Paris (AFP)
Unearth "new talents" among young directors from sub-Saharan Africa, finance their projects and allow them to broadcast them on Netflix in 2022: Unesco and the American giant are launching a short film competition on Thursday on the theme of "popular tales of Africa reinvented ".
"This initiative aims to go in search of new talents and great folk tales which are a very important part of our heritage and our culture in Africa", explained to AFP the Nigerian Ben Amadasun, responsible for Africa of original content. and acquisitions of the American video-on-demand platform, visiting Paris.
"We want these talents to take stories they value for their messages and reinvent them into a short film that we hope will move audiences," he added.
The six winners of this competition will receive $ 25,000 in a personal capacity and will benefit from training and supervision by industry professionals.
They will also receive a budget of $ 75,000 to create, film and produce their short films which will be broadcast on Netflix in 2022, specifies Thursday the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), in a report. communicated.
Participants in the competition - open until November 14 - must be between the ages of 18 and 35, live and originate from a country in sub-Saharan Africa and have a minimum of two years (and a maximum of five years) of professional experience in the audiovisual industry.
The UN agency and Netflix stress that "many emerging directors have difficulty finding funding and visibility that would allow them to showcase their talents and develop their creative careers."
"This competition aims to tackle this problem and allow African authors" to show their work to audiences around the world, the statement added.
"For a year and a half we have experienced a loss of face-to-face cultural events which, for us, shows that there is an urgent need for transmission because otherwise we run the possibility of the complete loss of certain traditions which are fundamental. for younger generations, "Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, Assistant Director General for Culture at Unesco, told AFP.
Unesco headquarters in Paris in October 2017 JACQUES DEMARTHON AFP / Archives
He recalled that the organization is in charge of "intangible heritage" and that "Africa is a priority" for Unesco.
Unesco published a report on October 5, the result of two years of work, taking stock for the first time of the state and challenges of the film and audiovisual industry in the 54 African countries.
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