Africa in Motion

Our exhibition this year consists of a unique collection of photographs revealing the world of filmmaking behind the scenes - catching those unguarded moments within the production and post-production stages, on and off the film set. African Cinema Behind the Scenes captures the often unseen journey of cinema from story development to location scouting, to rehearsals and seeing stars, crew and directors at work! The images included in this exhibition are all photographs taken from films included in our 2016 festival programme.

This symposium will discuss the cultural links established within internationalist networks of solidarity, in the 1960s, in connection with the 50th anniversaries of the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba, and the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts, in Dakar, Senegal. The symposium will show how these two moments (and movements) – Tricontinentalism and Pan-Africanism – in the then-called Third World countries, led to an enduring dialogue that promoted decolonization and emancipation for African nations in the following decades.

12-1pm: Jihan El-Tahri, renowned Egyptian film director of Cuba, an African Odyssey (screening on Sat 29 Oct at Filmhouse), Behind the Rainbow and other documentaries, special guest at Africa in Motion 2016, will open the symposium with a discussion on her career and of African cinema.
1-2pm: Lunch
2-3pm: Professor David Murphy (University of Stirling) will discuss the Pan-African cultural festivals of the 1960s as some of the most significant manifestations of the desire to forge transnational forms of postcolonial solidarity. In particular, he will examine the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Dakar 1966) and its representation on film, including discussion of landmark documentaries by African American filmmaker William Greaves and the Soviet directors, Venzher and Makhnatch.
3-4pm: Dr Raquel Ribeiro (University of Edinburgh) will present on the cultural reverberations of the Havana Tricontinental Conference from Cuba to Lusophone Africa, discussing how issues of emancipation and decolonization were perceived and adopted in Africa, Asia and Latin America, especially in film (selected sections from documentaries by José Massip and Santiago Álvarez will be screened).

4-6pm: Screening Room G.04, 50 George Square: The symposium will be followed by screenings of two important but rarely seen documentaries about the Dakar festival: The First World Festival of Negro Arts by celebrated African American filmmaker, William Greaves, and African Rhythms by the Soviet directors, Irina Venzher and Leonid Makhnatch. Stunning evocations of this landmark event, the films also reveal the complex Cold War politics surrounding the festival with both the United States and the Soviet Union striving to present themselves as Africa’s ally.

Supported by CAS (Centre for African Studies) and LLC (School of Literatures Languages and Cultures) at the University of Edinburgh, and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Stirling.

This year we decided to branch out from the city centre and spread the AiM festival vibes to the communities bordering Edinburgh city. Our Nomad Cinema will travel for the fi rst time to the coastal town of Musselburgh, bringing with it stories from Sudan, South Africa, Rwanda and Egypt. This programme has been curated in collaboration with the people of East Lothian. Join us for this one off pop-up family fi lm festival with a diverse array of films, storytelling, printmaking and upcycling workshops, African drumming, Kenyan tea and cake and more.

Our pop-up festivals in East Lothian and Paisley are supported by Regional Screen Scotland.

African Storytelling
Sun 30 Oct at 11.30am

Join in with this interactive and engaging storytelling session with Mara the storyteller and her exciting animal stories from across Africa. A perfect opportunity to let your imaginations run wild, practice your roars and meet other cheeky monkeys!

Zarafa - film screening 
Sun 30 Oct at 12pm

African Art Cafe
Sun 30 Oct at 1-4pm (drop-in)

Refuel and relax with some Kenyan chai tea and cake at our pop-up African Art Cafe!

African Printmaking and Upcycling Workshop
Sun 30 Oct at 1.30-2.30pm (drop-in) 

Try out some African printmaking and upcycling with a drop-in craft workshop led by the talented people from the Musselburgh Scrap Store.

North African Drumming Workshop

Sun 30 Oct at 3-3.30pm

Try your hand at drumming with a special workshop led by Moroccan drumming master Omar Afif.

North African Music
Sun 30 Oct at 3.45-4pm

Performance by Gnawa musician Omar Afif. Gnawa music is Morocco’s traditional music using ancient African Islamic spiritual songs and rhythms.

Rising From Ashes - film screening 
Sun 30 Oct at 4pm 

This is a hands-on workshop led by South African video dance specialist Jeannette Ginslov, exploring the genre of screendance. Participants will take part in various exercises designed to introduce and evolve their screendance practice, as well as explore choreography and movement. You will experiment with ways of shooting, use improvisation to develop skills in framing dance, moving with the camera and addressing issues of performance and creativity. The workshop aims to explore the moving body together with digital materiality.

Africa in Motion’s annual Short Film Competition has been successfully running for nine consecutive years. This year, the shortlist was selected from over 250 entries, which is a record in AiM’s history. African filmmakers were invited to submit short films of up to 30 minutes, and the final shortlist comprises a diverse and captivating collection of work from across the continent.

The Short Film Competition is part of AiM’s commitment to nurturing young African filmmaking talent. The winner is selected by our jury of acclaimed film practitioners and academics and will be announced immediately after the screenings. The audience will also have the opportunity to vote for their favourite film with the Audience Award winner announced on our website at the end of the festival.

Our thanks go to the African Movie Channel for sponsoring this award.

Short Film Jury Members

Yvonne Dublin-Green, Channel Manager at African Movie Channel
Maimouna Doucure, Winner of last years Short Film Competition
Przemek Stepien, Artistic Director of AfryKamera
Sarah Dawson, former Manager at the Durban International Film Festival and has worked for various festivals such as Sheffield DOC/FEST and Africa in Motion

Following the success of our annual Short Film Competition, Africa in Motion launched a brand new Documentary Competition strand last year. African filmmakers were invited to submit documentaries of 30 minutes or more, and the final shortlist was selected from a wide range of fascinating entries from across the continent, covering varied themes.

The Documentary Competition aims at encouraging and supporting talented African documentary filmmakers. The winner is selected by our jury of acclaimed film practitioners and academics and will be announced after the screenings on the second day. The audience will also have the opportunity to vote for their favourite film, with the Audience Award announced on our website at the end of the festival.

Our thanks go to the Scottish Documentary Institute for sponsoring this award.

Documentary Jury Members

Noe Mendelle, Director of Scottish Documentary Institute, Film & TV
Daniel Nyalusi, Assistant Festival Director of ZIFF
Tebeho Edkins, Winner of last years Documentary Competition
Kinsi Abdulleh, Numbai Arts
Darryl Els, Festival Director of Encounters

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this year Africa in Motion Film Festival and the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) worked in partnership to develop a young programmers project entitled ‘Reviving Scotland’s Black History’. We brought together five young aspiring film programmers from different backgrounds to take part in lectures, walking tours, site visits and seminars exploring black heritage in Scotland and the UK. Through this project they discovered Scotland’s links to slavery, through for example Glasgow’s architecture, learnt about the various race riots that have taken place in Scotland from 1916 onwards as well as about Scottish activism against racism.

From the knowledge they acquired the young programmers were then tasked with programming four events taking place during Africa in Motion Film Festival and Black History Month. These screenings and events are inspired by what they learnt, combined with their own life experiences and passions.

This double bill includes a fictional account of the historical march and a documentary focusing on the other side of the border, on the refugee camps and the consequences of (neo-)colonialism in Western Sahara. Join us for these film screenings and the accompanying panel discussion in which experts on film, migration, post-colonialism and Western Sahara will engage with the debates that connect these two diametrically opposed films.

Note that audience members have to purchase separate tickets for the two screenings