African, Caribbean and Pacific Region Cinema Projects Receive European Support

By Ogova Ondego
Published September 20, 2009

Some 24 production audiovisual media projects–12 production, 6 training, and 6 distribution and promotion–will receive 6.5 million Euro funding from the  European Union through the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states programme.

ACP Secretariat says more than 130 applications had been received from more than 40 countries covering the six geographical and linguistic regions of the ACP as well as several European countries.

Implemented by the ACP Secretariat in Brussels, the ACP Films Programme’s main goal is to promote the development of the cinema and audiovisual media industries of the ACP States to “enable them to create and distribute their own images more effectively. The programme also aims to stimulate better promotion of cultural diversity, the networking of ACP cultural identities and intercultural dialogue,” according to a Press Statement from the ACP signed by Communications Manager Moussa Sawadogo.

“By building on the achievements of the previous ACP-EU programmes supporting cinema, the European Commission and the ACP Secretariat decided to focus, under the currently running 9th EDF, on improving the circulation of cinema and audiovisual works from the ACP States, the professional development of the artistic, technical and management techniques of the cinema and audiovisual sectors, and the promotion of access to training for young professionals. A special focus will be put on digitalization.”

The grant support is divided into three sections–production of cinema and television works (3.8 million); promotion, distribution, dissemination and networking of the cinema and audiovisual media sector (1.7 million); and training in the cinema and audiovisual media sector (1 million).

All the successful beneficiaries as announced by the ACP secretariat are:

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Lot 1 – Production and post-production

Applicant: Arizona Films
Project title: Queleh
Partnership: France, Netherlands, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti
Setting: East Africa
Total grant awarded: 400,000
“Queleh” is the first 35mm fictional feature-length Somalian film, filmed in Somaliland. It portrays the torn-apart Somalia of the 1980s through the story of Queleh, a young man living in the rural north of the country with his parents and two young sisters. After the death of his father, Queleh has to do all the daily chores and look after his family.

Applicant: Ebano Multimedia
Project title: Margarida
Partnership: Mozambique, Angola, Portugal
Setting: Southern Africa
Total grant awarded: 397,815
“Margarida” is a feature-length film portraying Mozambique’s revolutionary period, addressing social and political issues during that time, in particular the situation of the women. It also aims to be a successful co-production between the Portuguese-speaking countries of Mozambique, Angola and Portugal.

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Applicant: Centre National de Cinématographie du Mali
Project title: Les Concessions
Partnership: Mali, Burkina Faso
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 150,000
“Les Concessions” is a television series that deals with the daily life of a family whose scheming grandmother tries to control everyone. It has a wide range of characters, in terms of age, gender, and social and economic status. The series has 52 x 26-minute episodes offering a contemporary portrayal of Malian society.

Applicant: Dunia Productions
Project title: Bayri-La Patrie
Partnership: Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 395,207
“Bayri-La Patrie” is a feature-length film addressing the plight of migrants from Burkina Faso in a Côte d’Ivoire gripped by civil war. The film deals with the vulnerable position of migrants in various societies, the suffering of civilians in times of war and the difficult living conditions, especially for women, in refugee camps.

Applicant: Go Go Productions
Project title: Un Homme Qui Crie N’est Pas Un Ours Qui Danse
Partnership: Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Belgium
Setting: Central Africa
Total grant awarded: 400,000
This feature-length film deals with the social decline of a man and his pain as a father in a country weakened by war and transformed by globalisation. “Un homme qui crie n’est pas un ours qui danse” portrays an Africa at the heart of global upheavals with the arrival of new economic and financial powers such as China. The Africa that attracts investors, through its development potential, is unfortunately also an Africa full of suffering and fratricidal hostilities. With this film, Go Go Productions portrays an Africa torn apart by damaging and murderous contradictions.

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Applicant: Blue Sky Films
Project title: The Captain of Nakara
Partnership: Kenya, Tanzania, Germany
Setting: East Africa
Total grant awarded: 266,395
Shot in Kenya, which often serves as a setting for foreign films, this feature-length film is the first to be directed by a Kenyan woman. It is an African comedy in which, not wanting to lose the woman of his dreams, Muntu, a criminal just out of prison, pretends to be a rich businessman.

