With funds earmarked exclusively for emerging filmmakers of African nationality and residence, Focus Features’ Africa First Programme offers eligible and participating filmmakers the chance to be awarded $10,000 in financing for pre-production, production, and / or post-production on their narrative short film made in continental Africa.
Now in its fifth year, Africa First is accepting entries until 20 August.
The programme also brings the filmmakers together with a renowned group of advisors and major figures in the African film world for support and mentorship. Past short films to come out of the programme have been showcased at the Sundance, Toronto, London, and Berlin film festivals; on The Africa Channel; and at the Museum of the Moving Image and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, among other venues worldwide.
A compilation of films completed through the Programme is available on DVD and across VOD and EST platforms.
Complete details on Africa First – including application information – can be accessed year-round through http://www.focusfeatures.com/africafirst.
Africa First is supervised by programme director and producer Kisha Cameron Dingle (…Sometimes in April), whose company, Completion Films, has a first-look and consulting deal with Focus, and who coordinates the programme’s submissions and evaluations with Focus director of Development & Production Christopher Kopp.
In addition to on-site work in Africa, the winning filmmakers of Africa First will visit New York City in the fall of 2012 for a weekend of one-on-one workshop discussions with each other; members of the advisory board of experts in African cinema; and Focus executives.
This year the submissions period began on Monday, 14 May and runs through to Monday, 20 August. The five filmmakers selected will be notified by October 2012 and will retain the copyrights and the distribution rights to their completed shorts, with the exception of North American rights; Focus retains those, as well as the right of first negotiation to productions derived from the shorts, such as a feature-length expansion.
