Twenty-one lucky persons have been shortlisted for the final round of the short film competition ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ by Netflix and Unesco.
The candidates were selected following a rigorous evaluation process by a wide range of industry experts from across the continent who assessed over 2000 applications from across the continent in many languages. The shortlist contains a dynamic group of African creatives from across 13 countries in the region.
The shortlisted filmmakers include: Nosa Igbinedion (Nigeria), Ebot Tanyi (Cameroon), Loukman Ali (Uganda),Tongryang Pantu (Nigeria), Walt Mzengi (Tanzania),Venance Soro (Côte d’Ivoire), Mark Wambui(Kenya), Volana Razafimanantsoa (Madagascar), Mohamed Echkouna (Mauritania), Nader Fakhry (Côte d’Ivoire), Anne Catherine Tchokonté (Cameroon), Mphonyana Mokokwe (Botswana),Anita Abada (Nigeria)
Samuel Kanyama (Zambia),Machérie Ekwa-Bahango (Democratic Republic of Congo), Oprah Oyugi (Kenya), Ndiyathemba Modibedi (South Africa), Gcobisa Yako (South Africa), Akorede Azeez (Nigeria),Katya Aragão (São Tomé and Príncipe), Voline Ogutu (Kenya).
The 21 emerging filmmakers of the African Folktales, Reimagined will proceed to the next phase of the competition where they will be required to pitch their stories to a judging panel.
The panel will select the final six filmmakers who will receive a production grant of $75,000 to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. Each of the six winners will also receive $25,000.