Africa Spotlight
Discover stories from across the African continent that capture wisdom, resilience, creativity and beauty that remind us of our common humanity.
-
Utapata Mwingine (You Will Get Another One)
Utapata Mwingine (You Will Get Another One) is a documentary about the impact of stigma and silence surrounding Pregnancy and Infant Child Loss (PAIL) in Kenya. The film follows the founder of Empower Mama, Vivian Gaiko, a young Kenyan woman who lost her two-week old daughter after a sudden illne...
-
Big Dreams: A Tale of Resilience
This story follows the life of Jerry, an innovative young Nigerian son of a farmers who strives to achieve his dream of building a fast car. A dream his parents saw as a waste of time, to achieve his dream He started to fabricate farm machines for his father and farmers in his community as he con...
-
UNESCO We Teach Here, Uganda
This video shows the experiences of local Ugandan and refugee teachers in a refugee camp in Uganda through professionally filmed footage and user-generated content where the teachers film their daily experiences themselves, allowing the viewer to share their daily experiences up close. Dedicated ...
-
The Sound Barrier
A mosquito-repellent soap that prevents malaria, straw bricks made out of agricultural residues for more sustainable housing, a biodigester made out of recycled plastic to create bio-gas for rural populations. The film follows 3 innovative social business ideas from students in Africa to take on ...
-
The Silicon Valley of Africa
Rwanda experienced a violent civil war between its two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, that killed around 1 million citizens in 1994. Militant Hutu left the country in a state of poverty after using machetes to maim, rape, and murder civilians. Twenty years later, survivors of the gen...
-
Permanent Culture
Permanent Culture documents the journey of Joseph, a man who once worked in exploitative sugarcane fields but then found work at Palos Farm. At this permaculture farm, Joseph has not only found more fulfilling work, but also acquired leadership and ecological knowledge that allows him to now be a...
-
Nobody Dies Here
Viewer Discretion Advised
Perma gold mine, Benin. Some dream to find something, others realized there was nothing to be found. Some dig relentlessly hoping to become rich, others died in the process. And a few of them say that here, nobody dies.
Director & Producer: Simon Panay
2016 | 24 Min
Be... -
Megolonyo: With a Mother You Are Rich
Set in a rural village in Northern Uganda, this short-doc tells the story of a Women's Empowerment Group started by female survivors of the Northern Ugandan War in search of rehabilitation, economic stability, and emotional support.
Director & Producer: Justice Nnanna
15 min | Uganda, USA
Langua... -
Kayayo, The Living Shopping Baskets
Kayayo means “girl-carrier” in the Ga language.
In the capital of Ghana, 10,000 girls from the ages of 6 work as real life shopping baskets - called Kayayo. This documentary is about Bamunu, an 8-year old girl who hasn’t seen her family since she was sent away from home two years ago to work as a... -
Girls Like Us
In Tanzania, women are expected to stay home, cook, clean, and take care of the children while their husbands are away at work. Like a typical teenager, Winnie needed an outlet for her curious mind and in 2013, she joined Apps & Girls, an organization that teaches young girls how to code their ow...
-
From The Same Soil
The film portrays the lives of two gay men and one transgender woman who left their home countries because of discrimination and persecution. Now in South Africa they applied for refugee status on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite the fact that in South Africa both national law...
-
Enemies To Allies
Sometimes, innovative solutions to social challenges are born in the most unlikely places. In Kisumu, Kenya a surprising approach to HIV prevention relies on building bonds two unlikely groups: police officers and sex workers. In Kisumu, extortion and abuse were commonplace, and sex workers’ righ...
-
Art For Peace
The world’s youngest county, South Sudan, plunged into civil war just two years after being formed. Can it actually be poetry, film and music that will end the cyclical violence in this part of east Africa? Meet the brave young people turning their backs on hatred – are they the ones to truly for...
-
Anthropocene: Dandora (VR/360)
The Dandora Landfill is the largest of its kind in Kenya. It receives industrial, agricultural, commercial and medical waste, amounting to about 2,000 tonnes per day. It is estimated that more than a million people live in the vicinity of the landfill. Residents work informally, sorting scrap by ...
-
A Way Forward
Many in the U.S. take the bicycle for granted. Not so for students like Diana and Angela in Kakamega, Kenya. These brave young women used to have to walk hours to and from school, dodging the predatory advances of motorcycle taxi drivers, and often arriving exhausted and terrified of the return j...