By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK Attending the recently-held Pan-African film festival in Los Angeles was a dream come true for a young Namibian filmmaker. Joel Haikali boils over from all the excitement he experienced during the festival that has been staged since 1992, a key platform for African filmmakers to make their mark and getting into the American film industry. “American director, Charles Burnett, when he was in Namibia shooting Where Others Wavered, encouraged me to attend this premium film festival, which can be of great importance for Namibian filmmakers and the country as a tourist destination,” Joel Haikali said. Initially, he wanted to take a collection of Namibian films on the trip which was financed by the Namibian Film Commission. “I had some difficulties raising my airline ticket costs but, thanks the NFC, I managed to get it in time. It was an experience I will never forget. Meeting all those top brass African film directors in person opened up a new world of understanding for me with regard to filmmaking. South Africa was also very strongly present at the festival, which any worthy Namibian filmmaker should try to attend,” he said. He specifically went to the Pan-African film festival to make connections and network on behalf of himself and other Namibian filmmakers. “I think the festival is a very good opportunity to promote Namibian films and stories at the festival that ran for two weeks, offering many opportunities for the distribution of films to the rest of the world. That is to the serious-minded Namibian filmmakers, not those fly-by-night filmmakers who just want to make a fast buck,” said the young filmmaker who is known for his short film, The World of Today, that was screened by the NBC some time ago. According to Haikali, the organizers in conversations indicated a greater presence of Namibian films and filmmakers in future. “During the festival I was honoured to have attended five interesting and stimulating film discussions from which I learned a mighty lot. Furthermore, I was fortunate to watch a number of movies by African descendent filmmakers and I had the opportunity to visit UCLA, one of the best known film schools in Los Angeles, where I was able to acquire information on admission and courses offered. I also had a meeting with the director of the world-renowned Sundance Festival, which was started by Robert Redford. We discussed the prospect of Namibian filmmakers benefiting from its feature and documentary film fund,” he said. “South Africa seems to be the only SADC country that is taking full advantage of the Pan-African Film Festival, promoting its films and film stories. Namibia was not at all visible at the festival. No wonder most American filmmakers I met with could not even pronounce the name of our country properly, let alone know where it is geographically situated. Ghana and Nigeria were also very strongly represented at the festival because their governments fully support their participation in it,” Haikali asserted. The festival annually attracts many film producers, directors, actors, representatives of distribution companies, television-commissioning directors, history-makers and funding organizations. “The Pan-African Film Festival is the venue where independent storytellers showcase their distinctive works, share information and learn from and about each other’s cultures. This is why the Namibian film industry can make use of that venue to establish itself in the international market,” he said encouragingly. In a report to the Namibia Film Commission on his trip to America, Haikali strongly recommended that Namibia as a growing filmmaking country be formally launched at the next festival in February 2008. “Of course, it will be an expensive project, but I believe it will be worthwhile as we will be promoting Namibia as a country, and at the same time promote our film industry. One way of achieving that goal is by lobbying the tourist industry, the local business community, the Ministry of Culture, which will all enjoy direct benefits from such an initiative,” he concluded.