AfriDocs films

AfriDocs is an African broadcast first - a bold and exciting broadcast stream that sees African and other international documentaries screened across 49 countries of sub-Saharan Africa on a weekly basis.
 
AfriDocs uses the power of satellite and terrestrial television to reach new audiences, to expose the best work in documentary filmmaking, and to get people across the continent discussing common issues.  
 
The next two weeks of AfriDocs films showcase two powerful and remarkable lives in very different circumstances - from the disempowered to the powerful, from the civil war in Syria to the Katanga region of the DRC - both stories are gripping and unforgettable.
 
9 September
 
Return to Homs | Talal Derki | 2014 | 90 minutes
 
Filmed over three years in Homs, this is the story of lives torn apart in a city of which the world has heard a lot, but has never really gotten closer to than the news. The world has never really had the chance to experience how this war erupted and its impact on individuals.  Return to Homs is a modern-day epic of youth in wartime.
 
Nineteen-year-old Basset is the goalkeeper for the Syrian national soccer team. When revolution breaks out, the charismatic young man becomes an iconic protest leader and singer. His songs reflect his dream of peaceful liberation from Assad's brutal regime.
 
Osama is a 24-year-old media activist and pacifist wielding his camera to document the revolution. But when the army cracks down and their beloved Homs becomes a bombed-out ghost town, these two peaceful protesters take up arms and transform into renegade insurgents, with devastating results.
 
*Winner - Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema, Sundance Film Festival 2014
 
16 September
 
Moïse Katumbi: Football, Business & Politics|Thierry Michel | DRC | 2013 | 58 min | French and Swahili with English subtitles
 
Meet Moïse Katumbi, big-time entrepreneur and director of the Tout Puissant Mazembe soccer team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also the governor of Katanga, a province whose huge mineral wealth, totaling 80 percent of the nation's resources, is of huge importance to the country's economy. The Africa Report named him in 2012 as one of the 50 most influential Africans.
 
Katumbi's political "program" consists primarily of making big promises and bestowing countless gifts and favors on people and organizations to further his popularity. This approach has allowed him to build a personality cult in good Congolese tradition. The film crew accompanies him on working visits where he is cheered by employees who are invariably underpaid and do dangerous and unhealthy jobs without any form of labor protection.
 
 We also hear from journalists about his intimate business relationships with foreign investors who have their eyes set on Katanga's mineral wealth but have no interest in improving working conditions. Although Katumbi's duplicity inevitably causes disappointment among his supporters, he repeatedly manages to mobilize the support of the poorly educated rural population. These are instructive insights into the workings of populism, and a glimpse of DR Congo's future, which will surely have a place for Katumbi.
 
About AfriDocs
AfriDocs is the first documentary strand across sub-Saharan Africa featuring the best documentaries made in Africa and around the world, brought to you by Steps and the Bertha Foundation.
 
Screened every Tuesday night on ED (DStv channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65), the AfriDocs stream is seen in 49 countries by satellite, and terrestrially to an additional 100 cities in 8 countries.
 
AfriDocs is an initiative of the multi-awarded South African documentary production and distribution company, Steps, in partnership with the Bertha Foundation.
 
For the full programme schedule and synopses of the films, please go to www.afridocs.net or www.facebook.com/AfriDocs
 
You can  also follow AfriDocs on twitter: @Afri_Docs
#FilmFestivalOnYourScreen  #AfricaNotOneStory #AfriDocs   #AfricaRising
 
Weekly. Primetime. Real Stories.
 
 
Weekly Broadcast times sub-Saharan Africa:
 
Tuesday evenings
6 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (Mauritania to Benin)
7 p.m. West African Time (Niger to Namibia)
8 p.m. Central African Time/South Africa Standard Time
9 p.m. East African Time (Sudan to Tanzania)
 
 
Contact:
Social Media & Publicity: Patrice Carter
Email: patrice@steps.co.za
Programming: Theresa Hill
Email: theresa@steps.co.za
Phone: +27 21 4655805
 
URL: www.steps.co.za
 
Lara Preston +27 11 4478283 lara@redflag.co.za www.redflag.co.za http://www.facebook.com/redflagagency