See history being made – at Input 2008

Experience history in the making at the 30th INternational PUblic Television conference that is Input 2008. If you register by 30 March, your details can be included in the event catalogue.

The scene has been set to celebrate three decades of television's most influential screening and debating conference, from 4-10 May in the buzzing “Afropolitan” city of Johannesburg.

This year's event is unlike anything that has gone before. The host broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the Input International Organisation have ensured a week that has the following highlights (visit the website for more details):

• 107 programs, some of them award-winners, from about 40 countries reflecting a mix that is richer than ever before: documentary, drama, entertainment, children and crossover genres;
• A free training opportunity for emerging documentary filmmakers whose work will be developed and shown on international television;
• Special sessions that include a look at prime time hits from around the world, the award-winning Why Democracy project, indigenous storytelling from Australia, African co-production innovations, the creative use of archives and climate change;
• A tribute to Ousmane Sembene, the father of African filmmaking as well as a session that explores the myriad new directions in African audiovisual storytelling, The Story Tree;
• The launch of the worldwide Human Bondage Project, an historic collaboration that will tell the story of slavery from the African perspective for the first time;
• A UNESCO round table on Slavery, Memory & Story - UNESCO is a key partner in the Human Bondage project;
• A round table/master class featuring six great filmmakers: three from Africa and three from Europe

The event will be a marketplace of ideas for TV visionaries and promises to leave a lasting legacy as Africa takes its rightful place within the circle of global storytellers. Moreover, it will be a pan-African event with the assistance of broadcasters and professionals in more than 30 countries across the continent.

Appropriately themed Back to the Beginning, the event invites delegates to journey back to Africa, the Cradle of Humankind, as well as back to the power of simple stories, told well.

The programs selected to be screened for the event were recently finalised by a team of broadcast professionals who gathered at Deutsche Welle in Germany. The rigorous selection process ended with 107 diverse examples of excellence. The sheer quantity of exceptional and thought-provoking programming for the 2008 event has increased substantially.

“There was a huge mix of every kind of TV that you can imagine,” says Khethiwe Ngcobo, an Input Shop Steward (Juror) and Head of Drama at the SABC. “The overall standard at the event has gone up and there are many more good films to see,” she adds.

This year's event will be at the state-of-the-art Sandton Convention Centre (SCC), an area of Johannesburg that has become one of Africa's most vibrant commercial and cultural centres. The media facilities as well as an on-site media team will ensure daily coverage of the event.

More than 1,000 international delegates from around the world are expected.

For more information or assistance e-mail the Team Administrator, Nerissa Solomon, on and visit the website to register and for further details.

The Input 2008 team has moved offices to 59 Third Avenue, Melville, 2092, Johannesburg, South Africa; telephone + 27 11 482-8518/8538; fax + 27 11 219-7413.