Another Generation Africa Film – The Last Shelter wins at Encounters and Heads for DIFF

Another Generation Africa Film – The Last Shelter wins at Encounters and Heads for Durban International Film Fest

A second film in the Generation Africa slate of 25 films on migration, being produced by STEPS, the Cape Town-based documentary production powerhouse, has won an award at the 2021 Encounters South Africa International Documentary Film Festival.

The Last Shelter directed by Ousmane Samassékou (France/ Mali/ South Africa) won the Best South African / African feature at the festival with a citation by the jury:  “We were moved by The Last Shelter, which gave us full access to the House of Migrants, in the Malian City of Gao, a haven for African travellers. Ousmane Samassékou’s great access to the  two young protagonists, the intimacy of the observational style filming against the vast melancholy landscape of the dessert made this a favourite with the programming team. Last Shelter was successful in achieving the purpose of documentary; to cast a lens on world issues through the experiences of its subjects. “

“For me this award is doubly important,” says director Ousmane Samassékou. “Firstly, because South Africa has been a great source of help in the development and production of this film through STEP’s Generation Africa programme. It was through a workshop organized by STEPS in Burkina Faso that I learned about the migrant's home and decided to make it the subject of my film. Secondly, this is the first award that the film has received in Africa and I am very happy that it happened in South Africa.”

Produced by Point du Jour - Les films du balibari (France) in co-production with DS Productions (Mali) and STEPS (South Africa) with broadcaster, Arte GEIE, South African audiences will have a chance to watch the film at the Durban International Film Festival, online from 22 July to 1 August.

The other film which was screened at Encounters and will also screen at DIFF is Zinder directed by Aicha Macky, which earlier won the Ladima Foundation’s  Adiaha Award for Best Documentary Film by an African woman.

“It is a huge honour to have two films recognised at Encounters for their excellence in telling these truly compelling and necessary stories from Mali and Niger,” says Don Edkins, producer at STEPS and Generation Africa. “Both films hold up mirrors to our uniquely African stories, which are important to the global narrative of migration and futures of youth on the continent, and enable us to begin authentic and vital conversations around this.”

Generation Africa is the latest collection being produced by STEPS with 25 films in co-production with 16 countries across Africa. Generation Africa brings together stories reflecting the lived experiences of Africa’s youth through the topic of migration.

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Powerful Generation Africa Films on Migration for Encounters and DIFF

Media Release

STEPS Premieres its first two feature films of Generation Africa Slate at Encounters & DIFF

STEPS presents the first two feature films in their latest collection, Generation Africa, to African audiences at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival in June and at the Durban International Film Festival in July.

STEPS is a Cape Town-based media company that works with documentary filmmakers, broadcasters, festivals, organisations and individuals who are passionate about documentary as a catalyst for social change. STEPS has produced similar film projects including Steps for the Future, Why Democracy? and Why Poverty? with critical acclaim.

Generation Africa is the latest collection being produced by STEPS with 25 films in co-production with 16 countries across Africa. Generation Africa brings together a collection of stories reflecting the lived experiences of Africa’s youth through the topic of migration.

As migration continues to be a contentious political issue globally, the voices of Africans have been missing in the stories being told about the topic and this project responds by supporting African filmmakers to tell stories from an insider perspective,” explains Tiny Mungwe, producer Generation Africa, at STEPS.

The Generation Africa project also helped to strengthen documentary filmmaking in Africa by building communities across the continent and / by bringing filmmakers from Francophone and Anglophone countries together. The project provided each of the filmmakers professional support from experienced documentary film experts for story development, dramaturgy in production as well as the edit in post-production.

The first two films completed in the collection will be screened at Encounters and DIFF - two key African festivals.

The Last Shelter

Set in the Mailian town of Gao, on the edge of the Saraha desert, The Last Shelter (Le Denier Refuge) takes us into the House of Migrants, a resting place for migrants returning from the Sahara having failed to make the crossing of the Mediteranean Sea as well as those hopeful migrants still planning the crossing. In the house of migrants young people wait, share stories of the perils of the deserts and reflect on what migration means to them.

The Last Shelter is directed by Malian director Ousmane Samassekou and produced by STEPS together with Malian production company DS Productions as well as French production company, Point du Jour - Les Films du balibari. The film took the main prize at the recent edition of CPH:DOX in Copenhagen and played at other notable international festivals including Hotdocs, DOK.fest Munich and Hotdocs .

Zinder

Zinder is set in hometown of Nigerien filmmaker Aicha Macky, where she enters the hypermasculine world of gangs in Karakara district, historically a leprosy colony where the marginalized of her community now cling on to survival. With questions about the failures of state and the results of inequality in her society.

The film is co-produced with Macky’s company Tabous Productions as well as Point du Jour - Les Films du balibari.

The Generation Africa films are produced for STEPS pan-African documentary platform AfriDocs, which curates creative documentary films for African audiences available anytime, anywhere on the afridocs.net site as well as through partnerships with broadcasters across Africa. 

Generation Africa is presented with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Deustche Welle Akademie, Robert Bosch Foundation, Bertha Foundation and Arte.

Bookings for Encounters (10-20 July) is now open on: https://www.encounters.co.za

DIFF (22 July - 1 August): Bookings will open at a later stage: https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za

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