Largest African Input

Ten programmes from six African countries made the final Input cut – an unprecedented number in the history of the conference and an encouraging sign that Africa is embracing the challenge of using public service television as a vehicle for telling its stories. Five South African programmes are amongst the selected 10, which represents a peak for the host country.

The stories from the continent this year come from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal and South Africa. They explore complex and eclectic themes that speak to the range of contemporary issues with which Africans are engaging. These include stories about democracy and dictatorship, the impact of HIV, the dynamics of religion and tradition in the relationships between men and women, frank explorations of the fear of the ‘Other’ within African communities as well as the impact of discriminatory laws on personal morality and desire.

This year we see how different television formats are used to tell African stories by Africans, that should raise animated debate on the framing of the African storyteller in a global context and lead discussion into ground-breaking directions for the pan-African focus of the conference.

A scene from the Mauritanian submission Awaiting the Men (En attendant les hommes). Set in Oualata, a red city on the far edge of the Sahara desert, three women express themselves candidly about male/female relationships in a society apparently dominated by tradition, religion and men. Scheduled for screening at Input 2008 on 9 May.