6 December, 2016 - 08:06
Screenwriters from across the continent have been invited to apply for the 2017 edition of Realness, a pioneering residency initiative that is giving a new generation of filmmakers the opportunity to cultivate their talent as authentic voices in African cinema.
This follows the success of the inaugural Realness residency involving five emerging African screenwriters: Amirah Tajdin (Kenya), Hiwot Admasu (Ethiopia), Luck Razanajaona (Madagascar), and South Africans Sheetal Magan and Wim Steytler.
Earlier this year, the five writers spent six weeks at the Nirox Artists Residency in the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng province, where they were given the time and space to develop drafts of their screenplays under the guidance of script consultants Selina Ukwuoma and Nadja Dumouchel.
This followed an immersive industry experience at the Durban FilmMart and Talent Campus at the Durban International Film Festival, which gave the writers an opportunity to attach producers to their projects through public presentations.
Realness was conceived by Johannesburg, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro-based company Urucu Media as a way of supporting promising African film projects in their development phase to enable them to compete realistically in global film markets.
The format of the residency was collaboratively conceptualised through a series of public think-tanks to ensure that it would be responsive to the unique demands of the African film industry.
Feedback, awards, progress post-residency
The success of this residency is not only evident in the encouraging feedback from the participants ... but is also evident in the numerous awards they have received and the progress made following the residency, Realness creative director Elias Ribeiro said in a statement this week.
Luck, for example, had a project selected for the Durban FilmMart prior to the residency, where we met and worked with participants as a precursor to programme. Here he walked off with awards from CineMart (International Film Festival Rotterdam) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie to further develop his script.
Hiwot has since won an award to participate at another residency programme in Switzerland, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, and two of the projects have signed co-production agreements since completing the residency.
In addition, since the outset, Ribeiro has been invited to present the initiative at five major international festivals, namely the Berlinale, Cannes, Locarno, Venice and Torino.
Time and space really does make all the difference
We have structured Realness in a very holistic and strategic way, engaging with heavyweight partners and advisers in developing the framework for the programme, Ribeiro said. It is rewarding to see the genuine interest in developing synergy between African cinema and the rest of the world.
According to Amirah Tajdin, Realness made her realise that time and space really does make all the difference during script writing.
Wim Steytler said Realness gave him the courage to throw my script and eight months of work into the bin. I gained important insights into how to take my story from decent to good. After Realness, my goal is to take the project from good to great.
The Realness partnerships that were established in 2016 will continue into the second edition, which means the 2017 residents will also get the opportunity to develop their projects further through awards offered by Durban FilmMart, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Torino Film Lab, Midpoint, EAVE and La Fabrique des Cinema du Monde.
Realness 2017 submissions
The window for submissions from screenwriters from across the African continent opened on 28 November and closes on 31 January.
Applicants must submit ONE PDF dossier containing:
A motivation for wanting to participate in Realness (1 page);
A synopsis of their proposed feature project (1 page);
A narrative treatment of the project (6 pages);
A draft of the screenplay (if available);
A writers note of intention (1 page);
A short biography (1 paragraph); and
Two links to samples of previously produced work, uploaded to vimeo. (If selected, residents will be required to donate one copy of their previous work to the Nirox film library.)
All submitted material must be in English. Selection will be based on artistic merit, and Realness will hold no legal claim over the work once the residency is completed.
A committee appointed by the Realness team and their partners will read the project entries and conduct interviews with a shortlist of candidates in April. The Realness selection will be announced at an event hosted by the pavilion Les Cinemas du Monde at Cannes 2017.
Dossiers must be submitted to realness@urucumedia.com. For further information and to download the application form, visit www.urucumedia.com/realness.
Call for Entries
Africa South Africa
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
6 December, 2016 - 08:06 
