Telling our Stories: Achille Brice & Eka Christa Assam

September 23, 2014September 23, 2014Leave a comment

On September 3, 2014, former Akademie Schloss Solitude resident Achille Brice and fellow filmmaker Eka Christa Assam presented the German premiere of three film shorts – I.C.U., I-BEMSI and Beleh – at Generationshaus, Stuttgart. Barbadian artist and writer Katherine Kennedy, who is currently in residence at the Akademie acting as a correspondent between the Caribbean and the community here, spoke with them after the screening. The conversation provided an opportunity to discuss not only the works themselves, but the larger context in which they function in Cameroonian society. Through a series of questions, observations and personal anecdotes, cultural exchanges occurred, emphasizing the importance of perspective in both the telling and appreciation of a story.

Read the interview originally conducted for the Akademie Schloss Solitude Blog below:

The German premiere of I.C.U., I-BEMSI and Beleh. Premiere pictures courtesy of Eka Christa Assam.

Katherine Kennedy: Can you begin by telling me about your background in acting/filmmaking, and the context you are working out of in Cameroon; is there already an industry you are situating yourself in, or is it now emerging?

Eka Christa Assam: I actually studied accounting after high school, but I always wanted to act. At some point I dropped out, and after a year or two I got my first movie role in 2006. After being in a couple of films, I realized I wasn’t interested in the kind of scripts that came my way. In Cameroon, the film industry is still trying to find its feet, especially the English speaking section. Many filmmakers try to copy what Nollywood – the Nigerian film industry – is doing, which is mostly home videos for entertainment that don’t follow cinematic techniques, and I wanted more from the genre. I felt that film was tool we could use to address some of the issues we are facing in our country.

Eka Christa Assam

After a while I tried writing and directing my first short – but that didn’t even make it out of post. It was very hard because I hadn’t been to film school, I had no experience. I tried to read up on it but I don’t think I was quite prepared yet. I tried to get books on filmmaking, looked for information online and studied lots of Western films. Then I met Achille, who had been here at Akademie Schloss Solitude, and he was kind of like a mentor. He gave me pointers and sources for material, and he helped me with the second short, Doormat, which was 6 minutes long. With that piece I got accepted into the Durban Talent Campus 2012.

The second project we worked on was Beleh, which has been doing really well. It’s been screened at 12 festivals to date and won best short film at the ZAFAA African Film Academy Awards in London in 2013 and got a jury mention at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Nigeria. It’s a slow process, but it’s picking up – the more you do, the more you improve, and because we have no formal training we learn on the job. It’s a bit of a struggle, but now that our work is getting out there and we’re getting opportunities to interact with other artists, we’re learning from them, getting inspired by their work, and approaching our own work from a different perspective.

Achille Brice

Achille Brice: In terms of coming into the industry, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a film artist at first. I started as more of a recording artist and I was editing pictures for fun part time. A Cameroonian director had seen some of my work, and approached me in 2003 to suggest I try my hand at video editing. The first movie I ever edited was feature length; it was chaotic, but it was an amazing experience and ever since then I have been doing a lot of homework, trying to gain experience. I was lucky to be selected for the Durban Talent Campus in 2008, and in the same year selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus in Germany, so I think those were turning points in my artistic career. I got to meet professionals that have been in the industry for a long time, network and share ideas. I think that was a source of motivation.

Being able to manipulate scenarios, in a sense giving meaning to nothing, is what brought me to the industry. As Eka said, I discovered it was a platform where I could pick out relevant topics, and use video to break a barrier that other genres cannot really cross in the same way. I would say the artistic scene in Cameroon, especially in film, is slow because there are no real film institutions. If you want to become an artist you have to take the initiative in educating yourself.

KK: Given that the industry is still in its latent phases, did that lead to the founding of BinAm Studios? What are some of the obstacles you’ve had to overcome?

AB: There is a problem with movie financing because a lot of investors don’t want to put their money into a sector where nobody has had formal training, but I think it’s a necessary risk to invest in and encourage talent. BinAm Studios was created as a platform to celebrate our own, because the general population of Cameroon tends to embrace foreign products. Sometimes when we do movies, people say that we’re copying Nigeria, but we’re trying to tell our own stories. It’s a gradual process; first we have to prove our worth, and then we can use this platform to showcase ourselves so that Cameroonians and those living in the diaspora know that things like this can happen in our own home. I founded BinAm Studios to cultivate this field while exposing our best. We have amazing actors, directors and producers who don’t get recognition because people think moviemaking is just a part time thing, but for me moviemaking is my saviour. It’s where I found my home.

ECA: Film is more than a hobby – it’s a passion and a profession, and you have to find that balance. Too many people do it for the wrong reasons. They may not even be finished editing the first draft, and they’re already starting on the promotion because they want their friends to know they will be on camera. They’re in a hurry to get it out there – but why are they doing it? The reason determines how well it is done. I feel that, as much talent as we have – and there are so many talented Cameroonians – once your attitude gets tainted, your whole art will crumble. And that is one of the biggest problems in our industry. We don’t have a market for our films yet, so the challenge is for us to be able to find our own voice and style, and make the public believe in our ability to present unique content.
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ARC Magazine announces Katherine Kennedy’s Fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude

September 19, 2014September 23, 2014Leave a comment

ARC Magazine shares Katherine Kennedy‘s first report from Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. Katherine was selected on behalf of Fresh Milk to participate in the ResSupport Fellowship programme offered by Res Artis. During her 3 month tenure, she will be a resident correspondent, interacting with the personnel and fellows, conducting interviews, and extending the wealth of the Akademie’s programming to our community. Read more below:

The best way I can describe both the past few and upcoming months would be transitionary. Working in the arts is flexible by nature, but at times it feels even more crucial to be receptive to change when operating in the context of the Caribbean and contributing to platforms such as ARC Magazine and Fresh Milk. The missions of both initiatives overlap and synergize in their commitment to maintaining critical, creative spaces of encounter, acting as ‘cultural labs‘ whose agendas surpass nationalistic thinking with the larger, holistic good of the region in mind. These are ambitious goals that both ARC and Fresh Milk rise and adapt to in a number of ways on an ongoing basis, and goals that can only be achieved through open mindedness to new ideas, new people and new environments.

I applied in the capacity of Assistant to Director at Fresh Milk to the ResSupport Fellowship programme offered by Res Artis, a worldwide network of over 400 residencies of which Fresh Milk is a member. The fellowship is described as an “exchange program of cultural workers at residency centres…[providing] the occasion to increase organisational consciousness, strengthen the bonds, and also generate knowledge and cultural sharing among the members of the Res Artis network.”

These ideas of exchange and knowledge transfer immediately resonated, having always been at the heart of our work, and I was honoured to have been selected to travel to Stuttgart, Germany to be hosted for three months (September 1 – December 1, 2014) by Akademie Schloss Solitude. In addition to gaining insight into how this prestigious residency centre is run and fostering relationships with the staff and resident artists, I will be acting as a correspondent on behalf of Fresh Milk and ARC, sharing information on the Caribbean contemporary art scene and in turn extending my experiences and information gained at the Akademie with our networks throughout the region. I’m aiming to ensure that this journey is not a drop in a pond, but can lead to future collaboration and be mutually enriching for all involved – large goals seem to come with the territory, but the very existence of opportunities such as this is proof that there is a real desire on both sides for meaningful engagement.

The transition from Barbados to Germany is taking place, and even as I take the time to orient myself here I am eager to absorb as much as I can, having hit the ground running. But while this shift in my location and commitments will be more than a drop in a pond in the greater scheme of things, it has still produced ripples in the daily functioning of both initiatives I am representing.

While I am abroad, Barbadian artist and regular volunteer at Fresh Milk, Versia Harris, will be stepping in and interning as Assistant to Director in training, exemplifying the importance of investing in the development of emerging artists and equipping them with the necessary skills to confidently enter professional environments. Similarly, ARC has recently inducted three interns into its fold – Katherine Agard, Varala Maraj and Natalie Willis – who have each been applying their talents and doing a fantastic job at working cohesively with ARC’s core team. Witnessing the domino effect of knowledge transfer that is already branching out from all sides feels very special to me, and can only stretch further and further as time passes and each new experience gets added to the mix.

Transition is also a form of evolution. New ideas, new people, new environments; all of these continue to come together to spell progress, growth and fresh prospects in ways that we envision reaching far beyond my tenure in Germany, with the input of so many incredible individuals and institutions working in tandem to create and circulate new possibilities. In this spirit, I’ll finish by sharing Akademie Schloss Solitude’s current call for applications to their next residency cycle below – perhaps it will be the first point of departure from this fellowship for new discoveries and opportunities for others:

Call for Applications: Akademie Schloss Solitude

For the fifteenth time, Akademie Schloss Solitude is granting approx. 70 residency fellowships of three to twelve months in duration. More than 1.200 artists from more than 100 countries have developed and advanced projects at the Akademie since its opening in 1990, creating a close-knit, global network of Solitude alumni that expands from year to year. The Akademie pursues an intense exchange between artistic and scientific disciplines. With the art, science & business program the transfer of knowledge and experience between these fields can be deepened to create new synergies of creativity, inventiveness and management.

