How can we use the medium of film to tell stories? How do we meet the unexpected in the process of filmmaking? How do we keep up with the complexities of realities?   

 If you want to become a storyteller using the medium of film, you have to firmly ask yourself two questions: Firstly, “What do I want to talk about?” and secondly, “how can I talk about it through images?”  

The filmmaker Rafiki Fariala will share his experiences within the filmmaking process of NOUS, ÉTUDIANTS! the opening film of Freiburger Filmforum 2023. In an extended Q & A session the participants will get a deeper insight into his film project and time to direct their questions to the filmmaker. 

Having studied in the Atelier Veran, in this workshop, Rafiki wants to introduce the participants to their methods and what is special about them. Rafiki will talk about his journey into filmmaking without having studied film and the art of finding a subject for a documentary film. How do you find structures to spin a red thread with your ideas and visualize them in order to present them to possible protagonists, collaborators and in the end to a public audience?  

Together we want to follow the idea: Everybody who wants to be a filmmaker can become one. So, let’s get into practice. 

Rafiki Fariala, born in 1997 in Uvira, Congo, grew up in the Central African Republic. In 2013 he published the piece WHY WAR, which made him known as a musician. In 2017, he participated in the documentary workshop of Ateliers Varan in Bangui and realized his first short film Mbi na mo (You and Me) in this framework.

The Atelier Veran in Bangui, a creative filmmaking atelier, is part of a series of experiments across the world to diversify forms of expression and communication through images. Varan is not a school in the classic and academic sense: the working methods strongly encourage the principle of teaching through practice and opening a learning space without the necessity to be academically trained in film. 

The Workshop will be held in French with English translation.