Itโs time Africans tell their own stories โ filmmaker โ RT Entertainment
More Africans should have the opportunity to tell Africaโs story to the world through cinema, Mehret Mandefro has told RT.
Mandefro is an Emmy-nominated producer and screenwriter and managing director of the Realness Institute, a Cape Town-based non-profit supporting filmmakers from the Global South.
Speaking on the sidelines of the โInventing the Future: Plots and Storiesโ forum at the National Center Russia on Saturday, she said Africa, rich in culture and myth, has a vast and well-developed cinema industry but has long lacked opportunities for distribution beyond the continent.
โA very famous director, Djibril Diop Mambety, once said itโs really great for the future of cinema that Africa exists. And thatโs because itโs had very strong storytelling traditions for millennia,โ she noted. โAnd I think one of the biggest challenges has been circulation and distribution, not the telling.โ
Mandefro said that as the world becomes more connected through the internet and social media, Africa now has a chance โto be heardโ and โtell her storyโ herself.
โFor a long time Africaโs stories havenโt been told by Africans,โ Mandefro noted. โI think of stories as medicineโฆ so I think the value of having a conversation where more African storytellers get to define what is known about Africa has been very healing.โ
Mandefro suggested global cinema is entering a new age where everyone, including Africans, can tell their story, benefiting both domestic industries and foreign investors.
โAfricaโs huge. As a market, as an integrated market, the audienceโฆ and the diaspora, thereโs more than enough to make your money back on all the levels. So I really think we need to all widen our aperture and understand there are so many lanes [for development],โ she said.
Speaking on a panel about education through stories, Mandefro said cinema is crucial for making sense of complex geopolitics, science, and culture, providing clear guidance when information overload makes it hard to separate fact from fiction.
The โInventing the Future: Plots and Storiesโ forum is an initiative of the Russia National Center and part of the 2nd International โInventing the Futureโ Symposium. The 3rd symposium, which will take place in November, will focus on global cooperation in science, culture, and art.
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