MIRA Lab — Expanding Our Vision

It matters who is telling a story. It matters who is looking through a lens. MIRA co-founders believe that we must listen to creative voices from communities that are directly impacted and ensure that their voices are driving global narratives. As part of our commitment to this effort, we are setting up MIRA Lab as non-profit organization with a goal of expanding opportunities for the next generation of global media-makers based in the developing world and in conflict and post-conflict settings. MIRA Lab provides mentoring, professional opportunities, and global platforms for individuals and groups of creatives who want to make an impact on key issues through their work. MIRA Lab participants will be hired on MIRA projects.

See below to learn more about the work being done by our growing MIRA Lab team and check back for opportunities to engage and support.

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My eyes to hear

My Eyes to Hear portrays Ephraim, a 12-year-old deaf boy. To communicate with his family, Ephraim learns sign language and of course his family had to train too. I was touched by Ephraim's strong character that surpasses his disability with his rage to learn, his determination and his enthusiasm.

Through his portrait, I highlight the daily lives of the deaf in the Central African Republic, a country that is going through a political and security crises which makes it even more difficult for the disabled.

- Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

Pascale Appora-Gnekindy, a Central African filmmaker who is a computer scientist by training, became interested in audiovisual media. In 2017, she was selected to participate in a documentary filmmaking workshop organized by the Alliance Française de Bangui and the Ateliers Varan. From this extraordinary group, her first documentary film, "Mes Yeux pour Entendre" (“My Eyes to Hear”), was produced.

Pascale and Ningyi Sun recently co-directed “Eat Bitter”, a character-driven vérité film, set in the Central African Republic. Through the parallel stories of Central African locals and Chinese immigrants, the film captures the journeys of two opposed communities, cultures, and individual men.

Her work has been the recipient of awards and support from Chicken & Egg, the Ford Foundation, the Sundance Foundation, IDFA, Hot Docs, and many other institutions.

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Current Film Project:

SLOW DEATH OF THE FOREST
In the Central African Republic, electricity is scarce, cooking gas in gas stations is very expensive. The population of Bangui is becoming more and more insecure and poor. This whole population turns to the forest for energy. Deforestation in the Central African Republic could be the last straw that will break the climate change cycle. I want to show through this film the slow death of the forest. Cut trees are not replaced. A tree takes several years to become an adult, but they are cut off day after day without a renewal process and that is worrying.

Filmmaker Bio:

Tanguy Djaka is a filmmaker from the Central African Republic, directing two documentaries called: "Dieubéni return his weapon" and "Wakis, the tree hunter" which has not yet been released yet. The making of this last documentary (Wakis, the tree hunter) has inspired him to talk about climate degradation. Trained in 2017 in Central Africa Republic by the Ateliers Varan of Paris with the support of the Alliance Française of Bangui in the framework of filmmaking, Tanguy is currently a member of the MIRA Lab program. He is motivated to make films about everything that happens in his country. He is convinced that art and culture are the main communication factors, especially for raising awareness. Tanguy would like to make cinema a tool for social cohesion and reconciliation in this war-torn country.