The Long and Short of Filmmaking with Will Niava Part 1

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

We're welcoming August with a doubleheader featuring Will Niava, an award winning Ivorian-Ghanaian film director based but not bound to Montréal, Canada. After his education in film production at the Concordia University in Quebec, Will directed a number of projects around the world--namely, four episodes of MTV Shuga, a fiction series in the Ivory Coast as well as “Violence Of The Lambs”, a music video released on NOWNESS from which he made his first short film “ZOO.” ZOO was selected at over 60 international film festivals of which 15 are Oscar qualifying. The film has since racked up over 10 awards. After its Vimeo Staff Picks release, ZOO is now available on the prestigious Criterion Collection.

I catch up with Will while he is in our shared home country, Ghana where he has been for the better part of the last year on new uncle duty and in research mode for his next project. He is in the post-production process of his second short film “ELEMENT” while also preparing his first feature film experience, co-writing alongside Jérémy Comte, the Oscar-nominated director. As you'll hear in Part 2, Will is now represented by Los Angeles based production studio Florence. for commercials and music videos which has given him the opportunity to work with artist such as H.E.R and Billy Eilish.

Where to find Will?
[www.wniava.com](www.wniava.com)
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Vimeo
On YouTube
On Twitter
On Facebook

What's will listening to?
Classic Reggae
AmaPiano
Dave

What's will watching?
Memories of a Murder
In the Mood for Love
Uncut Gems
Good Time

Other topics of interest:
NAFTI Ghana
Concordia University - Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema [
Black Magic Equipment
Red Digital Equipment
Ghanaian Footballers Jordan Ayew and André Ayew
Fauve Short Film
Solitary Dancer
Barry Jenkins
Jordan Peele
About Amapiano
Afrofuturism