{"id":13459,"date":"2021-11-10T14:05:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=13459"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:05:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:05:27","slug":"al-jazeera-presents-africa-direct-african-stories-told-by-african-filmmakers-about-african-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/11\/10\/al-jazeera-presents-africa-direct-african-stories-told-by-african-filmmakers-about-african-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Jazeera Presents “Africa Direct” – African Stories, Told By African Filmmakers About African Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A compelling and immersive series of short documentaries by all-African filmmaking talent to be launched by Al Jazeera English<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Al Jazeera English launches Africa Direct<\/em><\/strong>, a distinctive series of compelling and immersive short documentaries produced and directed by all-African filmmaking talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The films open an authentic window onto a range of ordinary and extraordinary African lives, to present nuanced and complex perspectives of this diverse and multifaceted continent. The stories give voice to African storytellers, who have so often been drowned out or overwhelmed by outsider mediation. The series comprises around 30 short documentaries, curated into half hour episodes. The first tranche of six half hours starts airing on Al Jazeera English from 30 November 2021 until 4 January 2022, featuring the first 14 short films from 11 countries. These slice-of-life stories each centre around a main character who articulates their own narrative, without reporters or other mediators. Simply put: Africa Direct<\/em><\/strong> is African stories, told by African storytellers about African lives – for audiences across the continent and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s on Offer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These character-led films are traditional and modern, poignant and flamboyant, with people who are surviving or thriving, poor or powerful. At the heart of each film is a story which makes us think, feel and connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional knowledge is uncovered as we witness the ancient arts of parchment book-making in the Ethiopian mountains in\u00a0The Bookmaker,<\/em>\u00a0directed by\u00a0Girum Berehanetsehay; and of calligraphy in Timbuktu as a man restores ancient manuscripts in\u00a0Be\u00efrey-Hou: Desert Libraries<\/em>byAndrey S. Diarra (Mali); tension between old and modern ways features in\u00a0In The Aluminium Village<\/em>by\u00a0On\u00e9siphore M. Adonai (Benin) where\u00a0we meetan engaging young man who must straddle the old ways of his village and his youthful aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bookmaker<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The lives and vocations of African women are explored in\u00a0On the White Nile<\/em>\u00a0by filmmaker Akuol de Mabior, where we are transported into the world of a spirited South Sudanese fisherwoman and boat captain; in\u00a0The Young Cyclist\u00a0<\/em>by Yuhi Amuli, a young Rwandan former hawker becomes a female bicycle taxi-driver and then a competitive cyclist; in Joan Kabugu\u2019s\u00a0Throttle Queens\u00a0<\/em>(Kenya),\u00a0<\/em>we meet a women\u2019s motorcycling club and witness\u00a0how their love of riding brings them exhilaration, freedom, adventure and a sense of control over their lives; and in\u00a0Amelia Umuhire\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Settling\u00a0<\/em>(Rwanda)a professor of architecture inspires her students to take a people-centred approach to the city\u2019s \u2018informal housing\u2019 challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On The White Nile<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating Africa\u2019s flair for creativity and the unusual, we meet\u00a0a dancing deputy mayor who officiates at wedding ceremonies in\u00a0Happiness,<\/em>\u00a0a joyful film byValaire Fossi (Cameroon); while in\u00a0The Cave,\u00a0<\/em>directed by\u00a0El Kheyer Zidani (Algeria), a puppeteer and artist prepares a new show in a remote town, where he and his father share the joys of theatre, music and storytelling; in\u00a0Colours Are Alive Here<\/em>by Seydou Mukali (Kenya), a rising star and fashion designerin Kibera, Nairobi\u2019s large urban slum, invites you in to his bustling life as he surrounds himself with creativity, design and artists.In bold attempts to make a difference, we meet a\u00a0man whohas nurtured baobab trees from tiny seeds to an expansive forest for the past 47 years, providing a lifeline and legacy for his village, in\u00a0The Man who Plants Baobabs<\/em>\u00a0(Burkina Faso) by\u00a0Michel K Zongo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Colours Are Live<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Filmmaker Oumar Ba\u2019s\u00a0Kalanda: A Wrestler\u2019s Dream\u00a0<\/em>(Senegal) tells the story of a\u00a0 young man determined to make it to the main wrestling arena; and in\u00a0Diggers and Merchants<\/em>, by Nelson Makengo (DRC) we meet a manual digger who\u00a0has worked the copper quarries around his village for years –\u00a0all he and his peers want is a fair chance to make a living and be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kalanda<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Documentary storytelling is a hugely influential medium in terms of perceptions of places, people and their power,\u201d says Ingrid Falck, Manager of Documentaries at Al Jazeera English, who conceived and commissioned the series. \u201cWe have long championed the idea that those who know their stories best should own them in the media, claim their\u00a0storytelling space. We have huge audiences across the continent and show a lot of great Africa-centred content – but the western gaze still casts a long shadow over Africa\u00a0in a lot of other international media.\u00a0Africa Direct<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a celebration –\u00a0of African documentary talent\u00a0and\u00a0of local stories. I\u2019m deeply grateful to the superb pan-African teams and filmmakers who\u2019ve delivered these\u00a0stunning, immersive and thought-provoking short documentaries, for our global viewers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Throttle Queens<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Al Jazeera partnered with Big World Cinema for this project: it is entirely based within Africa. The team includes Executive Producer Steven Markovitz (SA), Series Producers Angele Diabang (Senegal) and Brian Tilly (SA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received over 300 proposals from 31 countries,\u201d says Executive Producer Steven Markovitz of Big World Cinema. \u201cIt was an extraordinary experience reading and assessing the wide range of stories from across the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the series on Al Jazeera English, from 30 November at 2230GMT, with reruns the following week from Tuesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A compelling and immersive series of short documentaries by all-African filmmaking talent to be launched by Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English launches Africa Direct, a distinctive series of compelling and immersive short documentaries produced and directed by all-African filmmaking talent. The films open an authentic window onto a range of ordinary and extraordinary African lives,… Continue reading Al Jazeera Presents “Africa Direct” – African Stories, Told By African Filmmakers About African Lives<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[259],"class_list":["post-13459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festival","tag-al-jazeera","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}