(Jamaica Observer) Jamaican film-maker Kia Moses was a winner at last weekend’s Black Women Film Network Summit held at the Atlanta Technical College in the United States.
Her short film Flight — which was part of the 2018 cohort of the Propella Film Project, organised by JAMPRO and the Jamaica Film and Television Association (JAFTA) — walked away with the prizes for Best Screenplay, the Audience Award, and Best in Festival.
Moses took to social media to express her delight.
“Still in awe. God is so good. Thank you so much for all the congratulations on our win for our short Jamaican film Flight. I am so grateful. What a way to celebrate International Women’s Day. Winning Best Screenplay, Audience Award, and the overall Best In Festival, including a cash prize and a meeting with HBO. I was brought to tears. What an emotional journey this has been. Even though it’s a short film, we have poured so much into it,” she posted on Instagram.
Moses paid homage to the Propella Project and her cast and crew, who paved the way for this latest achievement.
“From entering JAFTA Propella when the perfectionist in me didn’t feel ready, but leaping in faith anyway. Then going from over 50 local entries to the final four. From trying to learn screenwriting as I wrote this, my very first screenplay and only having a few short months to write it. Learning from JAFTA workshops, YouTube, Googleand books. Pushing beyond all the self-doubt and the 12 rewrites… and working with three amazing kids who were acting for their first time in a short film. Working with a great cast and crew of talented Jamaicans. All our rehearsals. The crew being patient with me as I learnt on set. All the challenges on set… Murphy’s law…where everything that could go wrong did. But we made it all work as a team. Having only 2 1/2 days to shoot. To making the budget stretch. Days and days of editing. And all that comes afterwards,” said Moses.
The Black Women Film Network Summit is an annual three-day event, which is held during Women’s History Month (March 1 – 31), and celebrates the work of women of colour in film and television and provides attendees with networking opportunities, information and resources to further their careers in the industry.
Jamaica’s film commissioner Renee Robinson commended Moses and her team for this latest accomplishment.
“I am so pleased with the success of Kia and her film Flight. She was part of last year’s cohort of the Propella Project and we took her to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France and she just decided to keep pushing her work and getting it into other festivals and it has worked for her and her team and we are so proud of the work that all these film-makers are doing,” Robinson told the Jamaica Observer.
