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Mobile Film Festival 2021: Africa on Set
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Imagine making a movie on a mobile phone – and telling the entire story in just one minute. Celebrating African filmmaking talent, this year’s awards ceremony for the Mobile Film Festival was held in Tunis on March 25. AFD is a partner of the film festival for the third consecutive year.
“1 Mobile, 1 Minute, 1 Film.” The concept of the Mobile Film Festival is simple: it discovers and supports filmmakers by inviting them to create a one-minute film using their mobile phone. For its first “Africa” edition this year, nearly 500 films from 38 African countries were screened.
An official selection was then made, of 51 films from 23 countries. Now, the general public can see them online.
“The simple and dynamic format of the Mobile Film Festival has turned out to be a real talent detector, allowing us to discover the richness of African cinema,” says Caroline Castaing, AFD’s Head of the Outreach Communications Unit. “We’re happy to have been able to support this festival again, especially as this edition highlights Africa, where AFD has very strong links.”
Africa is indeed a big focus of AFD: 50% of our activities are carried out there, with the aim of supporting the continent’s ongoing transitions.
The awards ceremony took place in Tunis, at the French Institute of Tunisia, in the presence of a jury of film professionals from all over Africa. Personnel from the AFD office in Tunis and from the Africa Regional Office also attended the ceremony. They were asked to present the Screenplay Award to the young Tunisian director Houssem Ben Hamza.
To view selected films in English, go to the “settings” tab on the bottom-right of the screen and click “subtitles”...then choose “English.”
The winners of the official selection:
- French-speaking Film Award: "It is all I have" by Loridon Kabasele | Democratic Republic of Congo
- Documentary Film Award: "The Cemetery of Strangers" by Walid Falleh | Tunisia
- Best Male Actor Award: Abdellah Bousik, in "A Lost Homeland" by Othmane Ait Barbana | Morocco
Two films in the official selection that are linked to AFD actions were also among the selected films: