FIB - VOICES AFRICA

Background

I was just 10 years when I saw the Shawshank redemption. From then on I was free. Growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Ajegunle in Nigeria, we never visited anywhere else but the outer fringes of our “povertyhood” and what I saw and touched daily formed the hope I had for my future. Walking out of Baba Lati’s house that afternoon, I felt a rush of blood to my head, I felt a hunger to conquer my world and grow bigger than my reality. I knew that the world held a bigger promise and I had to break free.

This story is one of our trainees in Nigeria, who was liberated by a profession now so loved. To wake up in a reality of rejection and abject poverty is a vicious cycle that is killing many great minds becoming.

Tears still trails Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, President of Africa Film Academy and a Script writing instructor for FIB. After the days work, she asked the Malawi class of 2013 to write any story they know. The following day she received the most graphic detailing of gore and horror. Is this the Africa they know? Is this the truth they have come to believe of themselves?

If pictures are worth a thousand words, then it can be left to the imagination what tales over 3000 movies produced in Africa tells. We need to stop the knee jerk reaction of using our craft to accentuate the darkness, which is inevitable, but project the light that keeps Africa smiling. We need to flip the script. We need to change the narrative. We need a generation of movie makers inducted into the craft to show the beautiful in Africa.

Introduction

Africa Film Academy, the owners of the prestigious AMAA brand introduces Voices Africa, a platform that will use short movies to flip the narrative about Africa. Through our mobile Film training academy (Film in a Box), we produce tens of short movies every year.

In 2015, we have decided to sponsor only the stories that project the light in Africa. We shall use these stories to explore the beautiful cultures and traditions that Africa is known for. Also, we our stories will explore the challenges of Africans and draw attentions to critical issues often lost in the News.

Over the next couple of months on our website, we shall be seeking stories through our monthly story challenge. For a month, Africa would share with us the sparks that keep her lights on. We would love to hear to story of our daily heroes and inspirations.

The best five stories would win a $500 prize and it would be produced during of Film in Box training. These shorts would also be showcased during the 2015 AMA Awards.

The revolution will be televised! It will be transmitted to all four screens and shared by friends and foes. Albeit it would transform the hearts of many and beckon the possibility of an Africa we had no courage to imagine.

Thats why we look for film professionals to help us liberate the visual misery of Africa and create the reality of Africa with truth and light at the end of the tunnel