Support Rawyan to Study Cinematography at AFI

Hello!

My name is Rawyan Shayema. I am a Bangladesh-based cinematographer. I have been accepted into the MFA program in Cinematography at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, California. And I’m trying to raise funds to attend AFI this fall.

AFI is one of the top film schools in the world. It has less than a 1% acceptance rate. Almost 30 Oscar winners and 149 Oscar nominees have graduated from this school. In addition, I might be the first Bangladeshi womxn ever to be a part of the AFI Cinematography program cohort!

Cinematography is my passion and purpose in life. However, it has been a lonely journey. There are no established womxn cinematographers in my country that I can look up to or learn from. Women who started as cinematographers later took other routes in their careers. I have done different kinds of work because of a lack of opportunities.

Here is my cinematography reel - https://youtu.be/-QsPufi3Qzs

I realized that when you don’t have what you need, you have to go and create it. I thought that if I were to go for higher education in Cinematography, I could find community and learn from the best. Last year I applied to four film schools and got accepted to all four: AFI (rank: 1), Chapman University (rank: 4), Duke University (rank: 12) and San Francisco State University (rank: 36). My first choice is AFI.

Over time, I have evolved from a bookworm into a complete film nerd and in 2011, I was accepted to the only film school in Bangladesh at that time, Stamford University Bangladesh. I wanted to learn the technical skills of filmmaking along with the aesthetics of cinema. I took my skills from school and started working professionally as a cinematographer, editor, and sound designer. But gradually, I chose to focus on cinematography.

In the professional world, I was undoubtedly discriminated against as womxn cinematographer. Neither friends nor colleagues in the field wanted to hire a womxn cinematographer, which was discouraging. I was excluded from many opportunities that my fellow men cinematographers had easy access to. Despite the bias, over the last decade, I persevered; I found and created work for myself as a cinematographer in more than 20 short fiction projects, commercial videos, and documentaries. I worked without any compensation for almost 80% of the short fiction projects to build my portfolio.

This tuition for AFI for two years is $131,600, excluding materials ($3000), living costs($28,922), and travel ($2000). AFI offered me $20,000 for two years, their highest scholarship for international students for this year. I was able to arrange $21,600. However, I do not have any other financial support to pay the rest of the tuition, $90,000. This lack of funds is causing me to let go of the biggest dream of my life.

As a marginalized person in the world, I had to learn that the only way I can move forward in life is never to give up. I don’t want to give up my dream to attend AFI without giving it my absolute best. I think of the saying, where there’s a will, there's a way. I don’t want anything more in my life than to pursue my dream by going to AFI. Does that mean there is a way? Even though it seems impossible, I want to believe that I will be able to raise the $90,000 to go to my dream school.

Those who know me know I have never borrowed a single penny from anyone. You also know how taboo it is to ask for money in Bangladeshi culture, especially for the middle class. It was highly challenging for me to break out of that mentality and not feel ashamed to seek support for my dream. I want to remember the words of Bhupen Hajarika, “Manush Manusher Jonno” -- “man is for man” -- and trust that my community cares about me and wants to see my dreams come true. Pouring my heart out and sharing vulnerably in this public way isn’t easy for me. But I want to challenge myself and allow my community worldwide to come forward and support me.

Admission to AFI cannot be deferred. At some point in my life, this amount of money might seem manageable, but my acceptance this year does not guarantee me another chance in the future. This chance, now, feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Why should you donate?

This pursuit is more significant than my dream. I will be making history by being the first Bangladeshi AFI graduate and coming back to my country with pride. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I will do whatever it takes to ensure this journey does not end with me and that many more Bangladeshi filmmakers will have access to this opportunity. I am also the first Bangladeshi womxn that is breaking challenging and scary barriers for those that come after me. My success on this path is just the beginning of what is to come for countless Bangladeshi womxn cinematographers.

There are many ways you can support me. You can:

① Pre-pay me for your next dream project so that I can collaborate with you after I graduate.

② Offer an interest-free personal loan

③ Cosign an education loan

④ Buy the rights to my thesis on Alejandro Jodorowsky (Around 80 pages)

⑤ Donate whatever you can to my crowdfunding campaign. Every little bit helps!

Please donate as much as your capacity allows. Be sure to write your name so that I may express my gratitude to you. Hopefully, one day, I can repay your generous support in some way and make you proud.

For people in Bangladesh:

Rawyan Shayema

Bank code: 060

BRAC Bank, Gulshan-1 Branch

House 50, Road 03, Gulshan-1, Dhaka 1212 |

SWIFT Code: BRAKBDDH |

Routing # 060261726

Account # 1501103821309001 (Savings) ||

For people in the U.S:

One way to look at it is, If 100 people donated $500 and another 100 people donated $200, I will reach my goal. You can donate directly to the GoFundMe page using your debit or credit card or through Paypal.