The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH) is proud to present scholarship recipient Phumi Morare. Morare is a South African writer/director who is passionate about redeeming the African and feminine identity through cinema. She's interested in using the female gaze to tell personal, humanist, and heroic stories. Morare’s previous short films have played at international film festivals including the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and Cyprus International Film Festival 2020. Her short film, Home, won Best Women Short award at IndieX Film Festival. Morare completed her MFA in Film Production at Dodge College at Chapman University. She was a writer-in-residence at Dairy Hollow in January 2021, where she worked on her feature film screenplay, Of Salt and Sea.
Michelle Hannon, WCDH Executive Director, said, “It was such a pleasure having Phumi in residence. She’s a lovely person at the cusp of what is sure to be a fruitful and exciting screenwriting career. Helping emerging writers like Phumi is why we established a scholarship fund. We were honored to be able to offer her a residency.” Morare said, “I had a wonderful residency at The Writers’ Colony. It helped me overcome some creative blocks I had and provided me with the time and the space that I had been craving to make progress on my writing. The serenity of Eureka Springs and the inspiring writing room of the Langston Hughes suite quieted my mind, revived my creativity, and I became productive in my writing. I felt taken care of by Michelle and Chad and so nourished by Jana’s amazing cooking. I’m so happy and grateful about the progress I made.”
Morare continued, “Receiving a scholarship from Writer’s Colony was a gift. As an artist, my desire is to spend 100% of my time on the pursuit of my art. However, at the early stages of my artistic career, I spend much of my time on alternative activities towards my sustenance. The scholarship allowed me to fully dedicate uninterrupted time to pursue my art without distraction, and like in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I could spend time at the top of the pyramid focusing on self-actualization as my other basic needs were addressed. That is a treasure and a gift, and I’m truly grateful.”
Regarding her current writing efforts, Morare said, “My goal is to complete a draft of my first feature film by the summer so that I can submit it to fellowships for emerging filmmakers. These fellowships will allow me to get the script into a position where it is ready to be pitched for funding and production.”
To learn more about Morare, visit her website at https://www.phumimorare.com.
The last short film Morare wrote and directed is currently at the beginning of its film festival run. Below are links to articles about the film:
The WCDH scholarship fund was developed in December 2019 to assist emerging writers who need financial support to benefit from a writing residency at Dairy Hollow. Scholarships are awarded on an as-needed basis depending on availability. The scholarship fund is supported by Giving Tuesday donors and writers in residence who contribute above their room rate to enable other writers to experience the gift of uninterrupted residency time. For information on how to contribute to the WCDH scholarship fund, please visit https://www.writerscolony.org/give-to-wcdh-scholarship-fund.
Since opening its doors to writers in 2000, the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow has made a lasting impact on the arts and literary communities by providing uninterrupted residency time for writers of all genres, including culinary, composers, and artists, without discrimination. The WCDH has hosted over 1,600 writers from 48 states and 13 countries. For more information, please visit www.writerscolony.org or call Michelle Hannon or Chad Gurley at (479)253-7444.
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