Organized By

Initiative Africa

 
 
 

It gives us great pleasure to introduce to you this innovative cultural and social event: the Addis Ababa Film Festival on Just and Sustainable Future.

As we all know, more and more individuals and organisations in Africa, troubled by trends of rising social inequality and environmental degradation, are working to create a just and sustainable future. In this era of rapid globalisation and increasing flow of information, these actors recognise that their local actions have global consequences, just as global conditions have local repercussions.

Initiative Africa, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to good governance, global sustainability and transformational change, has initiated a visioning process for Ethiopia and Africa, based on the values of sustainability, pluralism, justice and global responsibility. The goal of the Film Festival is to create an inspiring vision that will help motivate positive change towards such a desirable future. Through screenings and associated events, the festival aims to present a wide spectrum of contemporary filmmaking – feature films, documentaries, animation, short films, experimental and student work – on issues related to resource depletion and social injustice.

This first edition begins with the screening of 9 films from South Africa, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, UK and Sweden. We also offer other exiting features like a workshop on ‘film as a medium for awareness raising’, and a cartoon exhibition on the festival themes. Furthermore, internationally renowned directors will be present to take part in seminars and panel discussions after the screening of their movies.

As the only festival of its kind in our region, we are pleased to welcome you. Thank you for your support.

Kebour Ghenna

President
Initiative Africa
 

A workshop on:
The impact of film on social reality

In line with our vision of fostering a just and sustainable future, this workshop will focus on the kind of impact that film has on modern-day society, and how this impact can be directed to create positive social change in Ethiopia and beyond. The participants, who will be drawn from civil society, government, business and of course the arts, will debate the issue at length in order to arrive at an in-depth analysis. Since the medium of film is only just starting to gather momentum in Ethiopia, the time is opportune to ask both how filmmakers can best transmit their messages and how social activists can incorporate the medium of film into their campaign for social change.
 
 
 
 
CONVERSATIONS ON A SUNDAY
AFTERNOON, (2005)
By Khalo Matabane
120 min
    On a lovely Sunday afternoon in Johannesburg, Keniloe (Tony Kgoroge) wanders in a park. He meets Fatima (Fatima Hersi), a Somali woman brought to tears as she tells him of the suffering that led her to seek refuge in South Africa. Just as he's getting to know his new friend, she disappears.
       
 
 
  Khalo Matabane's first feature film, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, which won the Ecumenical Prize at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival and the Lionel Ngakane Prize at the Sithengi

Film Festival, has established him as an important voice in South African cinema with its canny combination of fictional and documentary elements. The filmmaker, who refers to himself as ‘the village storyteller’, is widely hailed as part of a new and innovative generation of African filmmakers. "The African new wave is gathering force, and Khalo Matabane is the latest to join the surge... [his] work is intimate, political and dead smart" (Cameron Bailey, Toronto International Film Festival).
 
 
 
 
DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE (2004)
BY HUBERT SAUPER
107 min
 

A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
     
 
 
 
THE LUCKIEST NUT IN THE WORLD (2002)
BY EMILY JAMES,
20 min

Using a mix of songs, animation and archive footage an American peanut looks at how his experiences are compared to other nuts around the world...
 
 
  BULLSHIT (2005)
BY PEA HOLMQUIST AND SUZANNE
KHARDALIAN		  
73 min
The film is about Vandana Shiva, Indian environmental activist and nuclear physicist, who was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1993. It’s a film on globalisation and patenting, on genetic engineering, bio-piracy, indigenous knowledge.
 
   
 
 
 
Hubert Sauper studied film directing in Vienna at the University of Performing Arts. In 1994 he emigrated to France where he graduated from the
Université De Paris VIII. Today, Hubert teaches film classes in Europe and the United Stated while he directs his documentaries. The last two documentaries written and directed by him were awarded twelve International Film Prizes. His most successful movies, like The Kisangani diaries (1998) and Darwin’s nightmare (2004), deal with the consequences of globalization in the third world, especially in Africa.
   
 
 
TARIFA TRAFFIC (2003)
BY Yoakim Demmer
60 min
   

The film is about illegal immigrants from Africa crossing the strait between Morocco & Spain. Tarifa Traffic tells the story of the drowned, and indirectly poses the question of a European responsibility.

       
 
 
 
SCHENGLET (2002)
By Laurent Negre,
35 mm 7 min
 

In order to enter the zone over-protected by the Schengen accords, it will henceforth be necessary to have a “Schenglet” put on: an electronic bracelet which knows who you are, where you are going and for how long. Woe to anyone who refuses to wear it.

     
 
 
 
         
DOCUMENTARY ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2006)
by the International Organization for Migration
 
   

A locally produced documentary by the International Organization for Migration, bringing to light the harsh reality of human trafficking from Ethiopia, as well as the social effects of such practices.
       
 
 
 
 
SISTERS IN LAW (2005)
BY FLORENCE AYISI AND KIM LONGINOTTO
60 min

Set in Kumba in South West Cameroon Sisters in Law follows Adultery, Rape and Abuse cases led by a female judge and prosecutor. The movie reveals African mores at a pivotal moment, when brutal traditions collide with 21st-century justice.
   
       
 
 
 
 
     
 

Themes for this Year:
Migration, Globalization/ Development

 
     
 
In order to stimulate local young filmmakers, and this enhance the Ethiopian Movie industry, we will select at least one local film through an open call for submissions.
*Related to the festival topics
 
 
 
   

Copyright © 2006, Initiative Africa, All rights are reserved.