The Africa Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT): Using participatory media in development communication

The Africa Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT) Using participatory media in development communication

The Africa Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT), created in 1992 by founding members Tendai Munawa, Rebecca Kapenzi and Chido Matewa, works to advance gender equality and justice through the use of information and communication technologies by facilitating content production and dissemination that supports girls, women and disadvantaged communities to take informed choices. 

Taking into cognizance that information communication technologies are a gendered tool, AWFT strives to address imbalances in the access and use of ICT’s hence the adoption of the participatory approach which is empowering to its subjects, giving them a voice hence becoming protagonists of their own development.

The AWFT website provides important resources for those interested in deepening their knowledge of empowerment through participatory media. In addition, it presents AWFT ongoing and completed projects, testimonies and other useful information. 

Chido Matewa’s doctoral thesis entitled "Media and the empowerment of communities for social change" (2002) PDF, which makes a case-study on the Zimbabwean-based Africa Women Filmmakers Trust, offers further research on the important role that media women have played in the use of communication technologies as a tool for empowerment.

A Fool God, un/a film de/by Hiwot Getaneh - Analyse/Analysis par/by Djia Mambu (Africine.org)

A Fool God, un/a film de/by Hiwot Getaneh - Analyse/Analysis par/by Djia Mambu (Africine.org)

Source: africine.org. Publ: 27/09/2019

Translated from French by Beti Ellerson, an African Women in Cinema Blog collaboration with Africine.org. 

En français : http://africine.org/?menu=art&no=14767

Ethiopian director Hiwot Getaneh returns to the Toronto International Film Festival (September 5-15, 2019) with her short film A Fool God, where she delves into the world of a little girl in deep reflection about guilt.

A Fool God explores the universe of Mesi, who seeks to exculpate herself from the condemnation of her grandmother for having cut off the head of a hen, a ritual reserved for men, and hence should have been done by her brother. While Mesi thinks she has done well in trying to help the latter who did not succeed, her grandmother holds her responsible for the death of her mother, who dies afterwards. As a sign of mourning, the grandmother shaves Mesi's head and takes the opportunity to recount a time-honored classic tale: the guilt of a poor farmer who steals from his uncle and then goes to God, asking for forgiveness. In order to prove her good faith to her grandmother, every chance she gets Mesi reinterprets the tale in her own way. Can we do wrong if our intention is good? Why blame someone who has committed an act in good faith? For Mesi, the one who condemns is a fool; and God included, if he does not pardon the condemned person.

The cinéaste Hiwot Getaneh once again puts a child at the forefront inviting us to openly question ourselves beyond all the influences impregnated by our environment, as well as our own values: faith, culture, justice, solidarity, etc. As in her previous film New Eyes where a young girl having just reached puberty begins to develop sensual feelings and desires, after witnessing a couple in amorous embrace, we are led to observe the unfolding of an innocent body and pure spirit.

The Ethiopian director takes as a starting point an original story that her grandmother recounted often when she was growing up and that she liked a lot. Moreover, Hiwot Getaneh recalls that as a child, she often accompanied her grandmother to the pension fund distribution centre, very common in a country where parents, mostly widows and mothers, go to collect the pension of a husband or soldier son who has disappeared--as we see Mesi accompany her grandmother.

A Fool God takes us back to our youth where we saw our unrestrained acts being corrected by adults, where we were confronted by prohibitions and where we had to evaluate our judgments; which we finally understood, only when we became adults.

***

A Fool God,  un film de Hiwot Getaneh

Djia Mambu,
Toronto, Septembre 2019

La réalisatrice éthiopienne Hiwot Getaneh revient au Festival International de film de Toronto (5-15 septembre 2019) avec son court métrage A Fool God où elle questionne l'univers d'une petite fille en pleine réflexion sur la culpabilité.

