Portrait of Mozambique President Armando Guebuza in a Chinese restaurant (Photo: Ella Raidel, IFF Rotterdam)
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced an exciting new project where several African directors will make films in China. We find this a brilliant initiative to bridge two parts of the world that are developing complex new social and economic ties. Additionally, it’s wonderful that IFFR enlisted the Li Xianting Film School in Beijing, the first film school for independent filmmakers in China, to help initiate the African directors into the Chinese independent film scene. Among its faculty, the Li Xianting Film School features at least a couple of dGenerate directors such as Ying Liang and Yang Jin. This promises to be a wonderful opportunity of artistic and cross-cultural exchange.
The project has already kicked off with a blog by Rotterdam Festival programmer Gertjan Zuilhof, which will follow the project through its many stages. We’ll be keeping tabs on it to see how the participants are progressing.
The full press release from IFFR follows:
Inspired by the growing influence of China in some African countries, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) asks seven filmmakers from South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and Angola to make films in China. The African directors’ films will premiere, along with a contextual film program, during the Rotterdam’s 40th edition. The program, titled ‘Raiding Africa’, includes a film workshop produced by the IFFR in collaboration with the Li Xianting Film School in Beijing and supported by Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund.
More after the break.
