Six African filmmakers have been awarded prizes by Unesco and Netflix, the American giant, following a competition they organised to reveal emerging filmmakers from sub-Saharan Africa.

To identify new talent among young filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa, finance their projects and enable them to be released on Netflix in 2022. This is the objective of the UN agency, Unesco, and the American giant who have launched a short film competition on the theme of “reinventing African folk tales”, aimed at supporting film creation in Africa.

The said competition launched in 2021, had its lucky winners in mid-March 2023. They are Voline Ogutu from Kenya, Walter Mzengi from Tanzania, Korede Azeez from Nigeria, Gcobisa Yako from South Africa, Loukman Ali from Uganda and Mohamed Echkouna from Mauritania. These lucky winners will each walk away with $25,000 and a production grant of $75,000.

So, these six finalists will now develop their projects, before starting production of the short films that will be released on Netflix as an “Anthology of African Folk Tales” later this year.

According to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, “It is important for the film industry to act to ensure that Africa’s voices are heard, supporting the emergence of diverse cultural expressions, bringing forward new ideas and emotions, and enabling creators to contribute to global dialogue for peace, culture and development.

The official preview of these six short films will take place on 29 March in Nairobi in the presence of the six winners and their mentors. The films will be available on the Netflix platform