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Local filmmaker raising funds for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone

Sidney resident and filmmaker Grant Faint will be showing his latest film at the Mary Winspear Centre this month
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Children from a village school at Taiama in central Sierra Leone. A showing of the film Love Wins in Sidney this month will benefit the Friends of Taiama charity that helps to build resources like this school and health centres.

Sidney resident and filmmaker Grant Faint will be showing his latest film at the Mary Winspear Centre this month and all proceeds will go to help victims of Ebola in Sierra Leone.

Faint, a professional photographer and videographer, filmed his latest movie LOVEWINS in 16 different countries over six years.

“The film is all about love,” Faint explained.

“It explores love and all the different types of love there are and what they mean to people around the world.”

Faint said the film explores all facets of love, including romantic love, family love, the love of faith, the love of animals and the love of nature.

“Those themes are intertwined with a couple of segments relating to the opposite of love, which people often think of as hate, but it’s really more about indifference,” Faint explained.

He added that the film is what he calls an ambient film, meaning there is no main narration, just the voices of those who were interviewed about love.

When he filmed LOVEWINS, Faint asked each person he interviewed the same question: what has love meant in your life?

“It’s absolutely amazing the range of answers you get to one simple question,” Faint said.

“It varies so much person to person and country to country.”

Faint, who worked for BCTV in the 1970s as a cameraman, comes by filmmaking honestly.

“I now work as a photographer and I shoot photos for publications of all kinds,” he explained, adding that his passion for his work allows him the chance to travel and explore filmmaking.

Faint and his wife Donna are supporters of a local charity called the Friends of Taiama, which is an organization dedicated to helping those in need in Sierra Leone.

“We were originally giving to the Sierra Leone project to help build a school, but now we’re building even further on that and there’s been a medical centre built.

“But because of the Ebola virus, both the medical centre and school have been closed,” Faint explained.

The proceeds from the screening, which takes place on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Winspear Centre, will go into a reserve which will help ensure that there is food and water available for people in the small town where the school and medical centre are located.

“The virus is getting close to the town now and the school and medical centre have been closed for some time. Food prices are getting higher and higher, so these funds will go to ensure there’s enough money to keep the village from going hungry,” said Faint.

Tickets for the screening of LOVEWINS on Oct. 4 are available in advance in Sidney at Cameron Rose, in Brentwood Bay at Dollar Den or on the evening of at the door.

The film will also be shown in October at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

 

reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com