Six African filmmakers will get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop their fiction film story ideas and work-in-progress scripts in the 2022 edition of the Realness African Screenwriters’ Residency. The three-month residency includes attending film industry programmes in three countries.
The residency, now in its seventh year, runs from August 3 to November 13 and is open to any African on the continent or living in the Diaspora.
This year, the Realness Institute has teamed up with the Locarno Filmmakers’ Academy (Switzerland) to allow these filmmakers to attend the Locarno Film Festival as well as the Academy’s creative incubation programme “BaseCamp.” In addition, one of the selected six will join the festival’s industry development programme, the Academy.
Following that, the cohort will spend six weeks at the serene and nurturing Nirox and Farmhouse 58 in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, where they will be mentored by Story Consultants Selina Ukwuoma and Mmabatho Kau, as well as Cait Pansegrouw, Creative Producer of Urucu Media.
Realness Institute’s Executive Director, Elias Ribeiro, will accompany the group to the Locarno Film Festival and Mehret Mandefro, the Realness Institute’s Director of Development and Partnerships, to the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF).
They will attend the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos, Nigeria, from November 7 to 13. Here, they will have the opportunity to participate in the festival, take meetings, and present their project to an audience of potential stakeholders. In addition, during AFRIFF’s Industry event, the Realness team will develop and deliver a two-day development programme.
The Realness Institute’s website has the full application criteria for this intensive programme, which are open to anybody with a valid African passport, as well as instructions on how to apply: https://www.realness.institute/realness-residency.
The deadline for submissions is March 7, 2022.
