Zimbabwean filmmaker, Rumbi Katedza, has been selected to join a power group of young African filmmakers who will work on film projects to tell the story of African migration in a fresh, nuanced way.
Katedza is part of a group of thirteen African filmmakers who will work on new films under the ‘Generation Africa’ project. The initiative is looking to create stories “which are unpredictable, touching, moving, revolutionary, and challenging.”
There has never been a better time to tackle this issue. According to Pew Research Center analysis of United Nations data, the total number of emigrants worldwide from all sub-Saharan African countries combined grew by 31% between 2010 and 2017, outpacing the rate of increase from both the Asia-Pacific (15%) and Latin America-Caribbean (9%) regions. Only the Middle East-North Africa region saw a larger increase (39%) of people living outside of their birth country during the same span, driven largely by people fleeing conflict in Syria.
A total of 25 million sub-Saharan* Africans lived outside their countries of birth in 2017. Eight of the ten fastest growing international migrant populations between 2010 and 2017 are from Sub-Saharan African nations.
When the stories behind these millions of migrations are told around the world, they are often stories of hopelessness, of running away from one’s own country to cause a burden to another country. What is often left out are the many underlying forces at play, the human stories of courage and survival and a digging deeper into the geopolitical forces and personal desires that cause millions to leave their homes every year in search of better opportunities elsewhere.
The Generation Africa project is an initiative of the South Africa-based non-profit, Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects (STEPS). The first stage of the project will see the selected filmmakers attend a number of workshops, starting with one in Nairobi before the end of the year.
Katedza is a former director of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival. She released her first feature film in 2012, a comedy entitled ‘Playing Warriors,’ which screened at festivals around the world and at Ster Kinekor theatres in Zimbabwe. In 2011 her documentary, ‘The Axe and the Tree,’ was launched at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. It tells the harrowing story of survivors of election violence. She has directed numerous music videos, documentaries, TV shows and films, including the award-winning short ‘Asylum.’
Generation Africa Participants 2018
Joan Kabugu
Louise Mukami Kamwangi
Mahad Ahmed Hashi
Noela Luka
Ochan Hannington
Pete Murimi
Rumbi Katedza
Sam Soko
Shameela Seedat
Simon Seydou Mukali
Sonia Wanzilû Maingi
Wanjiru Kairu
Yonas BelayNotes
*Sub-Saharan Africa includes all countries and territories in continental Africa except Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. Sub-Saharan Africa also includes islands Cape Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, and St. Helena.
Facilitators & Mentors
Ulla Simonen (mentor); Kenneth Odiwour (contributor); Abdinasir Ahmed (contributor); Likka Vehkalahti (mentor); Patrick Otim (contributor); Reem Bader (mentor); Tinso Mungwe(facilitator); David Herdies (mentor); Ismail Einashe (contributor); Njeri Wakaba (facilitator); Don Edkins (mentor)
Full List of selected filmmakers
Rumbi Kateda (Zimbabwe), Simon Seydou Mukali (Kenya), Shameela Seedat (South Africa), Sam Soko (Kenya), Yonas Belay (Ethiopia), Wanjiru Kairu (Kenya), Sonia Wanzilû Maingi (Kenya), Louise Mukami Kamwangi (Kenya), Pete Murimi (Kenya), Ochan Hannington (South Sudan), Mahad Ahmed Hashi (Kenya), Noela Luka (Kenya), Joan Kabugu (Kenya),
