Filmmakers – Opportunity for EU funding
We tried to make sense of it all on your behalf, but we’re never great with the small print in life. From our understanding, essentially, the EU has over R60 million to invest each year in African, Caribbean and Pacific based film projects, focusing on training initiatives, animation, documentaries and series with a view to exploring cultural stories from these areas. The call for proposals has just gone out, so if you’re a ‘veritable’ production company based in Africa wanting to tell your story or train people in film making and need some funding (doh!), make sure to kick off the process by scouring the site to see if you qualify and then rapidly getting all your ducks in the row as applications close early September and there’s lots to do before then. You know how the saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. We’d be interested to hear who, if anyone, manages to get some funding, so please keep us in the loop. More below: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Secretariat (ACP Secretariat) launches a call for proposals financed by the “ACP-EU cooperation support programme for the ACP cinema and audiovisual sectors”, to support projects in the intra-ACP cinema and audiovisual fields, aiming at contributing to the development and structuring of the ACP States’ cinema and audiovisual industries, so that they can create and distribute their own images more effectively. It also aims to enable more promotion of cultural diversity, the networking of ACP cultural identities and intercultural dialogue. The current call for proposals will award grants to three types of Actions in the cinema and audiovisual fields: – Production projects of cinema and audiovisual (television) works (Lot 1) – Promotion, distribution, dissemination and networking of the cinema and audiovisual sector in the ACP States (Lot 2) – Professional development and training of ACP professionals in the cinema and audiovisual sector projects (Lot 3) The full Guidelines for applicant can be consulted on the Programme website (http://www.acpfilms.eu), and on the EuropeAid Calls for proposals and tenders website (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding-opportunities/index_fr.htm). he deadline for submission of proposals is 5 September 2008. Kind use of image – thanks to Turkairo according to Creative Commons BY...
Good People of Africa, let us free ourselves
20 May 2008 Every person we have spoken to in the last few days about South Africa, is feeling strong emotions. Emotions that they want to put down and share. Emotions that have been building up for a long time. We would like to use this forum to invite you to have your say on the situation in our country, for many of us have kept quiet for too long. No hate speech will be tolerated – this is a place for people to express themselves freely but ALL comments will be monitored… This is not a space for you to criticise others’ thoughts, language or syntax or to try and be the ‘cleverer one’. This is a space to understand everyone’s point of view. Freedom of speech is of huge importance now, so South Africans and citizens of the world, share your thoughts, intelligently. You can go anonymously, but we invite you to tell us who you are, your age and where you are from. (click here to read full article and comment) Editorista will begin: My name is Sarah, I am 33 years old, I was born and bred in Johannesburg, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal , but I have been in Europe for 4 months. I have been privileged to live a rich, interesting life in South Africa and Swaziland. I am a young South African, not a politician and these are my thoughts: Good people of Africa, how can we free ourselves from these chains? So many of us are tarred with fear and hatred of each other, fueled by the evil teachings of our past that brainwashed us into categorising each other. How can we rid ourselves of these stains, these superficial concepts that claw so deeply within us? Once, Africa was a borderless place, and now, we withdraw into the labelling and naming that was imposed on us and today divides us. Excited by freedom and driven by a desire for new beginnings, so many citizens in our country have thrown themselves into the ‘growing business economy’ since ’94, striving for a piece of success, hungry for financial gain, often getting ourselves more and more into debt as we aim for bigger, better and more. In this money-hungry process, so many of us have forgotten about the poor (but not all of us, there are many people who do as much good as they can), with the rich getting richer and the middle class booming beyond belief (which has been a blessing for many people for which we are deeply grateful). But in our ambitious desires to achieve our economic, consumerist dreams(or nightmares), we...
African Arts & Crafts in Newtown
A new home for the Zasekhaya Market in Newtown, downtown Jozi, do your bit for African Arts and Crafts and enjoy what Newtown has to offer: As a result of its growing popularity, the monthly Zasekhaya Market is moving to a new location at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown from Saturday, 31 May 2008.Formerly housed at the Bus Factory, from this weekend the market will take up residence at its new home near the Market Theatre. The market is expanding at a rapid rate, and the square will afford it the space it requires for its exhibitors’ extensive range of high-quality, original and innovative homegrown items. The Zasekhaya Market is not your average flea market. A cut above the rest, it specialises in indigenous, hand-crafted wares ranging from fashion and décor to artworks and jewellery. In attendance this weekend are crafters who fashion attractive items out of recycled products such as wire, paper, tin and plastic bags. Also check out stalls featuring beadwork, embroidery and mosaics; as well as pottery, traditional cloths, raffia and woolen shoes, and many more creative delights. They include crafters who have attended the Urban Spirits VACA training programme which was made possible by funding from the Lotto Enjoy an all-round sensory experience at the various stalls, while taking time out for a snack or to admire your purchases at one of the coffee ships. The Zasekhaya Market epitomises creativity at work, so support African arts and crafts with an original twist, and head down to Mary Fitzgerald Square on Saturday between 10am and 4pm. Secure parking is available around the square or at the Market Theatre complex. The next Zasekhaya Market, which takes place on the last Saturday of every month, will be held on 28 June. For more information, and to enquire about booking stalls, phone Eunice at (011) 833-3329, or e-mail katherinec1@telkomsa.net or...