International artists are invited to apply from the following disciplines: Architecture (design, landscape architecture, urban planning), Visual Arts (including performance art), Performing Arts (stage design, dramatic texts, dramaturgy, musical theater, performance, direction, drama, dance), Design (fashion, costume, product and furniture design, visual communication), Literature (essay, criticism, poetry, prose, translation), Music/Sound (interpretation, sound installation, sound performance, composition) and Video/Film/New Media (including video installation, fiction and documentary).

Furthermore, scholars, scientists and professionals from the disciplines of the Humanities, Social Sciences (with a focus on culture and the politics of space), Economy/Economics (with a focus on urban policy), and Culture & Law (with a focus on authorship) are invited to apply.

Persons up to 35 or if older who have completed a university or college degree within the past five years are welcome to apply. Currently enrolled university or college students (at the time of application) will not be considered for selection. Each fellowship recipient is granted Euro 1,100 per month, in addition to free lodging.

For additional information on the residency programme, application process and selection jury members, see the Akademie Schloss Solitude website here, or visit our Opportunities page.

Application deadline is Friday, October 31, 2014 (Postmark/End of Online Application).

As of July 1, applicants will find all information, be able to register and download the application form or apply online on the Application website.

Katherine Kennedy begins her Fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude

September 5, 2014May 21, 2015Leave a comment

Earlier this year, Assistant to Director at The Fresh Milk Art Platform, Katherine Kennedy, was selected to travel to Stuttgart, Germany as part of the ResSupport Fellowship programme offered by ResArtis. We are excited to announce that Katherine has just begun her fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude, which runs for three months from September 1 – December 1, 2014.

Katherine began her relationship with Fresh Milk as one of the first resident artists on the platform. Since working here, Katherine has represented the organisation at the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) in Curaçao, received a scholarship for the Vermont Studio Center, and taken part in a collaborative project with Casa Tomada in Brazil. While Katherine is having this amazing new experience abroad, Barbadian artist and member of our Fresh Milk Books Team, Versia Harris, will be interning here at Fresh Milk as Assistant to Director in training. Versia graduated from the Barbados Community College with a BFA in the Studio Art programme in 2012, with an award from The Leslie’s Legacy Foundation. She has since participated in four residencies, regionally and internationally. In 2014, she was one of 83 artists selected to show in the IV Moscow International Young Art Biennial.

Katherine Kennedy (left) assisting at FRESH MILK XVI – Photo by Dondré Trotman.

Versia Harris presenting at FRESH MILK XIV – Photo by Dondré Trotman.

This internship exemplifies Fresh Milk’s commitment to investing in the development of emerging artists, demonstrating the importance of knowledge transfer and equipping them with the necessary skills to confidently enter professional environments while encouraging them to maintain artistic production.

During Katherine’s time in Germany, she will be introduced to the different working areas of Akademie Schloss Solitude and gain insight into how this prestigious residency programme is run, as well as fostering relationships with the resident artists and sharing information about Fresh Milk and the Caribbean contemporary art scene. In the spirit of this exchange, we would also like to share that Akademie Schloss Solitude is currently inviting applications from artists worldwide for their next residency cycle. See more below:

Image courtesy Akademie Schloss Solitude.

Call for Applications:

International artists are invited to apply from the following disciplines: Architecture (design, landscape architecture, urban planning), Visual Arts (including performance art), Performing Arts (stage design, dramatic texts, dramaturgy, musical theater, performance, direction, drama, dance), Design (fashion, costume, product and furniture design, visual communication), Literature (essay, criticism, poetry, prose, translation), Music/Sound (interpretation, sound installation, sound performance, composition) andVideo/Film/New Media (including video installation, fiction and documentary).

For additional information on the residency programme, application process and selection jury members, see the Akademie Schloss Solitude website here, or visit our Opportunities page.

Application deadline is Friday, October 31, 2014 (Postmark/End of Online Application).

As of July 1, applicants will find all information, be able to register and download the application form or apply online on the Application website.

Validity and Visibility – See Me Here #CCF

June 26, 2014May 21, 2015Leave a comment

There is an undeniable relationship between validity and visibility. As quietly confident, assured or competent as one can be, there is something about gaining recognition that feeds the feeling of being appreciated and understood – of being seen. I already feel slightly uneasy and egotistical trying to articulate this in a way that doesn’t trigger little accusatory voices in the back of my mind hissing ‘vain!’ or ‘insecure!’…concepts that by all logic should be mutually exclusive, but the idea of needing validation from external sources manages to connote both. Maybe a less self-destructive approach is to delve into something relevant to, yet larger than myself, through the honest and brave work of the artists featured in See Me Here: A Survey of Contemporary Self-Portraits from the Caribbean.

