For Immediate Release
Al Jazeera English sponsors Encounters Documentary Festival
Encounters to host Al Jazeera showcase, including multi-award-winning Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark and African-themed docs
Presentation by Al Jazeera series producers and commissioning editors
Opportunity for SA industry to pitch leading broadcaster
Al Jazeera English has signed on as one of the sponsors of this year’s Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, running from 7-24 June 2012.
As part of the deal, Africa’s most prestigious documentary festival will host an Al Jazeera showcase.
“Al Jazeera English is the leading news channel in the world, producing some of the most acclaimed documentaries anywhere,” says Mandisa Zitha, festival director at Encounters, pointing to a string of recent accolades for the broadcaster, like being named The Royal Television Society’s 2012 News Channel of the Year and winning a Peabody, the oldest award in electronic media, for its ground-breaking coverage of the Arab Spring. “We’re very excited to be partnering with them.”
Encouter’s Al Jazeera showcase includes Bahrain: Shouting in The Dark, about the 2011 Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world. The controversial documentary won The Foreign Press Association Documentary of the Year, the George Polk Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Scripps Howard Jack R. Howard Award for Television Reporting, among other accolades.
Watch the promo
On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTtPH-FSDfA
The five other Al Jazeera English films on the programme demonstrate the broadcaster’s commitment to covering Africa’s stories.
Libya: Through The Fire focuses on Mohammed Nabbous, who returned from exile to set up an independent satellite television station to alert the world to Benghazi’s increasing peril. This remarkable and heart-breaking documentary embodies the story of the Arab Awakening and carries viewers through the historic events in Libya on a very human level.
Watch the promo
On Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ2nf9WlPZo
Africa Investigates was a world-first, giving some of Africa’s best journalists the resources and opportunity to pursue high-level investigative targets across the continent. Two episodes, Fool’s Gold and Spell of the Albino, will screen together as a double-header at Encounters.
Watch the promo
On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0GwRxV2zZI
In Fool’s Gold, legendary Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas goes undercover to expose a group behind the scams and confidence tricks that accompanied Ghana’s gold rush.
Spell of the Albino puts the focus on Tanzania, where albinos are still being savagely mutilated and murdered for their body parts – falsely believed to have magical properties.
Bitter Root goes to Northern Uganda, where two ex-commanders in The Lord’s Resistance Army, responsible for numerous brutalities against unarmed civilians, ask the tribal elders to implement Mato Oput, a traditional system of restorative justice involving perpetrators and victims.
Watch the promo
On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWolvdVgzGs.
The Nigerian Connection investigates the trafficking of young girls from Nigeria to Italy for the sex trade, exposing how juju or black magic is used by organized crime to keep the girls in fear for their lives.
Watch the promo
On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRcz5vZwngk
South African Clifford Bestall, who won the Audience Award at Encounters in 2010 for The 16th Man, is also screening his Hillbrow-themed Between Heaven and Hell, which he shot for Al Jazeera English last year.
Watch the promo
On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXnVY2b0rH0
Al Jazeera will also host an Industry Presentation on Monday, 11 June 2012 from 5-7pm at Protea Hotel Fire & Ice, New Church Street, Cape Town. Osama Saeed, head of international and media relations at Al Jazeera English, and Al Jazeera English commissioning editors Diarmuid Jeffreys, Dominique Young and Jon Blair will explain Al Jazeera’s approach, followed by a Q&A and informal drinks. Blair is a South African-born Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winner.
Both presentations have limited space available, so Encounters encourages industry to book early by emailing manager@encounters.co.za .
Al Jazeera English will also be hosting a pitching forum for African filmmakers (see attached Call).
For more information, visit http://www.encounters.co.za or call 021 465 4686.
Oluko
Encounters International Documentary Festival
1st Floor,
27 Caledon Street
Cape Town
oluko@encounters.co.za
tel: +27 21 465 4686
fax: +27 21 461 6964






