African filmmakers receive support from Steps

The film Amal presented at the African Pitch was awarded a €4,000 (R58,000) production grant and is directed by Mohamed Siam from Egypt. He tells the story of Amal, a young woman who already at the age of fifteen was a strong and vociferous demonstrator at the Tahrir Square in Cairo, and now faces the real challenges in her life at the age of eighteen as she finishes school.

The second film that received the support of €4,000 is The revolution will not be televised by Rama Thiaw from Senegal. Brought to the FilmMart by the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Fund (HDBIGF), her story follows two hip hop artists and activists of the 'Y'en a marre' (We're fed up) movement over two years, from the pre-election demonstrations until today where the protagonists, while still political, are concentrating more on their music.

The grant will go towards supporting a New York-based editor to work with Rama and allowing more post-production time for finishing the film.

"Both films are fitting the profile of our new project 'A for Africa', that will give voice to the young people of Africa. The films will reflect the anger and hopes, frustrations and aspirations of this generation who are asking what their future and the future of the whole Africa is," says Don Edkins, Executive Producer at Steps. "We also look forward to bringing their films to audiences across the continent on the weekly primetime Tuesday night documentary strand AfriDocs, on DStv channel ED 190 and GOtv channel 65."