Applicant: Fado Filmes
Project title: The Last Flight of Flamingo
Partnership: Mozambique, Spain, Angola, Portugal
Setting: Southern Africa
Total grant awarded: 400,000
“The Last Flight of Flamingo” is a feature-length film describing the journey of an Italian Blue Beret to Mozambique. This adaptation of the novel of the same name, by the Mozambican writer Mia Couto, marries humour with a denunciation of the ravages of civil war.

Applicant: Média 2000
Project title: Ina, Season 2
Partnership: Burkina Faso, Cameroon
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 150,000
Ina, a young woman from Burkina Faso, tries with difficulty, like all modern women, to balance her professional and family lives. Her success creates a lot of jealousy, which leads her to question what role Africa wants of the modern African woman. This second season of the famous TV series contains 40 x 26-minute episodes.

Applicant: Formosa Productions
Project title: Viva Riva
Partnership: Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, France
Setting: Central Africa
Total grant awarded: 391,662
“VIVA RIVA” is a thriller portraying criminal trafficking in Kinshasa through a generation of young people willing to do anything. In Kinshasa, “Those that haven’t spend their time envying. Those that have, and dreaming of the day when they will too. After ten years abroad, RIVA returns loaded and decides to lead the good life like ,Those that have”. But his wealth comes from the money he stole from his bosses, namely Angolan crooks. The latter decide to take their revenge.

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Applicant: Les Films de l’Après-midi
Project title: La République des enfants
Partnership: Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Senegal, France
Setting: Southern Africa
Total grant awarded: 400,000
“La République des enfants” tells the story of a society of children that do not age. However, troubles come from outside. This unusual society will be disturbed by the arrival of child soldiers. This feature-length film will be produced using digital technologies and aims to contribute to the promotion of the youth film genre.

Applicant: Ardèche Images Production
Film title: Lumière d’Afrique série 1 – finalisation
Partnership: Senegal, Togo, Mali, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 78,000
The “Lumière d’Afrique”  project’s objective is to guarantee the post-production of six documentaries by different young directors. Shot in Senegal, Mali and Togo, each film has a particular focus on African society, portraying rites of circumcision, the transhumance of shepherds, the filming of the casting for a programme, underground artists in Bamako, the shadow cast by illness, as well as political reality (the succession of President Eyadema in Togo).

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Applicant: David & Golias
Project title: Le Grand Kilapy
Partnership: Mozambique, Angola, Portugal
Setting: Southern Africa
Total grant awarded: €367,399
“Le Grand Kilapy” is set during the last years of Portuguese colonialism (1960-1974). Through the characteristic day-to-day humour of the inhabitants of Luanda, this dramatic farce tells the story of Joãozinho, based on real events and narrated in an ironic manner. It offers a contemporary commentary on the colonial process, its values and its decadence, but also on certain actions and attitudes that still affect Angolan society today.

Lot 2 : Promotion, distribution, dissemination and networking

Applicant: Ebano Multimedia
Project title: Doc-ACP
Partnership: Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana
Setting: All regions of Africa
Total grant awarded: 310,982
The Doc-ACP project aims to set up a network of film documentary professionals, by creating a link between three festivals in Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania. The three festivals are going to programme and promote 12 creative documentaries, notably by creating a label, a catalogue and a repertory. The professionals will also benefit from work aimed at improving the distribution of documentaries on regional and international markets.

Applicant: BFM XCEL LTD
Project title: Exchange and Networking Project
Partnership: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom
Setting: Caribbean
Total grant awarded: 100,904
This is a networking project. Three film festivals in the United Kingdom, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will collaborate closely and enable these countries’ directors to promote local films at national and international levels. A meeting is arranged for the next Cannes International Film Festival.

Applicant: Cinémas et Cultures d’Afrique
Project title: Mise en réseau de distributeurs et de diffuseurs dans 4 pays
Partnership: Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 302,860
The plan is to set up a network of distribution and broadcasting professionals in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and France. The objectives are to foster the development of film distribution professionals, and to improve the distribution and broadcasting of ACP films within these countries.

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Applicant: Transtélé CFI
Project title: Animation d’un réseau de télévisions africaines
Partnership: Cameroon, Burkina Faso, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 70,000
The project aims to set up a network of television distribution professionals in French-speaking West Africa through the organization of a series of activities, including seminars, discussions, the combined broadcasting of African productions, the creation of a blog and a presence on the markets.