Version originale en Français. Lire l’article en intégralité sur http://africine.org/?menu=art&no=14767

Mame Woury Thioubou: "5 étoiles", un récit sur la désillusion de l’exil | a story about the disillusionment of exile: Analyse/Analysis de/by Fatou Kiné Sène

Mame Woury Thioubou: "5 étoiles", un récit sur la désillusion de l’exil |  a story about the disillusionment of exile: Analyse/Analysis de/by Fatou Kiné Sène

Source : aps.sn

Version originale en Français : http://aps.sn/actualites/culture/cinema/article/5-etoiles-de-mame-woury-thioubou-un-recit-sur-la-desillusion-de-l-exil

5 Etoiles by Mame Woury Thioubou (2019)

Tanit de bronze | Bronze Tanit

Tunisia, Oct 31 (APS) - The short film 5 Étoiles by the Senegalese Mame Woury Thioubou, screened Wednesday at the City of Culture in Tunis, as part of the 2019 edition of the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage (JCC, 26 October-2 November), deals with "the disillusionment of exile", subtly bringing emigrants to realise their own precariousness in order to better talk about the issue.

The film highlights the lives of African migrants in Lille, France in order to bring these "undocumented migrants" to the realisation that after braving the desert and the sea to arrive in France, Europe is only the beginning of their ordeal.

"The film does not tell young Africans not to leave, but what I want them to know" is that Europe "is not going to be the end of the ordeal, that it is the beginning of a new struggle," said the director.

Mame Woury Thioubou had always wondered about the motivation of these young people who choose to leave the African continent for the West. Her cinematographic approach, hence, leads her on an inquiry into these young migrants' journey through the Sahara desert—for those leaving from Mali or Guinea.

Obviously, she evokes the horrors suffered by migrants from the Libyan route evident by the difficult experience of crossing the Mediterranean.

Far from knowing the epilogue of this ordeal once in Europe, in reality, it is only the beginning.

The director gives pride of place to the protagonists of the film who make a self-analysis of their precarious situation. Her camera insists on the faces, the feet, but especially their "5 Étoiles (tr. star), an old insanitary factory, a squatting place for the migrants.

Mame Woury relates their difficult living conditions in their struggle for "dignity" in the face of ordinary racism and daily humiliation.

The subject also reveals, through its reference to history, by way of a reminder that the issue of migration is not a new subject and has marked and transformed the lives of all human societies.

Mame Woury Thioubou illustrates this point with a focus on the statue of Faidherbe, one of the architects of colonisation in Senegal, and who in Lille is seen as a positive figure celebrated at the Republic Square, in this French metropolis where the "sans-papers" (the undocumented) rally each week.

Through this approach the director also challenges the French, inviting them to look in the mirror.

"This movement by these migrants, Faidherbe has already done by coming to our country without authorisation. Yet today, when our young people want to go to the West, barriers are imposed on them. I also want the French to see themselves and to question themselves,” says the director.

Biography | Biographie

Mame Woury Thioubou was born and raised in Senegal. After a MA in geography at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar and a diploma in journalism at the University of St. Louis, Senegal. She is a journalist/reporter at the newspaper "Quotidien" and for the company Avenir Communication, and technical assistant for Programme Agenda 21 in the city of Matam.

In 2009, she decided to return to her studies continuing in the area of journalism but from a more artistic approach by engaging in creative documentary filmmaking, now considered a genre in itself. She enrolled in the Master II Réalisation de Documentaire de Création  (Creative Documentary Filmmaking) at the University Gaston Berger in St. Louis (Senegal), under the tutelage of Africadoc.

***

Mame Woury Thioubou est née et a grandi au Sénégal. Après une maîtrise de géographie à l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar et l’obtention d’un diplôme en Journalisme à l’Université de Saint-Louis du Sénégal, elle devient Journaliste/reporter au “Quotidien”, pour la société Avenir Communication et assistante technique du Programme Agenda 21 de la Ville de Matam. 

En 2009, elle décide de reprendre ses études et complète son point de vue journalistique par une approche plus artistique en se lançant dans le documentaire de création, aujourd’hui considéré comme un genre cinématographique à part entière. Elle suit ainsi le Master II de Réalisation de Documentaire de Création à l’Université Gaston Berger de Saint Louis (Sénégal), formation sous la tutelle d’Africadoc.

