It was merely a month since I finished editing my Screen and Media (Advanced Diploma) project, a 12 minute documentary about a South Sudanese Basketball Club based in Melbourne. At the time I was excited about getting the film screened and heading towards the path of making more docos. I had applied to continue my studies via pathway to Bachelor of Communications Media and when it came time to choosing my preference for studio, I initially looked at the two options linked to Documentary film making and my dilemma was deciding which one of these will be my first preference and which one will be my second preference. I was required to name 4 preferences and so I read the description for each one, including one which title gave no further clues as to what it was, “Non-Fiction Design.”
Not knowing what the title meant, my eyes veered to read a side caption, “How can Media and Communication Design practices be used to co-author the creation of nonfiction artefacts for the not-for-profit sector?” There’s a studio covering the not-for-profit sector? Other parts that caught my attention: “Lentara is a not-for profit agency” and “…work closely with the Lentara organisation”. After reading the description a couple of times, Lentara – Non Fiction Design was now my number one preference. The documentary preferences will have to wait till my final Semester.
The past couple of years I have been involved with a charity called Helping Hoops. They run free basketball programs in several locations around Melbourne, including commission housing locations in Richmond, North Melbourne and Fitzroy. Every week I go to the Richmond program and my title is “Assistant Coach” – I do feel over qualified. Something else I do at Helping Hoops is I work closely with them to help promote what they do by making videos for them that has been shared through their social media, an area there are very active in. My experiences with them has led me to form very good relationships with people in the South Sudanese community and that provided me with the opportunity to make a documentary about the South Sudanese Basketball Club, Longhorns.
My involvement with Helping Hoops has provided me with many good things and to learn more about supporting people dealing with disadvantages and working closely with Lentara was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
By Samuel Kwong
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