By Abdi Ali
Published December 28, 2016
Nairobi begins its calendar of creative and cultural activities for 2017 at Nairobi National Museum (NNM), Tribe Hotel and Villa Rosa Kempinski.
Family Fun Days, that ran on December 24-26, 2016 at NNM, shall continue on January 1, 2017 as Peace and Love, a theatrical staging of poetry, dance and music with influence from the 1970s comes to Tribe January 6-7, 2017.
“With a stellar cast, great music and dance, Peace And Love promises to be the perfect way of starting the year off,” the organisers say.
Next in line is Modern Airports Africa Conference & Expo at Villa Rosa Kempinski.
The two-day event that targets stakeholders from government, business, infrastructure-development, airports, airlines, travel and tourism, security and aviation sectors, shall be held January 18-20, 2017.
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Among the stakeholders who are expected to address the various challenges to Africa’s airport infrastructure include:
- Najib Balala, Minister for Tourism, Kenya
- Irungu Nyakera, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Urban Planning, Transport & Infrastructure, Kenya
- Sidy Gueye, Regional Director, International Air Transport Association (IATA), South Africa
- Emanuel Chaves, CEO, Aeroportos de Mozambique
- Dr Ralf Gaffal, International Business: Vice President, Munich Airport, Germany
- Gershon Kofi Adzadi, Head of ICT, Ghana Airports Company Ltd
- Captain Gilbert Kibe, Director General, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority
- Oliver Andrews, Deputy CEO & Chief Investment, Officer, African Finance Corporation, and
- Robert Mwesigwa Nviiri, Executive Director, East African Community Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (EAC-CASSOA).
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This comes at a time when African countries are building, expanding and upgrading their aviation infrastructure to accommodate growing travel and tourism traffic, Kenya is set to host an international conference and exhibition on aviation infrastructure.
But since we are talking about calendar of events, we can as well mention similar activities in other parts of Africa and the Diaspora January-June 2017.
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Berlin International Film Festival’s European Film Market (EFM) shall host its first ever Berlinale Africa Hub February 9-17.
“By installing the Berlinale Africa Hub the EFM acknowledges the continent’s creative wealth and complexity and wants to bring African and Africa-oriented film traders, distributors, buyers, film makers and other professionals of the creative industries together,” says Olaolu Fajembola who, together with Jana Wolff, is coordinating the event.
Besides focusing on what the organisers refer to as “the latest developments within the African film industry,” the Berlinale Africa Hub will is expected to feature some of the recently commissioned projects by African filmmakers and present a fusion of Africa-related activities of the World Cinema Fund (WCF), the Berlinale Co-Production Market as well as Berlinale Talents, highlighting potentials and visions.
“The Berlinale Africa Hub is supposed to be an initiative not only for the next
but also for the upcoming years,” Fajembola says.
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Kenyan musicians Sarabi–whose music is rooted in traditional rhythms with a blend of Western sounds–and H_Art the Band–whose repertoir is inspired by day-to-day experiences–are set to perform in Zanzibar’s Stone Town world heritage site during the annual Sauti za Busara Music Festival that runs February 9-12 followed by the 25th Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, February 25-March 4.
The focus shifts back to Nairobi’s Goethe-Institut where the 98th monthly Lola Kenya Screen film forum (LKSff), billed as Nairobi’s premier critical movie platform, shall be convened on February 27, 2017.
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LKSff is so far the longest running and most consistent monthly motion pictures gathering in the Kenyan political and commercial capital, Nairobi, having been in existence since 2005.
LKSff, that is often one of the first places where new films can be seen and young talent spotted, is held with the aim of screening and critiquing films, encouraging filmmakers and exploring ways of integrating film production in eastern Africa with other socio-cultural and economic sectors in order to come up with a sustainable motion pictures industry.
LKSff is one of the five programmes of the Lola Kenya Screen (LKS) media & arts festival, skills-development programme and marketing platform for children and youth in eastern.
LKSff is presented by ComMattersKenya/ArtMatters.Info in collaboration with Goethe-Institut and in association with IPO-Eastern Africa.
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Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, shall on March 3-4 host the 5th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).
Awards ranging from acting and directing to scriptwriting and cinematography and from editing and to soundtrack, make-up, sound, and lighting shall be presented on March 3-4, 2017. Awards shall be presented in 27 categories, with 16 open to viewers and 11 decided by the AMVCA panel of judges.
Presented by Africa Magic in association with Multichoice, AMVCAs are aimed at celebrating ‘the contribution of African filmmakers, actors and technicians in the success of the continent’s film and television industry.’
Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, Director for M-Net West Africa, says, “The African movie and television industry is brimming with exciting talent, and at Africa Magic we contribute to the industry by not only giving these talents the platform to showcase their skills and passion, but by celebrating their achievements while also encouraging them to continue honing their craft.”
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John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, says “The improvements seen in the industry since the inception of the AMVCAs cannot be ignored or overstated and for us as MultiChoice, the success of these awards further showcases our commitment to recognising the amazing skills that exist in this ever-growing industry. Furthermore, our continued investment demonstrates our dedication in helping unearth and celebrate talent in the whole continent. It is our belief that the 2017 edition will leave an even bigger impact on the African film production industry than the previous four.”
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Also worth mentioning are Amakula International Film Festival in Uganda’s Kampala (March 22-25); 3rd Alexandria International Festival for Contemporary Theatre in Egypt’s Alexandria (April 20-28); and DISCOP Africa market for film,TV and digital content market dedicated to Francophone Africa in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan (June 2017).
