South African documentary filmmaker Karin Slater, director of the acclaimed Project 10 film The Meaning of the Buffalo, has been selected as the MIPDOC African Trailblazer for 2008. Slater will attend MIPDOC, the global documentary market which takes place in early April in Cannes, France, along with four other Trailblazers from Greece, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

Now in its third year, MIPDOC Trailblazers is an initiative which highlights pioneering work in the documentary field, promotes regional talents and trends and recognises the very best in creativity and innovation. Along with the exposure and networking opportunities the Trailblazer event offers, Slater has been invited to submit four of her films for the MIPDOC Library.

Slater was selected by the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, a partner of Reed Midem, the organiser of MIPDOC, MIPTV and MIPCOM.

"It was a complete surprise to find out I'd been selected, as I didn't even know I was being considered," says Slater." When Encounters called I was in India, in the middle of filming a documentary. It's a great honour and very inspirational to be chosen. But I have a lot of people to thank because filmmaking is a collaborative effort. I must also thank Encounters for supporting my work over the years, and my supportive husband needs a medal for putting up with a workaholic wife."

Read more in the March 2008 issue of Screen Africa