Brainstorm lessons

A few weeks before ZIFF, Debbie and Ruben, two studens from the Dutch Art Academy (HKU) came to Zanzibits to teach a film course that would lead up to the ZIFF (Zanzibar International Film Festivel) screening of the Children's panorama. They came with camera's, computers and a lot of know how...

After a few days of teaching, we noticed that there is a difference between our cultures that we didn’t think about and we overlooked a little. When we grow up, our parents tell us fairytale stories about the most amazing things, so we develop our own fantasy and the ability to come up with our own stories. Here in Zanzibar, you grow up really fast to take care of your younger brothers and sisters and the stories that you hear are real and about the town and things happening in the present.

So when we asked our students to come up with nice stories to tell in the short movies we are going to make, not a lot of fantasy was used and the only thing they could think about were some local shops in Stonetown and some places in Stonetown to show on film.

Therefore we decided to change our plans and give them lessons in creativity and inspiration. We did this by giving them Brainstorm lessons, asking them to come up with words when we gave them one keyword. At first they were a little unsure and didn’t really know what to say, but we practiced and practiced until they came up with the wildest things and after that, together we made up stories about funny fruits and magic tricks.

Later, when we asked the students to brainstorm themselves, they were really driven by creativity and inspiration and they had come up with multiple short stories they could film. Because of the burst of inspiration they got from the brainstorm, we have a lot of stories to choose from, an amazing difference!