African women filmmakers convene

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:39

Women filmmakers from Zimbabwe, Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Sudan, Nigeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Senegal, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sweden, America, UK and South Africa gathered at the Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg on 2 September to discuss ways of furthering the cause of African women filmmakers.

Initiated by the Goethe-Institut, the forum was scheduled to coincide with the Women of the Sun Film Festival.

At the opening of the forum, director of the Goethe-Institut’s sub-Saharan Africa cultural programme, Dr Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte, said that women in the cultural field, as well as in politics and business, weren’t sufficiently represented. “Whenever Africa is discussed in Europe the issue of gender doesn’t really come up as all we hear about is HIV/Aids and conflict. So we thought it would be a good idea to start a series of platforms to bring African women filmmakers together. When women come together they create lots of energy and ideas.

“I think that film is the toughest of all the cultural fields for women to compete with men. Therefore we wanted the most powerful women filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa at this forum. I’m proud that we’ve succeeded in bringing you all together so that we can discuss how to change the situation of those female filmmakers in Africa who haven’t yet achieved success.”

The forum sessions were chaired by Dorothee Wenner of the Berlin International Film Festival. Said Wenner: “When the Goethe-Institut’s Henrike Grohs contacted me about this forum we decided that instead of having a huge seminar, we would rather concentrate on a smaller group of people. We want the delegates’ own projects to be a big part of this conference. For instance one of the delegates wants to start a project in Kinshasa, while another wants to start a film school in Burkina Faso. The new idea of the Goethe-Institut is based on the concept of building relationships so this forum might just be the first of many.

“One of the things we will discuss over the next two days is where the vibrant African industry fits into the global picture. Are we looking for bridges to be built between this market and the overseas one? The point of this conference is that the decisions must be made by African filmmakers.”

Wenner made the point that Germany lacks images from Africa. “So we want good media products to come out of this continent. I thing that a big challenge facing the African industry is male dominance. One thing that women are better at than men is combining their personal lives and careers.”

Eve Rantseli of Women of the Sun commented: “We’ve always wanted a forum like this so it is a dream come true. This group of filmmakers was chosen because they are busy making films.”

For more on the African Women Filmmakers Forum see the October issue of Screen Africa.

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