NEWS FROM LAST YEAR

Over the past 7 years, CafeSociety.org has delivered quality digital workshops and training to both adults and young people in the public and education sector. The projects focus on areas such as digital story telling, web site design, desktop video production and digital photography. They work regularly with young people in UK and communities as far away as Ethiopia and Northern Arizona.

Ten days ago Jon Robson and Murray Clark arrived in Seychelles. Since then they have been working with students from the International School and the National College of the Arts creating short films.

Here are some comments made by students participating in the workshops:

"The digital workshop was lots of fun and hard work, it’s amazing how many things happen behind the scenes of films we watch every day, although it was hard to find people to cooperate with us, in the end we created a masterpiece, learning to handle the equipment although we messed up sometimes, overall it was really good fun and I wouldn’t mind doing it again."

KC Rose

"I was in group three of the café society project; a film making experience. Overall, I made two full movies with film and editing and cut and edited a third. It was all good fun; I took to being a cameraman and filmed all but one of the interviews for our groups main project, this project was the best I made and was very proud of the professional-looking, finished product. It was a documentary about the life of a Seychellois person from the perspectives of different people. The whole experience was great fun and I enjoyed all the sectors of the production and found that the equipment was easy to use once we were shown the basics. Jon and Murray were both great help and patient; they made the experience very enjoyable."

Charles Blagbrough

"It was great fun, but was very tiring because along with all the fun came a lot of hard work, the programme was easy to use and came naturally and we got to meet some interesting people when in search of interviews. Working as a team I think we finally managed to stumble onto something very powerful…A message to the waiting world."

Justine Manley

"When Jon and Murray came, I didn’t know how to make a movie, now I have the skills necessary to make a master-piece. I liked using the camera and interviewing the participants of our films. We made two films during the course of three days. One was about Seychelles in general and the other concerned our school. This has been an awesome experience dude. Jon & Murray were great and I hope they can come back."

Ian Pillay

Staff and students participating in the workshop would like to thank Mr Kennedy and most importantly the sponsors for this unique opportunity.

Films made are available on DVD. For more information check out the CafeSociety.org web site.

June 2005

Ms Freeman has performed for the Royal Shakespeare Company on numerous occasions, and is on holiday here, but luckily for us she found the time to bring Macbeth alive during the workshop on Wednesday 24th March.

This is what we have to say!

"I found the workshop to be really beneficial and helped to bring the play off the page and alive, to enable us to visualise what was happening in Scotland at the start of the play. I am sure I will remember it better now. Its great to have this opportunity and be exposed to different methods of learning."

Stephanie Loustau Lalanne

"It really added more ideas to the play. As I am involved in the production in June it gave me a few more ideas about the play. I also liked the great idea of making various sounds with our voices rather then rely on technical sounds all the time. Ms Freeman was very lively and ensured instant enthusiasm from the students. I definitely benefited from the workshop."

Priya Bahnderi

"The activities made the themes of the play much clearer, which will help me understand and answer the essay questions for my AS English. It was very interesting to hear what a professional actor had to say and act out various scenes. I really hope that the school can run more of these as it will definitely help all the students"

Jose Govinden

"The workshop was a great experience and brought the play alive for us. Everyone found it enjoyable and educational. We all appreciated the time that MS Freeman gave up for us."

Hamish Payet

"The workshop was fun and energetic, and we had the chance to directly participate in the action of the play by acting out the emotions of the play . It gave me another perspective to understanding the play"

Joel Jacqueline

"She really set the mood for the play and enabled us to appreciate Shakespeare’s writing to the full extent. It would be fantastic if we could have more of this to help with our A levels!"

Elza Frichot & Richard Weber

"This was a once in a lifetime experience which has shed new light to the understanding of the play. I am convinced it will to our advantage in our final examinations"

Vanessa Gill

"When we are playing a role in the play, we don’t always get the whole picture and rely on our ourselves to make it happen. But this really enabled me to think about acting according to the situation and theme and emotions of the play"

Mukund Agarwal

"Seeing the play came alive physically gave me a new insight into Macbeth. I hope we can have more workshops"

Gayethri Pillay

"I found the workshop thoroughly enjoyable and found that it shed new light upon Macbeth. It enabled me to better enjoy the play and gave me new ideas as to how to perform it in order to give it more impact. It was great and very beneficial"

Colette Pool

"The workshop was interesting and broadened my perspective of approaches that could be taken in the setting of certain scenes. It also helped me to have a clearer understanding of the play itself as a whole and how every scene is vital to the understanding of the whole play. Thia will help me with my exams as well as my role as lady Macbeth in the school production"

Shama Amesbury

The workshop provided a different perspective of the play and showed an actors insight into studying Macbeth. It was helpful and it highlighted that there is more to the play than the dialogue. I enjoyed the workshop and it was helpful to look into the play from the view of an experienced actor"

Eddie Blagbrough

"The workshop was really enjoyable and interesting, bringing new ideas on how to stage the play and respond to essay questions. It also helped with understanding the emotions in the play"

Apever Ah Kon & Nathalie Mein

THANK YOU MS FREEMAN!!!!!

July 2005