Africa in Motion 2011

Africa in Motion 2011: It's a (very successful) wrap!
http://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/photo-galleries/africa-in-motion-2011/

Now that the curtains have closed on the 6th edition of the Africa in Motion Film Festival - which focussed on Children and Youth in Africa - we would like to thank our audience, partners, supporters, funders, and everyone who, one way or the other, collaborated with AiM for their participation, contribution, interaction and feedback, all of which created the wonderful environment in which we were able to implement this year's festival programme.

Throughout the 5 days of the festival, we welcomed almost one and a half thousand people to Africa in Motion, registered high attendance levels in our screenings, and had numerous sold-out events. This year, AiM received some of the best media coverage our festival has had; obtained a very positive response to the quality, diversity and contents of the films we programmed, and our film introductions and post-screening discussions were described as inspiring and poignant. In addition, guests/collaborators such as Nigerian filmmaker Obi Emelonye, French/Burkinabe journalist Claire Diao, Professor Jolyon Mitchell from the School of Divinity (Ed. Uni), or scholar Gerhard Anders from the Centre for African Studies (Ed. Uni) assured our festival continued to provide a platform for African films to not only be seen but also contextualized, questioned, discussed and reflected upon.

Amongst the outstanding highlights of this year's festival were the (now legendary) AiM launch party, our guest filmmaker Nigerian director/producer Obi Emelonye, the AiM annual short film competition, a boisterous and eventful Children's Day, numerous compelling discussions, and a glorious closing party.


We kicked off the festival with a stunning (and sold-out) screening of Tunisian film, Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (Nacer Khemir: 2005) and a roaring party to signal the beginning of another wonderful festival. This included a menu of tantalising Kenyan canapés, South African wine and an outstanding performance by Zimbabwean jazz singer, Cynthia Gentle and her band, The True Tones. Commenting on the opening event, dancer Jennifer Ba stated: "The AiM festival is well known in Edinburgh and the opening nights are renowned for providing excellent entertainment - it was a great experience!"


The following day, we were delighted to be joined by Nigerian filmmaker Obi Emelonye. During his time with the festival he engaged in an insightful seminar that discussed the production and distribution of Nollywood films. This was one of many opportunities to discuss the film programme with leading practitioners and academics of African cinema. Throughout the duration of the festival, post-screening discussions highlighted and explored many of the poignant issues within the programmed films. These discussions covered topics of disability and domestic abuse and children's issues.

This year we presented the 4th edition of the Africa in Motion Short Film Competition and once again, the quality of the films has raised to a truly outstanding level. On Friday evening we screened the 7 shortlisted films and later announced Umkhungo (dir. Matthew Jankes, South Africa) as the deserving winner of the competition.

Another highlight of the festival and an undoubtable success was our Children's Day Programme. The day started with a hugely successful Storytelling session led by Mara Menzies, from Toto Tales. To a cinema full of half-pint sized 2-legged animals, Mara told fantastical tales of 4-legged and winged animals, weaving the engaged audience into the stories themselves. This was followed by sold-out screening of children's films: a stellar selection of short, colourful films aimed at the youth. Demanding more energy still (as only children would be able to provide), the day ended with a fantastic set of drumming and dancing workshops where children were able to learn the basic rhythms on the Djembe drums and accompanied dance moves. A wonderfully vibrant finale to the day!

The festival was brought to a close in exquisite style with the screening of a FESPACO award winning film 'Un pas en avant, les dessous de la corruption; (One Step Forward: The Inside of Corruption) followed by a mesmerising performance by Sengalese kora player, Soriba Kanout. Soriba provided us all with a much needed sense of calm and reassurance at the end of a wonderfully exciting and relentless festival. We were cordially transported to serenity via Senegal, where we will remain until the chaos recommences next year. We would like to thank all our partners and sponsors who contributed an incredible amount to the shape and execution of the festival. We look forward to working with you again in the future, and similarly, we hope to see all of our audience members again next year!

"The sheer variety of films shown at AiM reminds us that there is no single 'African' cinema, but a whole world to explore within a continent of diverse cultures and histories... I cant wait to see what else AiM has in store in the future. I'll certainly be returning to find out"
Kieran Hanson, MA Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester

Until next year!
Africa in Motion Management Team

NOTE: Photos by Michael Marten and Antonio Sanchez. To see more photos of this year's festival go to AiM 2011 Photo Gallery on our website.

Luxor African Film Festival

Call for Submissions: Luxor African Film Festival, First Edition February 2012 - Deadline: December 15, 2011

The political conditions experienced by Egypt during the four decades preceding the revolution of January 25 removed Egypt from its strategic African depth on all levels - cultural, economic and social for different reasons. After the revolution, the space was open again and each responsible individual felt they can really make a difference and turn their ideas into a reality. From here, Script writer, Sayed Fouad, thought of implementing the project that has been haunting him for years – An Annual African Film Festival in Egypt to establish the African links.

Independent Shabab Foundation (I-Shabab), an Egyptian non governmental, and non-profit organization, was selected to run the festival due to its belief in the importance of "Luxor African Film Festival" in linking up and networking with others in general and with Africa in particular.

