Mzungus in the Mist

This was the final film I created for my MA Ethnographic and Documentary Film. I travelled to Rubuguri in Uganda were I had previously undertaken 3 months of work at charity Big Beyond and where I had met carvers Oscar and Demas and become friends with them.

Whilst I was first there I was struck by the separation between the tourist hotspot of the national park and the villages that surrounded the south side of the park and enjoyed finding out from members of the community how they felt about its existence and the tourism it brings to the area. In my film I wanted to explore the human side of wildlife conservation and discover whether the local communities really benefit from their lands being repurposed in this way.

For this film I spent three weeks fillming in Uganda, I ran into lots of problems with charging batteries and cameras steaming up but learnt a lot from filming everything by myself. As well as producing and directing this film I also shot and edited all footage. On reflection there is a lot I would have changed about my production but it was an excellent learning experience at the beginning of my career which helped me realise what stories I am interested in and how to adapt to challenges when filming - pariticularly on location documentary shoots!