Papy AMANI Jamaica
Executive Director / Legal Representative
Papy Jamaica is one of Burundi's most active and passionate video producers. His studio, Papy Jamaica Video Productions, shoots music videos, weddings, commercials and documentaries to promote his home country. He has film education from Kenya and South Africa, and has worked extensively with UNICEF and BINUB producing videos. He has been an invited speaker at the Berlin International Film Festival and selected as a member of the Berlinale Talent Campus. Papy has been with the Burundi Film Center since it launched in 2007. He is currently the Director of FESTICAB (the International Festival of Cinema and Audiovisual of Burundi).
Christopher Redmond
Co-Founder / Project Manager
Christopher Redmond is a writer and filmmaker with a combined honours degree in Journalism and Film Studies from Carleton University. He was among the first members of The Rwanda Initiative media development project in 2006 before co-founding the Burundi Film Center. In 2011, CBC named him one of Canada’s Top 50 Champions of Change. Redmond is the former Senior Producer with Bell Media and a director whose film and TV credits include Written in Stone (2006), Life in a Day (2010), Sesame Street (2019) and Not My Child (2021).
NKOMBO KIMVUIDI Rudy
Director of KinoBu
Rudy Nkombo Kimvuidi was among the first students to complete training at the BFC in 2007 and now works full-time as a videographer in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He wrote the short film “Bigger Plans” (2007), which Film Threat magazine gave 5/5 stars, and in 2010 he became a teaching assistant during the BFC’s second course. In 2012, he became the director of KinoBu - the first ever Kino film event in East Africa.
Bridget Farr
Artistic Director
Bridget is an Ottawa-based filmmaker and photographer and filmmaker whose work explores notions of female identity, mass consumption and communication. A graduate of both film studies (Carleton University) and the photographic arts (Algonquin College), Bridget has directed over a dozen short films, which have been screened at over 100 film festivals and events worldwide. She is a founding member of the Lightproof Film Collective, an audio-visual Outreach Officer with the Department of Canadian Heritage, and creates 16mm fine art personal documentaries and films.
HABONIMANA Apollinaire
Membership Ambassador
Apollinaire Habonimana is a Burundian gospel singer and accomplished musician. Since graduating from the American Missionaries School, Habonimana’s music has taken him around the world and created a devoted following of fans and supporters far beyond his base in Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He studied at the African Revival Ministry before co-founding the Living Church of Burundi (Eglise Vivante de Jésus-Christ) and recording his first album in Britain. He currently plays with the “Shemeza Music” group and frequently tours Africa and Europe as a solo artist. His albums include Yesu Vyizigiro (1994), Wastahili Sifa (1998), Mpore Mama (2002), Regeneration (2007).
