Netflix have linked up with UNESCO on an exciting and groundbreaking partnership to launch ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’, an innovative short film competition across Sub-Saharan Africa. The competition will see the winners trained and mentored by industry professionals as well as be provided with a US$75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on the streaming channel (Netflix) next year as an “Anthology of African folktales”.
One of the main aims of the competition is to discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale. Together, Netflix and UNESCO want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa’s most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries.
The competition will be administered by Dalberg and officially opened from yesterday (14 October 2021) until 14 November 2021. Each of the 6 winners will receive a production grant of US$75,000 (through a local production company) to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of industry mentors selected by UNESCO & Netflix to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. In addition, each of the 6 winners will also receive $25,000.
UNESCO and Netflix both strongly believe in the importance of promoting diverse local stories, and bringing them to the world. They recognize that many emerging filmmakers struggle with finding the right resources and visibility to enable them to fully unleash their talents and develop their creative careers. This competition aims to address these issues and enable African storytellers to take a first step towards showcasing their content to a global audience.
The competition is open to emerging filmmakers across Sub-Saharan Africa on the theme of “African Folktales, Reimagined.” Folktales have always been an important way of passing on culture, heritage, and values to future generations, while constantly inviting people to reimagine their relevance to our contemporary societies. This theme is inspired by African Union 2063 Agenda’s Aspiration 5, which celebrates African cultural identity, common heritage, values, and ethics. This competition aims to harness this important tradition with a modern outlook while leveraging new mediums of distributing artistic and creative content, like Netflix.
The shining light behind this partnership and subsequent project is assisting in the creation of sustainable employment and encourage economic growth. It will contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a series of targets established by the United Nations which aims to end global poverty in all its forms by the end of this decade. This film competition will also help reduce inequalities by facilitating access to global markets and by guaranteeing dignified working conditions. All of these are key goals within the 2030 Agenda.
For those interested, it is important to note that for the first round, applicants will be required to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) as well as links to a recent CV and a portfolio/ evidence of any past audiovisual work they have produced. Applications can be submitted here from now until November 14th, 2021 at 13:59 PM CET.
