Making a difference in Madagascar

Laurie’s charity quest to teach island’s people about film
BUDDING film maker Laurie Harris has swopped Mossley for Madagascar as he embarks on a life changing charity mission.

The 26-year-old has moved to the Indian Ocean island to teach the people the basics of making movies in a bid to help them gain the skills they need to find long term employment.

Although he has no formal film making qualifications, Laurie has made several movies, including Mill Memories, which documents the history of Woodend Mill in Mossley.

He also worked with young offenders in Peterborough to help them produce a film about mobile phone theft as well as producing several charity documentaries.

The Madagascar project, which has been organised in conjunction with the US Peace Corps, will run from May to July.

Laurie will teach locals the fundamentals of film, from planning to editing, and the course will culminate with students making their own movie on which they will be assessed.

He will also teach others how to teach the course, allowing them to continue delivering the sessions to a new crop of students after he has returned to Mossley.

Laurie moved to Madagascar in September 2010 when he started work at the American Cultural Center in Antsirabe teaching English to natives.

Upon stumbling across a local film-making school he saw that the equipment they were working with was poor and out of date so he approached the US Peace Corps to establish the course he is now preparing to teach.

Donations secured will fund laptops, video cameras and production items as well as the organisation and running of the course.

Laurie said: “We hope to create skilled practitioners who can go out and make films for the Malagasy market.

“The quality of national TV news here is bad and we think we can raise standards through this course.

“There is also a high level of youth unemployment and the economy is not great so we hope to give youngsters a real career option.

“The majority of coverage of the developing world that we get in the UK is bad and all we see are stories of war, famine and genocide.

“In reality, although there is extreme poverty here, most people are happy and there are many positive and uplifting stories to be covered.

“We want to give local people the chance to get the skills they need to cover the stories they want to see and go beyond the more obvious stuff that news channels tend to feature.”

Laurie, who studied history at York University and completed a dissertation on Madagascar, keeps in touch with friends and family in Mossley via email, text and webcam chats.

He said: “Antsirabe is well developed compared to most Malagasy towns and there are lots of internet cafes.

“It’s the rainy season at the moment which reminds me of Mossley and stops me from feeling too homesick.”