A Chicago area filmmaker on a mission to rewrite his own personal script.
When you have had as illustrious of a career as David McGowan, with dozens of films to your name, even an Academy Award nomination, you’d think you’ve had a great run, right? But as this Chicago-based filmmaker got older, he felt a calling to make sure his last scene would epitomize nothing less than his very best work.
A legend in documentary filmmaking, McGowan has spent his life crafting visual poetry from every corner of the world. His camera has seen everything–except, perhaps, his own ending.
He always said every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end.
“Whoever comes to Uganda has Ugandans driving them around to get all their shots and then leave. (The photographers) make lots of money and they don’t see any of it,” he said.
He knows because he was one of those filmmakers. And now, the one to flip the script.
He started in a small classroom in Rwanda three years ago teaching people how to be filmmakers. He taught how to frame a shot. How to edit. And how to show the world their perspective from the frontlines.
More information at Rwandan Wildlife Filmmaking Course
Through in person classes in Rwanda and Uganda and weekly zoom sessions, dozens of men crossed old tribal boundaries. They collaborated on stories about poaching and biodiversity. They learned they were stronger as a team than individuals.
“It created a class cohesion. You know people working for each other and that’s the best part of it,” McGowan said.
He found not only purpose in a beginning and middle–but an ending and knows his greatest work isn’t hanging on the wall, but in the hundreds of films yet to be made through their lenses.
This weekend’s Freeland Film Festival in Green lake, Wisconsin will feature a handful of documentaries made by McGowan’s students.
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