Four Nigerian Filmmakers make Netflix, UNESCO’s ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ Competition shortlist

02 Feb Four Nigerian Filmmakers make Netflix, UNESCO’s ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ Competition shortlist

Netflix and UNESCO on Wednesday announced the 21 shortlisted candidates who will go forward in the exciting short film competition ‘African Folktales, Reimagined.’

This competition aims to discover new voices and give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility, globally.

Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a generous production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales.”

The candidates were selected after a rigorous evaluation process by a wide range of industry professionals from across the continent.

The judges accessed over 2080 applications from across the continent in multiple languages.

The shortlist contains a dynamic group of African creatives from 13 countries in the region.

Four Nigerian filmmakers made the shortlist: Nosa Igbinedion, Tongryang Pantu, Akorede Azeez, and Anita Abada.

The 21 emerging filmmakers will go on to the next phase of the competition, where they will be required to pitch their stories to a judging panel comprising of the mentors; Nigeria’s Femi Odugbemi, South Africa’s Bongiwe Selane, Leila Afua Djansi from Ghana, David Tosh Gitonga from Kenya, and Jean Luc Herbulot from Congo.

In addition, representatives from Netflix and UNESCO, who will also be present, will guide the process.

The panel will select the final six filmmakers. They 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 Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated.

Each of the six winners will also receive $25,000.

“Congratulations to those who have been shortlisted! They should all be proud of the quality of their work. This competition showcases the extraordinary cultural richness that Africa has to offer that we want to share with people all over the world, as Africa is a priority for UNESCO.” – Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, said in a statement.

Adding to UNESCO’s congratulatory message, Ben Amadasun, Netflix Director of Content in Africa, said, “We also want to thank our panel of independent industry professionals who undertook the mammoth task to read over 2080 applications until they found 21 strong submissions!.

Mr Amadasun also added that the response from all the aspiring filmmakers, who took the time to submit their application, also proves a wealth of storytelling potential and talent in Africa.