The team thought of Luxor to encourage decentralization of cultural events to move a bit away from Cairo and Alexandria, which are piling up with different festivals, and finally, to contribute to the promotion of tourism to the city of Luxor at this critical time that Egypt’s experiencing after revolution.

The festival has given itself the mission, to support and encourage African film productions and partnerships between the countries of the continent through strengthening the humanitarian and political ties between the peoples of Africa in general and African artists in particular.

AfricAvenir International, Arterial Network, Independent Shabab Foundation, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Luxor Governate, the Syndicate of Egyptian Filmmakers, and Nile Thematic TV Channels have been won as official partners and sponsors.

Dear African filmmakers, dear producers, dear distributors,

Please find for download:

|+| The Conditions & Criteria including the Submission Forms

If you have further questions, please dont hesitate to contact:
Azza El Hosseiny
Executive Director
Luxor African Film Festival
independentshabab(at)yahoo.com
luxoraff(at)gmail.com
Since the website is underconstruction, at a later stage also:
Azza.elhosseiny(at)luxoraff.com
33 Haroun st., Dokki,Cairo
Telefax:02-37622407
Mobile: 01003212160
www.luxorafricanfilmfestival.com

Wishing for a lot of new and brilliant films from all of Africa and the diaspora to be entered and selected,

considering azza.elhosseiny(at)luxoraff.com it will be activated after a while and i will inform you when that happens.

Yours in Film,
AfricAvenir

Africa opens prestigious documentary festival in Amsterdam

The 24th edition of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) opened Wednesday November 16th with a film about Africa: The Ambassador by Danish filmmaker and journalist Mads Brügger. This is the most important festival dedicated to documentaries in the world.
It is disappointing to notice one more time that such festivals don’t open with films from Africa but about it. Anyway it is still somehow an African presence that otherwise would not be possible.
Already a polemic is going around the film. One of the protagonists, the Dutch businessman Willem Tijssen, asked the festival (via letter) to withdraw the film from its program. The Ambassador remains however the opening film of the festival, the press officer confirmed in a press release..
Tijssen is running a company called Diplomatic Services Africa and helped the filmmaker to get a Liberian passport and got paid for that service a modicum sum of 50.000 US dollar. 3/4th of the amount was used to corrupt African officers, admitted the man.
The journalist went to explore the milieu of diamond traffic in Central African Republic. This is one of the most mysterious businesses in the world to which it will be impossible for an African filmmaker to enter.
To do this it is not enough to find diamonds. The most difficult is to be able to take them out of the country. Or the only safe way is to be a diplomat. Then you are sure not to be searched by customers when you are leaving the territory with few diamonds in your Samsonite hand suitcase.
Because it is not possible to be a western diplomat the journalist, a blond and tall Danish man, enters the central African territories as a Liberian official. After some adventures and dealings he establishes his business.
The whole process is filmed by a minuscule hidden camera. That’s how we enter a world of corrupted officials in the high spheres of euro-African diplomacy.
We learn for example that after the fight about the control of minerals in the 70ies, France and China are nowadays working together to spoil African soil.
We learn how French secret services were involved in the provocation of central African rebellion.
We are told that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian president and her minister of foreign affairs were in a black list of persons not allowed to hold any high official position because of their involvement in the civil war.
We are taught how European diplomats are a corrupted network serving as intermediaries in the illegal commerce of diamond. They bring you in touch with officials who will provide the false diplomatic passport, and with the local officials who will help you infiltrate the market of whatever you want.
At the end we will come to the conclusion that the big white people are earning hundreds of millions of dollars using the mines and the work of the poor and short height pygmies.
The filmmaker shows himself always standing with his two locals whom he took as assistants. Therefore he visualizes the relationship of power and spoliation that weighs too much on Africans.
This documentary is part of a whole tradition of successful films about Africa. The same festival opened in 2008 with a film about Congo called Enjoy Poverty by Dutch video-maker Renzo Martins who explored the insane networks of foreign organizations working in this country.
Couple of years earlier, Austrian filmmaker investigated the business of Nile perch fish in the Tanzanian’s Lake Victoria and the impact of hyper-production on the life of.
All these films got big success. This brings back the eternal question about what prevents African filmmakers to be on such stages.
Is it an African destiny to be always something to talk about never something that talks?
Still it is not always obvious that an African filmmaker will talk about his/her continent better than a non African. Production circumstances can be so heavy that Africans can be less free than a European filmmaker for instance.
An African filmmaker would never be able to do what the Danish did. Not only because it is a huge financial operation, but also because an African diplomat who is blond is so unexpected situation that is the most eloquent one to show how African context is absurd.
In this festival there are few African participations like Tahrir 2011 by Egyptian trio Amr Salama, Ayten Amin and Tamer Ezzat who tell the story of the Egyptian uprising.
Very acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sene Absa will be also presenting his new documentary Yoole, the sacrifice in the Slide Show parallel section. The filmmakers addresses the tragedy of young Senegalese migrants challenging the death in the Atlantic ocean because of their dream of a better life.

See also : http://www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/A+telling+story+from+Africa+screens+at+Amsterdam+fete/-/979194/1273330/-/taw6h8z/-/index.html