“There will be a day when Africans won’t be surprised to see a production set in the streets, when tickets for African film premieres will be sold out, when going to the cinema will be the best way to watch local productions and African televisions will play 95% big-budget local content because our stories will have flooded the market,” says Hillary Sabuni Sitati, who works as a freelance filmmaker and music video director. His role model is Nigerian music video director Clarence Peters.
“His work speaks volumes. He lights up his production sets in a very unique way that I admire,” explains the 22-year-old Kenyan.
Hillary longs to add authenticity to Africa’s creative industries because “In the music video industry, I feel that we copy many things and brand them African.” And not only does he enjoy being behind the camera, but he is addicted to music composition and production (beat making and background vocals) too. “I’d love to be a background vocal artist in future and create my own covers and acapella versions at home.”
Hillary hopes that MTF will help him improve his editing, lighting, script writing skills and communication. “Your audience needs to clearly understand what you’re saying. The same applies when you pitch ideas to potential film sponsors,” he explains.
His greatest conviction is that Africa must focus on marketing her productions – films, shows and music videos – because most of them are really good but don’t reach the maximum audience they should, which allows international productions to gain more prominence instead.