Sub-Saharan Africa Broadcast – West African Films

A world first will be taking place this month when a full week of African documentary films are broadcast across sub-Saharan Africa on DStv channel ED (channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65).

This unique film event will see a diverse and exciting range of films screened across 49 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, to coincide with the Durban International Film Festival, the largest film festival in South Africa that takes place from July 17th – 27th.

During this week-long film event sees a diverse and engaging range of West African films including Day by Day: Femi Kuti (Nigeria), Niger’s - For The Best and the Onion & Magic Radio, as well as Dolce Vita Africana & Hamou Beya Sand Fisher, from Mali.

Day by Day; Femi Kuti Billed as a journey into the heart of making music, Day By Day: Femi Kuti is more than a biopic, but rather gives real insight into every aspect of the creative process. As the film follows the development of a track from Femi Kuti's latest album, it sets out to explain the artistic decisions. These choices are inseparable from Femi’s involvement in the political situation in his home country, Nigeria. Screening on Wednesday July 23rd at 21:00 (GMT + 2) For the Best & the Onion The Galmi purple, the onion from Niger, pervades West African markets with 400,000 tons a year. In Galmi, Salamatou’s been waiting for her wedding for 2 years. Her father Yaro, urged both by her future in-laws and the village gossip makes a decision : The wedding will take place at the harvest ! Yaro is aware that to be ready for this commitment, he has to produce more and sell at a higher price.

Screening on Wednesday July 23rd at 17:00 (GMT + 2)

Magic Radio In Niger, where more than 80% of the population is illiterate, radio is the main means of mass communication. Simple yet reliable, the radio is everywhere, in the streets, homes and the bush. It entertains, educates, informs and helps provide a check on power. Today, through the radio waves, the citizens of Niger seize the microphone and taste democracy. It’s an FM revolution.

Screening on Friday July 25th at 21:00 (GMT + 2) Dolce Vita Africana This documentary is a portrait of the African photographer Malick Sidibé, and a journey through Malian history inspired by his iconic images. Malick’s snapshots from the late ‘50s through to the early ‘70s capture the carefree spirit of a youth asserting their freedom from colonialism in the early days of Malian independence – until a coup ushered in decades of austere military dictatorship. Hence this is a film not only about art, but also about a culture reflected through a camera lens, in a country that today is one of the poorest in the world.

Screening Friday July 25th at 17:00 (GMT + 2)

Hamou Beya Sand Fisher In Mali, the Bozo are renowned for their mastery of fishing. They have a connection with the spirits of water that other communities do not seem to have. More recently however, they come to Bamako to extract sand from the river to provide for the ever expanding needs of property development. Through Gala, the main character of the film, we discover the socio-economic and ecological issues of this activity and the uncertainty in the future due to its impact and the lower level of the river Niger.

Screening Friday July 25th at 18:00 (GMT + 2)

ABOUT AFRIDOCS FILM WEEK The AfriDocs Film Week will connect the largest film festival in Africa through a ‘film festival at home’ featuring documentary films from thirteen countries in Africa – D.R.C., Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.

“So many documentary films have been shot in Africa, but very few have been seen by African audiences”, says AfriDocs Executive Producer Don Edkins from Steps in Cape Town, “this heralds a new era of distribution for the continent.”

Films by African filmmakers Idrissa Guiro, Sani Elhadj, Licinio Azevedo, Rehad Desai, Judy Kibinge, Andrey Samoute Diarra, together with filmmakers Mika Karismäki, Thierry Michel, Roger Ross Williams, Abby Ginsberg and Göran Olsson amongst others, will be seen for the first time by a wide audience through this collaboration.

Seven of the films screening at the Durban Film Festival (DIFF) will also be part of the programme, including the award-winning Miners Shot Down, Concerning Violence, I Afrikaner, The Irresistible Rise of Moise Katumbi, Coach Zoran, Plot for Peace and Soft Vengeance.

These African documentaries tell a range of stories; from films about great African artists, such as singer and activist Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) and the Malian photographer Malik Sibidé (Dolce Vita Africana), to political / historical films on leaders Patrice Lumumba and Liberian President Sirleaf Johnson, as well as films about revolutionaries, farmers, gangsters, and illegal immigrants. This week long film event is a special broadcast project from AfriDocs, the first weekly primetime documentary strand broadcasting across Africa. Every Tuesday night on ED (DStv channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65), AfriDocs screens top African documentaries to 49 countries by satellite, and terrestrially to an additional 100 cities in 8 countries.

AfriDocs is an initiative of the multi-awarded South African documentary production and distribution company, Steps, in partnership with the Bertha Foundation.

For the full programme schedule and synopses of the films, please go to www.afridocs.net or www.facebook.com/AfriDocs

You can also follow AfriDocs on twitter: @Afri_Docs #FilmFestivalAtHome #DIFF2014 #AfricaNotOneStory #AfriDocs #AfricaRising

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Contact: Social Media & Publicity: Patrice Carter

URL: www.steps.co.z