Mpumi Phoswa and Yoyo Modise of Film and Allied Worker's Organization Community Video School (FAWO CVS) are the only two women in a class of 12 film students.

For Mpumi and Yoyo training to be film makers breaks the stereotype of "the woman's place is in the home". Yoyo enjoys the idea of breaking through barriers. She feels it is important for women to become film makers because women know best what their role in society is. Film scripts are usually written by men. In most films women are there only for their looks and not for their personality or the work they do. There is a need to see different images of women in film. Women must not be seen as inferior to men. That is an important message women can bring into films. That is why it is important for women to become film makers.

According to Mpumi, film is a very powerful medium. Women need to change their image in films.

Mpumi knew that it would be a challenge to enter training school. She got tired of seeing all men in film credits. "It was always Van der Merwe - director, Van der Merwe - writer. Van der Merwe - camera." The South African movie industry is controlled by white men. There are few black film makers, even fewer black women. The struggles Mpumi and Yoyo have faced in class is good practice for what they will face in the industry.

The FAWO CVS was set up in 1991 to give people in black communities the opportunity to learn how to make films and videos. The school aims to empower young black people with technical skills to tell stories through film, about experiences and issues in their communities. It runs a two year full-time program and wants to increase the number of women in its courses.

FAWO CVS can be contacted at FAWO, P.O. Box 16399, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg. Tel. no.: (011) 4024570/1. Fax: (011) 4020777.

(Material for the article was taken from an interview of the two women by Bobby Rodwell.)

Source: SPEAK, June 1992, P.O. Box 261363, Excom 2023, South Africa.