Freetown | 13th September 2023 | Vertex Media
Emmy and Peabody nominated filmmaker, Lansana (Barmmy Boy) Mansaray shares his career journey and how he transitioned from music to start telling real-time stories through filmmaking, as he was featured on the latest edition of the ‘AFRICAN VOICES‘ Changemakers program on CNN.
As a multimedia creator and as an established filmmaker, Barmmy Boy uses the lens to tell interesting stories about his heritage and country.
In this CNN documentary show, Barmmy recounts how he started off with music (as an artist), which activities led him to the discovery of the art of filmmaking and storytelling.
Barmmy took the spotlight in documentary filmmaking with ‘THIS CITY BELONGS TO US‘, a captivating short documentary film about the city of Freetown, released in 2017.
“I foster an environment for every filmmaker to thrive. I love to tell character real stories…” Barmmy tells CNN.
Barmmy started his filmmaking journey in 2006 through a media workshop hosted by Cafe Society, a professional multimedia group from the UK. This training opportunity led him to create a music video for his song (Dangerous), followed by several other music videos, including ‘Letter To The Queen‘.
His decisive move to start telling real-time stories of events in his home country produced an Emmy and a Peabody nominated film [Survivors].
‘Survivors‘ is a 2018 documentary film about the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone that caught the attention of the world. The creators of this film – Barmmy Boy, Arthur Peatt and Banky White – attended several film festivals and awards ceremonies across the world.
“Filmmaking has opened countless opportunities for me…”, Barmmy acknowledging how far filmmaking has took him.
Barmmy has also used his craft to train, mentor, and link young filmmakers to opportunities, including young women, who are among the biggest beneficiaries of his empowerment drive.
His multimedia company Freetown Media Centre in partnership with the British Council Sierra Leone and Nova Studios introduced the Film Lab training workshop and pitching for young filmmakers, which was also followed by an all-female Film Lab, a drive to encourage more women’s participation in filmmaking.
Barmmy talks about his several film projects that highlighted crucial societal challenges, especially involving climate change and global warming.
His 2022 film, ‘The New Boats‘, is another work of art where Barmmy captures the jungles at the Sierra Leonean waters, which brought to light the illicit activities of foreign vessels or pirates, and highlighted how they were battling with authorities and local fishermen. Some of their activities at sea are unregulated, which also have some adverse effects on us.
Its environmental insights made ‘The New Boats‘ a great film and earned its global attention and successes with multiple screenings and nominations across the world, including winning the Coastal and Island Culture Award at the International Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco, United States of America.
‘I want to my films to be able to inform citizens about our actions on the environment that lead to adverse environmental issues,” says Barmmy.
The CNN coverage of Barmmy Boy’s story as a leading changemaker in the film and storytelling field in Africa gives Sierra Leone a positive spotlight across the world.
By Ibrahim Sorious Samura
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