In its latest effort to penetrate the African market, Netflix, the streaming giant, has recently partnered with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on an ambitious project to discover gifted African filmmakers by launching a short-film competition. Under the theme, “African Folktales, Reimagined”, African talent across the continent will be able to showcase their creative skills by reimaging the region’s popular folktales.

Africa has a long history of visual arts, from sculptures to paintings and everything in between, which is deeply rooted in the continent’s rich culture.

Africa’s burgeoning young population places the continent in an enviable position when it comes to workforce capacity, a driver of economic growth.

When it comes to the complex history and rich culture of the African continent, the narrative has often been over-simplified, offering a homogeneous and unidimensional depiction of the world’s second most populous continent.

The rise of the internet, and all things digital that ensued, are responsible for the deep transformation undergone by society over the last couple of decades.

After a year off due to the pandemic, the Cannes Film Festival recently returned for its 74th edition, signalling the industry reopening after the most unprecedented year in recent history.

On International Women’s Day, the world celebrated once more the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Whilst we celebrated, we were also reminded that the fight for gender equality and parity is far from over.

Africa has the potential to become a major cultural power in the years to come as appetite for African creative content is growing around the world.

Post-independence Africa experienced a high rate of intellectual migration from the continent to more developed countries, mainly to Europe and America, effectively creating a new and voluntary diaspora.

2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenge for the creative industry globally. As cinemas and theatres closed, and as film and television production was halted, the future looked uncertain for people working across the creative industries, especially in film, video, music and visual and performing arts.