Help Serena and Nikita go to Cannes 2023

My dear friends - Serena and Nikita - are currently raising funds for an incredible opportunity that they’ve worked so very hard for, and are working even harder to make a reality: Attending the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on behalf of a guild they founded, Women in Film Botswana (WIF Botswana). WIF Botswana is a society that assists, educates and empowers women in the film and television spaces of Botswana. Serena & Nikita are the beneficiaries of this campaign, and here is their story.

Serena and Nikita, Chair and Vice-Chair of WIF Botswana, founded the guild in 2021 and have been working non-stop to build a strong foundation for it to grow. From around mid-2022, their efforts were noted and Serena was elected onto the Board of Directors for Women in Film & Television International (WIFTI), an incredible achievement and a first for Botswana. Shortly after, Pavillon Afriques approached her and invited her to speak at their roundtable during the Cannes Film Festival! Serena will speak, and Nikita will accompany her to assist with networking for the guild. They could hardly believe it and immediately began seeking help and advice on how best to raise funds and prepare for this trip.

Serena and Nikita want to make the most of this campaign and so have drafted out a tier list of their budget:

TIER 1 - TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION

This is a base-level necessity because to apply for a visa to France, they are required to provide air flight tickets and show proof of reservations for lodging. The sooner they can get the funds for this tier the better, since the longer they take to book, the higher the prices will become. “Getting this tier will mean we’re going. Food or no food, we’re going.” - Nikita.

TIER 2 - FOOD & TRAVEL AT CANNES

Once the rooms and flights are booked, this money will be used for their food, public transport fees, and visa applications. As they live in Botswana, they have to travel to South Africa to apply for a visa.

TIER 3 - WIF BOTSWANA REPRESENTATIVES

These fees will be going to marketing and representing their passion project to the world. As the guild is just a year old, they need these funds for branded merch they can wear proudly around the festival and promote their guild. They want to print brochures, business cards, the works. When they leave the festival, they want to make sure people know WIF Botswana by name.

SPECIAL TIER - FUTURE PROJECTS FOR WIF BOTSWANA

Any excess funds this campaign can generate will go directly to WIF Botswana. The guild itself has many plans from assisting with member-related projects to funding scholarship and internship programs. Serena and Nikita are willing to help donate any and every extra cent to them in support of this incredible dream.

Taking Nikita and Serena to Cannes will allow not just them, but an entire society to garner an audience on one of the largest international platforms for film and television in the world. They’ll be making regular updates as they push to make this opportunity a reality, and are thrilled for people to join and support them even in the smallest of ways.

“Thank you all so much in advance. We are working hard to make this work, and are excited about how this will inevitably help our guild. Let the journey begin!”

Nikita & Serena

Thank you all,

Marie Kapay