Africa’s Mobile Film Festival

A pregnant woman trying to make it through the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya. A Tunisian cemetery with the bodies of irregular migrants who tried to flee their country. A group of Senegalese teenagers addicted to using social media. These are the plots from some of the winning entries of the first African edition of the Mobile Film Festival, an international festival of short movies showcasing hundreds of filmmakers from across the continent. Over the past decade, African films have continued to gain international recognition, transcending boundaries and finding new audiences — one of the reasons why French festival founder Bruno Smadja created an all-Africa edition. The Mobile Film Festival (MFF), created in 2005, is all virtual. Filmmakers submit short stories of just one minute or less, shot on mobile devices. In the last four years alone, the festival has received entries from more than 130 countries and awarded grants totaling $275,000. In 2020, MFF launched its Africa edition, open only to filmmakers living on the continent. The top submissions were announced this past March.

SOURCE: CNN