Community Supported Film director Michael Sheridan just finished the second of three documentary filmmaking trainings in Bandung Indonesia. Organized by the Directorate of Art and Film from the Ministry of Education and Culture, these trainings are part of the country’s “My Film, My Nation” initiative, to improve Indonesian film. The program has been getting amazing feedback from both the students and the training organizers – despite the over-reaching expectations of covering so much in so little time.

Each training session will be four days, with CSFilm holding trainings  in Bandung, Bali and Jakarta. There are 50 students in each training with a wide range of experience, including high school and college film students and faculty, those with non-film storytelling experience, and film professionals. The diversity is challenging but many students are demonstrating through their work the impact of the back-to-basics training methodology that emphasizes “lived-reality” storytelling and production fundamentals.

Beyond skill development, the goal is to motivate participants to use their new abilities to tell engaging stories about the quality-of-life issues facing their own communities.

In a few weeks Michael heads to Afghanistan to conduct a 10-day training in storytelling for America Abroad Media‘s radio producers in Kabul. They are producing a series of 15 programs on Afghan women entrepreneurs.
There are additional exciting projects in the pipeline including local training and storytelling in the refugee and new immigrant communities in Chelsea, MA and a storytelling exchange with Iranians – we hope!

In the meantime, check out this great article in the Jakarta Post about Michael’s work, CSFilm, and the government supported Kuta program that brought CSFilm to Indonesia.

Don’t forget to follow us on facebook or twitter for more updates on Michael’s storytelling journey through Indonesia and Afghanistan!