Tanzanian filmmaker emerges winner of Netflix competition
Walter Mzengi during his pitching session
What you need to know:
- By winning the competition with his film ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ Mr Mzengi and five other winners will each receive $25,000 plus a production budget of $75,000 to create short films.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian filmmaker Walter Mzengi has emerged among the top six winners of a short film competition organised by global streaming service company Netflix and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
By winning the competition titled ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ Mr Mzengi and five other winners will each receive $25,000 plus a production budget of $75,000 to create short films.
In a joint statement the two organisations said the short films will be produced through a local production company and under the guidance of Netflix-appointed supervising producer and industry mentors from across the continent.
“The final six filmmakers will now go into the development phase of their projects, before starting production on the short films that will eventually premiere on Netflix as part of ‘An Anthology of African Folktales’ later this year,” he said in a statement.
Other winners and their respective countries are Loukman Ali (Uganda),Gcobisa Yako (South Africa), Ms Voline Ogutu (Kenya), Korede Azeez (Nigeria), and Mohamed Echkouna (Mauritania).
Netflix’s director of content in Africa Mr Ben Amadasun was quoted saying that since the launch of the competition in October of 2021 they received thousands of applicants but later they cut down to top 21 and finally, the six finalists.
“It’s evident that Africa is filled with amazing storytelling talent that is ready to share their different perspectives and celebrate Africa’s rich culture and heritage,”
On his part, Unesco’s director general Audrey Azoulay said the fact that their films will be shown to a global audience is part of our commitment to promote cultural diversity around the world.
“The laureates, and all the participants in this competition more broadly, highlight the rich, diverse and ever-evolving culture that Sub-Saharan Africa has to offer and that Unesco wants to promote,”
According to her the short films would be specially premiered at Unesco headquarters in Paris at the end of this year.
The ‘African Folktales, Reimagined' competition was also a step towards creative equity - as part of the Netflix Creative Equity Fund, which aims at enabling new voices from underrepresented communities within entertainment to bring their perspectives to a global audience.
