Telling impactful human stories and documenting them creatively is as important as the person(s) telling these stories. In this regard, African media production company, StoryMaxima, organized a 3-day “Doc-You-Mentary Bootcamp” in Lagos to empower Nigeria’s next troop of documentary photographers and filmmakers.
The bootcamp tagged “…exploring and understanding the world around you” brought together 10 participants – ranging from early-mid career documentary photographers and filmmakers – from around the country, to network, collaborate and gain insights on some of their most pertinent questions regarding the industry. The bootcamp took place from the 2nd – 4th of November, 2023, at a serene beach house with the dashing view of the Atlantic Ocean that encouraged participants to relax, refocus and collaborate.
All 10 participants had the opportunity to attend thought-provoking lectures that focused on the importance of visual stories, the technicalities of documenting human stories, best creative business practices and public relations, among others. Each session was facilitated by creative industry professionals like Samson Simpah, Temitope Dada (Oluwadabest), Sophie Bouillon, Taiwo Adeyemi, Itty Okim and Omoregie Osakpolor, who also shared personal and career experiences. Beyond the interactive and educative lecture sessions, participants also indulged in games, reflective exercises, beach tours and film screenings.
The Doc-You-Mentary Bootcamp is a brainchild of StoryMaxima’s founder – Damilola Onafuwa and his remarkable team, who have been very consistent at telling some of the most impactful stories out of Africa. Damilola Onafuwa has been a visual artist and storyteller for over a decade, producing projects like Angels Among Men, My Granddad’s possessions, Beautiful Noise, among others and has worked with organizations such as Bloomberg, Vlisco, Heifer International, and UN agencies including UNOCHA, Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, UNICEF, WFP, to mention but a few. Damilola Onafuwa has been a leading name when it comes to documentary storytelling, using photography and film.
“Timely” would be a perfect word to best describe this step by StoryMaxima; giving back to the visual storytelling community. Through this Bootcamp, Damilola has proven to be even more than an artistic genius, by wearing the hat of a pitch perfect leader, playing his part at moving Africa’s creative community from where it currently is, to the utopia everyone wishes it was at.
