10 April 2018, marked the first-ever African edition of the Ciclope festival – a leading international awards show which recognises exceptional craft in moving image. The African festival, which received over 150 submissions across 16 categories, was hosted at Cape Town’s new critically acclaimed Museum of Contemporary Art, Zeitz MOCAA.
I believe Ciclope Africa will be a very important event on the continent moving forward. A bespoke event celebrating the craft that goes into some of the continent's best work will encourage even more of our industry players to push themselves further and hopefully we'll get to see more submissions from across the continent soon.
The work was of a world class quality. Competing with the best work I've seen from the rest of the world.
The storytelling in the work was of such high quality. Emotional and masterful. I was glad to see a focus on story in most of the work.
I believe the work coming out of Kenya currently and in the coming months will surprise many. There's a creative burst going on in the country and the evidence lies in the international recognition our creatives and professionals in the craft have been receiving.
Aside from various locales, I believe the continent also provides production support to rival any other region, worldwide. From crews, financial incentives and more.
Most of the world has had industries built around film for about a century. I think we can learn from what those industries have been through but I think it's time for us to chart our own way forward as a continent. The world is changing and I believe the world is ready for a different type of storytelling.
I think with more work being created, we'll keep improving. The skills available here are world class already. So I believe more work will allow us to be more experimental and explore our creativity much more.
I think the industry should feel encouraged. The work we're creating is good. And the rest of the world is interested in it. Keep making.
The world is changing and there are a lot more opportunities available to everyone. It means greater competition but I think this will only raise the quality of the work. It's up to us, the players in the industry to rise up to the opportunities presented and not cave into what's expected but keep pushing beyond that. I think it's an exciting time for the continent.