region, with an average growth of 15% yearly, becoming the main source of accessing news for East African citizens.

“Interested youth should upload their submissions on their personal or friends Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok accounts, include the campaign hashtag #TheEACiDeserve in their postings on digital channels and later upload the films through www.theeacideserve.com. Entrants aged between 18 to 35 years, East Africans are eligible to enter the contest where they are at liberty to use any genre to produce the video or animation, and the length should be between 30 to 59 seconds” Mfumukeko said.

About the EAC I deserve campaign

The year-long campaign supported by the German Government through German Development Cooperation (GIZ), has several activities aimed at igniting a reflection of achievements and challenges over the past 20 years to create a new momentum that inspires citizens belief on the EAC integration efforts.

The EAC Short Film Competition is part of “The EAC i Deserve campaign”. A year-long citizens’ engagement campaign creates a platform where East Africans can share their aspirations, ambitions, and desires about the livelihood they wish to experience going forth. The campaign encourages all stakeholders to work together to build an economically secure and prosperous future as citizens brought together under one theme: One People, One Destiny.

National sensitization activities to publicize the campaign have been carried in Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, and Bujumbura as part of the mobilization efforts to encourage citizens to take the chance to inspire the change they want to see in the region.

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