UK s African film festivals unite

The UK's biggest four African film festivals are uniting to share features and filmmakers in a bid to bring a greater variety of contemporary African cinema to a broader UK audience. By Michael Rosser

The festivals include Africa in Motion (AiM) in Edinburgh/Glasgow, Afrika Eye in Bristol, the Cambridge African Film Festival and Film Africa, London.

The four have joined forces to tour a quartet of new features from Africa and to enable UK cinema-goers to talk to three directors about their work. The shared programme includes:

Judy Kibinge, a rising star on the Kenyan cinema scene, presenting Something Necessary, her drama about political violence in Kenya, followed by a Q&A at AiM, Afrika Eye and Film Africa (with a screening at the Cambridge African Film Festival).

South African Jahmil X.T. Qubeka presenting and discussing Of Good Report, his controversial, Lolita-inspired, film noir, at AiM and Film Africa.

Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis presenting and discussing his multiple award winning latest film Tey - a contemplative drama following a man (Saul Williams) through his last day of life - at Film Africa and Afrika Eye, with a screening at the Cambridge African Film Festival.

Screenings at AiM and Afrika Eye of David Tosh'' Gitonga's Nairobi Half Life, a fast-paced urban thriller about a young, aspiring actor surviving on the mean streets of Nairobi.

Speaking on behalf of the four festivals, AiM founder and curator Lizelle Bisschoff said: The collaboration by these four African film festivals, taking place in Edinburgh, London, Bristol and Cambridge in October and November this year maximises our ability to showcase the best of African cinema and excite audiences with what's available.

Filmmaker Simon Bright, the Zimbabwe-born co-director of the Afrika Eye festival, held at Bristol's Watershed, added: Currently only 0.01% of cinema screenings in the UK show African films. But Africa is where story-telling first began and a new generation of Africans is finding exciting ways to bring this ancient talent to the screen via features and documentaries that thoroughly deserve the attention of UK cinema-goers.

The season of festivals begins with the Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Edinburgh and Glasgow (Oct 24-Nov 3) then continues with Film Africa in London (Nov 1-10) and the Cambridge African Film Festival (Nov 3-7 and other dates) before concluding with Afrika Eye in Bristol (Nov 8-10).

All four festivals are showing many other films as well as the shared content and most also feature debates and African cultural celebrations.

The collaboration results from an agreement reached at FESPACO, the pan-African film festival held annually in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Under the Ouagadopugou Declaration, the festivals pledged not only to get more African films shown in the UK but also to encourage more co-productions.

Further details can be found at

www.africa-in-motion.org.uk

www.filmafrica.org.uk

www.cambridgeafricanfilmfestival.org.uk

www.afrikaeye.org.uk

LINK:	http://www.filmcontact.com/europe/united-kingdom/uk%E2%80%99s-african-...
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