27 Jun 2024

Government’s decision to set up the Botswana Wildlife Film Academy in Kasane was meant to immerse students in the environment that hosts the world’s best flora and fauna, says Assistant Minister for State President Boitumelo Gofhamodimo.

She made the remarks on June 25 during the launch of the academy in Kasane that if due care had not been taken in choosing the school’s location, very little impact could have been achieved.

“It was meant to inspire you and to allow you to understand the environment you will be exposed to for the rest of your lives,” she said to both the outgoing and incoming wildlife film and documentary students at Mowana Hotel.

Moreover, Gofhamodimo said as much as the genre required great diligence, attention to detail, serious planning, and hard work to yield top-notch, world-class documentaries, students were expected to embrace conservation since the subjects they would be documenting were critical resources and wealth for Botswana and the rest of the globe.

“The government is making an investment to empower you to better serve the nation and meaningfully contribute towards economic growth and employment creation,” she said further.

Among the key deliverables under the project is the film commission framework, which resides under the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture and aims to facilitate the business side of filmmaking in Botswana.

The ball was, therefore, in the court of graduates to employ their skills to generate content that will be globally competitive using the requisite structures and take advantage of available programmes designed to support start-ups.

All that graduates needed was to present compelling business ideas to get assistance from the government.

Gofhamodimo also stated that repetitive success stories by graduates would instil confidence in the financial sector to invest in the genre.

“With time and dedication, Botswana should be counted among countries that lead in the wildlife documentary space, just as it does in the related tourism sector,” she said.

Gofhamodimo was happy that training would enable students who came from different parts of Botswana to appreciate some of the country’s natural resources as well as the challenges that Botswana faces, including the human-wildlife conflict, climate change and the difficulties therein, something she said will help shape the narratives of the graduates as they embarked on telling ‘uniquely’ Botswana stories.

Chobe District Council Chairperson Chimney Mululwani was also happy that the wildlife academy was finally up and running.

“We have had both guides and researchers, and the advent of the school brings in filmmakers, which has been the missing piece of the puzzle,” he said.

Therefore, he thanked Steve Harvey Global and the government of Botswana for working tirelessly to establish the school.

That withstanding, Mululwani called on students to take good care of the environment so that it could continue to bring in much-needed financial resources and be preserved for posterity. Ends