The recently announced Ladima Foundation short-film competition – aimed at African women during the world-altering Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdown – has already gained significant interest.
The competition is open to African women content creators and filmmakers of any age or experience level, currently living in Africa. The competition aims to encourage women to share their stories as we create a living document of a time and place – of the specific circumstances that women in Africa currently find themselves, under various degrees of lock-down, through the limitations on movement, opportunity, and often, basic freedoms.
With entries already being submitted, the Ladima Foundation is excited to announce the jury who will select the final 10 films from across all genres such as animation and fiction, documentary or interview style.
These 10 films will be streamed on the Ladima website along with other partner websites. Each winning filmmaker will also receive 500 EURO as well as access to a year’s worth of educational and inspirational webinars on the USA’s Women Make Movies platform,valued at approximately $500.
Any woman who is a citizen or permanent resident of an African country and who is currently living in Africa may enter. The competition opened at 9am Monday, June 1st 2020 and entries will close at midnight GMT + 2 on Sunday June 21st 2020.
Entry is FREE and women will need to register on the Ladima Foundation’s newly revamped A-List in order to enter.
JURY
Cornélia Glele
Cornélia Glele is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker from Benin. In 2017, she created the Ecranbenin blog dedicated to African cinema. She is the author and director of two documentary films. The first The Drums of Silence and White-black and Happy which has won many awards. With her association Ecranbenin, she created the Cotonou International Women’s Film Festival in 2019.
Lizelle Bisschoff
Lizelle Bisschoff is a researcher and curator of African film, and founder of the Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Scotland. She holds a PhD in African cinema from the University of Stirling, in which she researched the role of women in African film. Lizelle is currently a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow. Her most recent publication is “Women in African Cinema: Beyond the Body Politic” (co-authored with Stefanie Van de Peer, Routledge, 2019).
Nse Ikpe-Etim
Nse Ikpe-Etim is a multiple-award winning Nigerian actor. With over a decade of active years on stage and screen, Nse has become an epitome of depth and professionalism, making her one of the most sought-after faces in Nollywood. Nse is a TEDx speaker and an advocate for women empowerment. She has also been an International Juror at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) and Cape Town International Film Market & Festival (CTIFMF) which have positioned her esteem beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Professor Martin Mhando
Professor Martin Mhando is a Research Fellow with Murdoch University, Western Australia. He is an award winning filmmaker and experienced festival director. He is also co-editor of the Journal of African Cinemas. He has returned to Tanzania to continue with Bongo Movies producing and directing.
Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann
Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann is an oracle; harnessing the power of film to empower stories, honour ancestors and the cosmos. Born in Bonn in 1985, to a Kenyan mother and German father, Philippa makes both short and long films, both fiction and documentary. Her prior works, a mélange of essayist documentary, photography and poetry, the majority of which she shot, directed, produced and recorded sound for herself. An alumna of Berlinale Talents 2016, IDFA Summer School 2013, Produire au Sud 2011 and RAW Académie 2016, her best known works are short, Seeds (Ecumenical Jury Prize, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen 2017) and long, documentary essay, New Moon (Best Documentary, Durban International Film Festival 2018). Philippa is based in England.