PARIS/LOS GATOS, OCTOBER 14 – Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across Sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a US$75,000 production budget through a local production company to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022.
One key aim of this competition is to discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale. “We want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa’s most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries”, UNESCO and Netflix said.
Both UNESCO and the streaming service strongly believe in the importance of promoting diverse local stories, and bringing them to the world. They recognize that many emerging filmmakers struggle with finding the right resources and visibility to enable them to fully unleash their talents and develop their creative careers. This competition aims to address these issues and enable African storytellers to take a first step towards showcasing their content to a global audience. (@OnuItalia)
