Following a published article about the Netflix & UNESCO ‘African folktales, reimagined’ short film competition, SA Creatives would like to extend congratulations to South African Filmmaker Gcobisa Yako who was announced as one of the six winners selected for the ground breaking competition that spotlighted some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s up and coming filmmakers.
Pictured: Gcobisa Yako (Image courtesy of Netflix/Jess Sterk Photography
In October 2021, Netflix partnered with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to launch the competition in effort of the promote diverse local stories and expose them to the world. The competition was also a step toward creative equity, as it was part of the Netflix Creative Equity Fund, which aims to enable new voices from underrepresented communities in entertainment to reach a global audience.
After a rigorous evaluation process by a wide-range of industry professionals from across the continent, who assessed over 2080 applications in multiple languages, 21 candidates we shortlisted as finalist for the final prize. Eastern Cape born filmmaker Gcobisa Yako’s pitch for Uma’Mlambo presented to the judging panel comprising of the mentors; Femi Odugbemi (Nigeria), Bongiwe Selane (South Africa), Leila Afua Djansi (Ghana), David Tosh Gitonga (Kenya), Jean Luc Herbulot (Congo) as well as representatives from Netflix and UNESCO cemented her spot as a victor making her the only South African recipient of the award.
Each winner will receive US$25,000 plus a production budget of US$75,000 to create short films through a local production company and under the guidance of Netflix-appointed supervising producer and industry mentors from across the continent. Staying true to the competition’s aim of showcasing Africa’s rich cultural heritage, the short films will feature reimagined African folktales presented in multiple African languages.
“Congratulations to the six winners”, says Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay. “Like the African movie sector itself, these six individuals have a very bright future ahead of them. The laureates, and all the participants in this competition more broadly, highlight the rich, diverse and ever-evolving culture that Sub-Saharan Africa has to offer and that UNESCO wants to promote”, she continues.
The final six filmmakers will now go into the development phase of their projects, before starting production on the short films that will eventually premiere on Netflix as part of ‘An Anthology of African Folktales’ later this year.