PALMARES | AWARDS : JCC 2019 - Les journées cinématographiques de Carthage | Carthage Film Festival

PALMARES | AWARDS

JCC 2019

Les journées cinématographiques de Carthage

Carthage Film Festival

LONG METRAGE | FEATURE FICTION

Tanit d'or | Golden Tanit

Noura rêve. Hinde Boujemaa - Tunisie | Tunisia (2019)

Tanit d'argent | Silver Tanit

Atlantique. Mati Diop - Sénégal (2019)

Tanit de bronze | Bronze Tanit

Scales. Shahad Ameen Arabie Saoudite | Saudia Arabia (2019)

Meilleur scénario | Best Scenario

You will die at twenty. Amjad Abu Alala - Soudan | Sudan (2019)

Meilleure comedien | Best male performance : 

Abou Leila. Amin Sidi-Boumediene - Algérie | Algeria (2019)

Meilleure comedienne | Best female performance : Hend Sabri

Noura rêve. Hinde Boujemaa - Tunisie | Tunisia (2019)

Meilleure musique | Best Music

Atlantique. Mati Diop - Sénégal (2019)

Meilleure image | Best Cinematography

Adam. Mariam Touzani - Maroc | Morocco (2019)

Meilleur montage | Best Editing

Adam. Mariam Touzani - Maroc | Morocco (2019)

SHORT FICTION FILMS | COURTS MÉTRAGES

Tanit d'or | Golden Tanit

True Story. Amine Lakhnech - Tunisia | Tunisie (2019)

Tanit d'argent | Silver Tanit

Charter. Sabry Bouzid - Tunisia | Tunisie (2019)

Tanit de bronze | Bronze Tanit

Mthunzi. Tebogo Malebogo - South Africa | Afrique du Sud (2019)

FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES | LONGS MÉTRAGES DOCUMENTAIRES 

Tanit d'or | Golden Tanit

Talking about trees. Suhaib Gasmelbari - Soudan | Sudan (2019)

Tanit d'argent | Silver Tanit

For Sama. Waad Al-Kateab - Syrie | Syria (2019)

Tanit de bronze | Bronze Tanit

A haunted past. Fatma Riahi - Tunisie | Tunisia (2019)

Mention speciále | Special mention

Pas d’or pour Kalsaka. K Michel Zongo - Burkina Faso (2019)

SHORT DOCUMENTARIES | DOCUMENTAIRES COURTS MÉTRAGES 

Tanit d'or | Golden Tanit

All come from dust. Younes Ben Slimane – Tunisia | Tunisie (2018)

Tanit d'argent | Silver Tanit

Pacific. Angie Obeid - Lebanon | Liban (2019)

Tanit de bronze | Bronze Tanit

5 étoiles. Mame Woury Thioubou - Senegal (2019)

PRIX PREMIÈRE OEUVRE | FIRST FILM AWARD

Prix | Award TV5 Monde

You will die at twenty. Amjad Abu Alala - Soudan | Sudan (2019)

Taher Cheriaa Award

Khartoum Offside. Marwa Zein - Soudan | Sudan (2019)

Mention speciále du Jury | Special mention Jury

Un fils. Mehdi M. Barsaoui - Tunisie | Tunisia (2019)

Prix du public | Audience Award

Entre deux frères. Joud Jawdat Said - Syrie | Syria (2019)

LAUREATS PRIX PARALLÈLE | PARALLEL SECTION AWARDS

UGTT : Prix du premier assistant à la réalisation | First Assistant Director Award

à/to Sawssen Jemni. Noura rêve de/by Hinde Boujemaa - Tunisie | Tunisia (2019)

FACC : Prix de la FACC | FACC Award

Adam. Mariam Touzani - Maroc | Morocco (2019)

FIPSCI : Prix du FIPSCI | FIPSCI Award

You will die at twenty. Amjad Abu Alala - Soudan | Sudan (2019)

Le prix | Award Cinephilia

Chebba. Yasmine BenAbdallah. Maroc | Morocco (2019)

LES PRIX | AWARDS : CARTHAGE CINÉ-PROMESSE 2019

Prix carthage ciné-promesse: Le dernier voyage. Latefa Ahrrare - Maroc | Morocco

Prix ciné-promesse : Prix Hakka distribution Le dernier voyage. Latefa Ahrrare - Maroc | Morocco

Prix ciné-promesse : Mention Spéciale | Special mention

TF2011. Nour El Hayet Ben Abdallah - Tunisie - Maroc 

JCC 2019 - Nicole Schafer : Buddha in Africa (South Africa)

JCC 2019 

Les journées cinématographiques de Carthage | Carthage Film Festival

Nicole Schafer

South Africa

Buddha in Africa (2019) 110 min.

