In a world first, a drama series, a documentary series and feature films on slavery from the African perspective will be produced as a global initiative over the next five years.

An international joint venture between South African company Via-Vision in Africa, UNESCO, public broadcaster SABC and various other international organisations and filmmakers, The Human Bondage Project was launched at Input, the global screening conference held recently in Johannesburg. Negotiations with potential producers in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe are currently underway.

Given that the slave trade in Africa has existed for thousands of years, cost millions of lives and caused untold suffering, it is the biggest human tragedy of all time, yet one largely ignored in mainstream media.

Executive producer of The Human Bondage Project Via-Vision's Sylvia Vollenhoven said one of the goals is to inspire global interest in slavery and human bondage. "The stories that this project will comprise are big and should be told on a massive scale, all from the perspective of the slaves. I've been in the media for three decades and I've always heard Africans say there is no space for African voices and that mainstream media excludes us. So, at some point I got tired of this argument - why do we have to wait for other people to make space for us?"

Read more in the June 2008 issue of Screen Africa