Show your love @ AFROTONIC
There are many ways you can show your love of all people African, shaking your touche to Afro beats is a cheerful option – try it out at AFROTONIC that takes place this Friday at Carfax featuring two of our favourite bands, 340ml and Max Normal as well as the eclectic Zong, all the way from Reunion. Organised by the French Institute as part of their promotion of cultural diversity, urban culture, nd artistic exchanges between South Africa, France and Francophone Africa, you know it’s going to rock… ALLEZ-Y!!! AFROTRONIC #1 Friday 30.05.08 @ CARFAX Featuring Zong – a Réunion (France) Max Normal TV – Cape Town (RSA) 340ml – Maputo (Mozambique) Cooked in the great African Pot with three spoons of hi-voltage electricity, a dozen of the hottest chilies, the juiciest melodic passion fruits and liters of pure sweat: AFROTRONIC is the new vibrating musical feast proposed by the French Institute of South Africa, and for its premiere, we picked up nothing but the freshest ingredients: Hailing from La Réunion, Zong is not just another electro band “with spice”. Indeed, even without electricity, Drean, Costa and Fever remain three accomplished musicians whose “savoir-faire” cannot only be reduced to “Machine-Made Music” and whose three strong personalities locate them far from the anonymous and sometimes dehumanized electro producer profile. If Jane Fonda had had a punk daughter, she would have been something like Drean: sculptural, enigmatically magnetic, dangerously charming, as smooth and burning as a shot of Reunionese Rhum. Playing the Kayamb (a traditional reunionese percussion instrument) with rock’n’roll attitude, Drean is Zong’s singer and muse, and her unique voice can awaken all the senses as well as kick bottom. By her side: Costa, the melody maker, and Fever, the drum machine. From his classical piano background, Costa quickly went into the electronic music. From dub to drum’n’bass (his influences go from Lee Scratch Perry to Roni Size), with ecstatic virtuosity, he pushes the limits of his keyboards and machines to a level only his “comrade” Fever can follow. As soon as he sits behind his drum kit Fever’s cool and almost shy temper turns into a fury. Fascinated by the Punk energy, the unbeatable Drum’n’Bass skips and the accuracy of Jazz drummers, Fever delivers rhythms that make Zong’s sound unique on the global music map: a combo of Dub, Maloya (reunionese traditional sound) Techno and Drum’n’Bass, bridging the gap between “electronic” and “acoustic”, “roots” and “post-modernity”, as on their latest album “Fractures” (to be issued in SA). Max Normal TV is back!!! And he is also about to release a new album entitled “Good Morning South Africa”: What could...
Africa Day is for you
Africa Day – Giving a Voice to African Unity As a country, South Africa is probably best known for overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges, and forging reconciliatory links where conflict and strife seemed the only outlet for expression. The events of the past few weeks have reinforced the need for bridge-building initiatives such as the Africa Day celebrations, and organisers have resolved that this year’s events will take place as planned. The weekend of 23, 24 & 25 May, is devoted to Africa Day celebrations, culminating in two free concerts held in Newtown’s Mary Fitzgerald Square (24 May) and Soweto’s Mofolo Park (25 May). The concerts have always attracted a widely diverse audience. One the key reasons for its success is that the shows enjoyed the support of nationals from all parts of the African continent. The Concert Goes On “The easy thing would be to cancel or postpone the shows, but we believe that now, more than ever, it is critical that South Africans and our brothers and sisters from the rest of the continent gather together on this auspicious anniversary to celebrate and honour the ties that bind us, the commonalities that make us one people.” explains Steven Sack director for Arts Culture and Heritage within the Department of Community Development, City of Joburg “It’s important to remember that Africa Day was founded to connect us to one another as a people. We want the concerts to be an exemplar of this principle – let it be a place and time where we can be part of turning the tide against the xenophobia, and remind ourselves that fundamentally, we’re all in this together. ” Safety and Security The unrest has also prompted the organisers of the Africa Day celebrations to bolster the safety and security set up of the event to allay any potential worries around security at the shows. Comments Graeme Dickson, Arts Alive Disaster Management Consultant “We are confident about our security plan, and working in close conjunction with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and the South African Police , have escalated the security and police presence to an appropriate level. “ As the preparations for the events continue, there is no doubt that, in keeping with our tradition of overcoming strife and challenges, the City of Johannesburg’s Africa Day 2008 celebrations will become part of a new story – one that tells of the triumph of compassion and Ubuntu over fear and...
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