Africa Film Project 2011
CAPE TOWN – Equipped with pocket video cameras, laptops, and new insights into the art of visual storytelling, five African journalists are ready to put their documentary boot camp experiences to the test in their home countries.
Each journalist – selected by The Media Project – spent a week in an intensive program in South Africa where they learned how to identify stories with strong visual impact as well as the skills to craft those stories into compelling documentaries.
The hands-on workshop included sessions on camera techniques, non-linear editing, the visual language of documentaries, story structure, pitching stories and finding the best audience for the films.
Working under deadline pressure, each journalist participant produced and edited an original mini-documentary on one aspect of life in Guguletu a township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
The primary goal of the Africa Film Project is to provide editorial and practical training to equip journalists to tell visual stories about their homeland. Participants are now using loaner equipment from The Media Project to produce their own documentary shorts.
A requirement of the program is that the journalist participants produce several short documentary films over the next year and pitch these stories to key websites with powerful international reach. The program is now its third year.
Irene Zih Fon (Cameroon) is a freelance journalist working with several media organizations, including "Africanews". Earlier she worked with ‘Presse de la Nation’ and ‘Entrepreneur News Online’, where she was in charge of the English News Desk and the Bureau Chief at her home city, Douala. Read the full interview.
See Irene's documentary "Foreign Lives".
Richard Ihediwa (Nigeria) is the Senior Reporter for Peoples Daily where he covers Nigerian politics. He also serves as the Secretary General of the West African Parliamentary Press Corps (WAPPC). Read the full interview.
See Richard's documentary "Lizzy".
Read about and view "Abandoned".
Adeyemi Adesina Kosoko (Nigeria) has two decades of experience as a print, radio, and television journalist. Kosoko currently works for Channels Television, a leading and reputable television station in Nigeria known for its objectivity and balanced reportage. Many of his assignments have taken him to central Nigeria to report on the deadly Jos crisis. Read the full interview.
See Adeyemi's short film "Fortunes of Guguletu".
Cedrick W. Kpadeh (Liberia) currently works at the United Methodist Radio station in Liberia. Since joining the station in 2006 he has worked his way up the ranks from radio producer to deputy station manager. Read the full interview.
Yvonne Chi (Cameroon) is currently an independent journalist. She is the 2011 World Pulse, Voices Of Our Future Correspondent for Cameroon. Read the full interview.
See Yvonne's film "Survival".