The above excerpt is from Katherine Kennedy’s review of See Me Here: A Survey of Contemporary Self-Portraits from the Caribbean, this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Weekly posts and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

Fresh Milk receives a 2014 ResSupport Fellowship

June 13, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

Katherine Kennedy announced as 2014 ResSupport Fellow. Photograph credit: Mark King.

We are very excited to announce that this year, as part of the ResSupport Fellowship programme, ResArtis member Akademie Schloss Solitude (Germany) will be generously hosting Katherine Kennedy, from The Fresh Milk Art Platform (Barbados). This will be Akademie Schloss Solitude’s second time participating in the ResSupport Fellowships.

During her three-month stay from September 1 – December 1, 2014, Katherine will be introduced to the different working areas of Akademie Schloss Solitude and gain insight into how this prestigious residency programme is run. With this opportunity, she will learn about Akademie Schloss Solitude’s management, increasing visibility on a global level, and discuss the ongoing challenges of sustainability within artist residencies. She will also interact with other fellows and artists in residence in order to learn about new practices. Additionally, she will attend fellow and staff presentations, as well as make presentations of her own pertaining to Fresh Milk and the Caribbean creative arena to create a cross-cultural dialogue, which will allow all parties to better understand the contexts that Fresh Milk functions within.

Akademie Schloss Solitude. Photo courtesy of Akademie's press department.

Akademie Schloss Solitude. Photo courtesy of the Akademie’s press department.

We are sure that this fellowship will further initiate exchanges and build relationships within the residency field between the Caribbean and Europe, while also contributing to a more dynamic and sustainable cultural environment throughout the Caribbean.

These fellowship experiences enable participants to observe, reflect and utilize various organizational factors, while assuming an active role and a behind the scenes look at the daily work of an experienced member organisation.

This experience provides an opportunity to further organisational awareness, strengthen bonds, and facilitate knowledge and cross-cultural sharing among members of the ResArtis Network.

See this announcement on ResArtis News.

About Katherine Kennedy:

Katherine Kennedy (Born April 4, 1990, Barbados) is an artist and writer. She graduated from Lancaster University, UK in 2011 with a BA in Creative Arts (First Class Hons.) after winning a Barbados Government Scholarship for tertiary education. Her combined major of Fine Art and Creative Writing developed her keen interests in visual and literary pursuits. She has won awards for her artwork and writing in her home country, and exhibited locally and internationally.

Her visual practice is heavily tied to a sense of place, and often uses interplay between found organic and inorganic objects to assert cultural identity in different environments. Alongside her work as an artist, she is also dedicated to contributing to the support and cultivation of the wider regional creative space, and currently works as the Assistant to Director with both The Fresh Milk Art Platform, an artist-led initiative and residency programme, and ARC Magazine for contemporary Caribbean art.

Katherine travelled to the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB), Curaçao in November 2012 to conduct ‘Creatives in Conversation’, a collaborative project between the IBB and Fresh Milk. She received a full fellowship from the Reed Foundation for a residency at The Vermont Studio Center in May 2013. In September 2013, she took part in ‘fresh casa’, a short, intensive mentorship programme at Casa Tomada, São Paulo, Brazil.

About Akademie Schloss Solitude:

The Akademie Schloss Solitude is a public-law foundation that offers an interdisciplinary and international fellowship program for artists and scientists. Since 1990, the Akademie has supported artists in the disciplines of architecture, visual arts, performing arts, design, literature, music/sound and video/film/new media with residency and work fellowships. Since 2002, young people from the science and business sectors are also eligible for fellowships with the art, science & business program. The Akademie Schloss Solitude is financially supported by the German province of Baden-Württemberg.

About ResArtis:

ResArtis is an association of over 490 centers, organisations, and individuals in over 70 countries. Each of member is dedicated to offering artists, curators, and all manner of creative people the essential time and place away from the pressures and habits of every-day life, an experience framed within a unique geographic and cultural context.

Through Res Artis, organisations will become part of a global community of colleagues engaged in dialogue through face-to-face meetings and virtually through its website. Those interested in attending a residency can use the information and resources on its website, gaining insights into the profiles of members and staying informed about their events and application deadlines.

Since 1993, through the volunteer efforts of the Board of Directors and countless partners and friends, Res Artis has grown to become the largest network of its kind, promoting the role of residential art programs as a vital part of the contemporary arts world, stimulating the creative development and mobility of artists, and furthering intercultural understanding.

“Encounter the world in residencies”