Applicant: IDMAGE
Project title: Africafilms.tv Mobicine
Partnership: Senegal, Mali, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 484,663
The project aims to digitise a catalogue of African productions to enable them to be accessed on line (Africafilms.tv) and in Africa’s digital mobile cinemas, and also to create a commercial website to increase the visibility of African productions with a view to increasing their revenue.

Applicant: Ardèche Images
Project title: Le Louma: des rencontres Tënk à la création d’un marché et d’un réseau du documentaire africain
Partnership: Senegal, Portugal, Mali, Niger, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 376,294
The project extends a current initiative: “Les Rencontres Tënk” in Senegal. Linking documentary co-production (at the heart of the Africadoc programme), Louma aims to create an international market for African documentaries, a video library for acquiring the broadcasting rights for films and a network built around various tools (website, a newsletter, the constitution of local community structures). Ardèche Images will also be a distributor, and act as an intermediary between producers and broadcasters.

Lot 3 – Training

Applicant: Transtélé CFI
Title of action: Melanesian Beat, atelier régional pour l’écriture et la réalisation
Partnership: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, France
Setting: Pacific
Total grant awarded: 137,760
“Melanesian beat” plans to set up three training sessions, aimed at audiovisual industry professionals in the South Pacific. The four countries concerned are Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. This training will enable local television teams to put new knowledge into practice, and will give rise to the production of a television SITCOM, which is a genre yet to be created in Oceania. The four television networks cooperate already, thanks to regular exhibitions that CFI organize on their behalf in Oceania, such as the Pacific International Documentary Film Festival (IFOD) and the Pacific television seminar.

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Applicant: Studio Malembe Maa
Project title: Formation aux métiers du cinéma d’animation
Partnership: Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Belgium
Setting: Central Africa
Total grant awarded: 400,000
The Malembe Maa studio will offer training in animated cinema techniques. The six modules will focus on the development and pre-production phases, training young professionals in screenplay writing, to role-playing with a scenario, drawing up a graphic user’s guide, making a storyboard and evaluating a film project.

Applicant: The Israel Lovell Foundation
Title of action: The Caribbean Travelling Film School
Partnership: Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago
Setting: Caribbean
Total grant awarded: 132,350
In this travelling film-school project, artists and young professionals will be trained in producing commercially viable low-budget films. The objective is to make films in the Caribbean that tell stories about the Caribbean and are distributed in the Caribbean. To do this, the “Travelling Film School” wants to train cinema and audiovisual professionals in each territory, so that high-quality films can be made. The project, which emphasises its regional character, wants to work with experienced Caribbean trainers.

Applicant: Creative Production and Training Centre Limited
Project title: Advanced technical training for Cinema and Audio Visual Professionals
Partnership: Barbados, Jamaica, United Kingdom
Setting: Caribbean
Total grant awarded: €68,550
This project is a specialisation programme for cinema and audiovisual professionals in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. Four modules have been identified for these specialisations: lighting, production, post-production and production. The project’s objective is to create a framework for advanced training in audiovisual technology in the Caribbean.

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Applicant: Contrechamps Niger
Title of action: Appui au renforcement des contenus des enseignements en audiovisuel délivrés à l’Institut de formation aux technologies d’information et de communication (IFTIC)
Partnership: Burkina Faso, Niger, France
Setting: West Africa
Total grant awarded: 80,926
The project is devised as a continuation and extension of the programme set up at the IFTIC. It is open to 50 trainees from Niger, Chad and Gabon, enrolled in their second year at the IFTIC. The areas of activity are maintaining digital equipment, digital editing, writing of scripts and screenplays, managing production and writing feature-length scenarios.

Applicant: Play Film
Project title: Talents d’Afrique
Partnership: Congo, Gabon, France
Setting: Central Africa
Total grant awarded: 230,559
The project is the follow up from a previous one set up in partnership with the National cinematography centre of Gabon (CENACI). It is a professional training project centred on documentary production for Central African filmmakers (in Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville). The participants will be trained in making documentaries, screenplay writing, and editing. At the end of the training, the participants will have to make documentaries about the artists in these two countries.