Documentary

Synopsis

Enock is a Malawian teenager nearing the end of his high school studies. Since the age of six, he has lived inside a Taiwanese Buddhist orphanage – one of several built across sub-Saharan Africa. As his final examinations approach, Enock is forced to decide what direction he wants to take in his future.

Biography

Nicole Schafer is a South African writer, film director, producer, editor and cinematographer. She completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in film and television production at the University of Cape Town.

JCC 2019 - Fatma Riahi : A Haunted Past (Tunisia | Tunisie)

JCC 2019 

Les journées cinématographiques de Carthage

Carthage Film Festival

Fatma Riahi

Tunisia | Tunisie

A Haunted Past (90 min)

2018

Documentary | Documentaire

In her youth, filmmaker Fatma Riahi lived in Tunis with a family hosted by her mother: three little girls and their Bosnian mother, Marcida, whose Tunisian husband, Tawfiq, was serving a prison sentence for terrorism. Ten years after the family disappeared, Riahi sets out to find them. She learns that Tawfiq is now raising his girls in the countryside, and that Marcida abandoned them. The filmmaker meets the bitter young women, their dreams shattered, and the former jihadi, traumatized and enraged by his past experiences. Approaching her subjects’ sometimes-dubious perspectives and opinions frankly, she gradually unearths the secrets of lives reshaped by the complexities of international conflicts and state violence. (CS)

Dans sa jeunesse, la réalisatrice Fatma Riahi a vécu à Tunis sous le même toit qu’une famille hébergée par sa mère : trois fillettes et leur mère bosniaque, Marcida, dont le mari tunisien Tawfiq purgeait une peine de prison pour terrorisme. Dix ans après la disparition de cette famille, Riahi décide de les retrouver. Elle découvre que Tawfiq élève aujourd’hui ses filles à la campagne, et que Marcida les a abandonnés. La cinéaste fait face à des jeunes femmes amères aux rêves évanouis, et à un ancien jihadiste aussi furieux que traumatisé par ses expériences passées. Confrontant avec franchise les perspectives et opinions parfois discutables de ses sujets, elle déterre petit à petit les secrets de vies bouleversées par la complexité de conflits internationaux et la violence des États. (CS)

Source: film-documentaire.fr http://www.film-documentaire.fr/4DACTION/w_fiche_film/54391_1

JCC 2019 - Wided Zoghlami : Fathallah tv, 10 ans et une revolution plus tard (Tunisie | Tunisia)

 JCC 2019 

Les journées cinématographiques de Carthage

Carthage Film Festival

Wided Zoghlami

Tunisie | Tunisia

Fathallah tv, 

10 ans et une revolution plus tard 

2019

Documentary

Synopsis

Source: Africine.org

In 2007 under the dictatorship of Ben Ali, four young people from a working class district of Tunis, try to build a better future, some through music while others will take more risky paths. All struggle against the omnipresent oppression of dictatorship and unknowingly announce a nascent revolution. 10 years and a revolution later, what have become of them, did they realize their dreams?

En 2007 sous la dictature de Ben Ali, quatre jeunes issus d'un quartier populaire de Tunis, tentent de se construire un avenir meilleur, certains par le biais de la musique alors que d'autres emprunterons des chemins plus risqués. Tous luttent contre l'oppression omniprésente de la dictature et annoncent sans le savoir une révolution naissante. 10 ans et une révolution plus tard, que sont-ils devenus, ont-ils concrétisé leurs rêves ?

Bio : Wided Zoghlami

Source: Africine.org

Tunisian Filmmaker. In 2016, she pitched, her documentary project, 10 ans et une revolution plus tard at the 14th Rencontres Tënk de co-production, in Saint-Louis, Senegal.

Réalisatrice tunisienne. En 2016, elle participe avec son projet de documentaire 110 ans et une revolution plus tard aux 14è Rencontres Tënk de co-production, à Saint-Louis, Sénégal.