THE Africa Film TT (AFTT) team has created a free virtual experience for film lovers, sharing films, hosting conversations and sharing art and music from the continent and the diaspora.
The seventh annual festival, which starts on May 25, in commemoration of World Africa Day, will not only showcase filmography, but will include exploration of work by, and interviews with filmmakers, visual artists and musicians from the continent and the diaspora.
Festival co-ordinator Melanie Jones-Powell told Newsday the team is excited amid the circumstances that have completely changed the way the festival was put on for years – before covid19.
Reminiscing, she said, "In 2019 we opened with The Burial of Kojo by Blitz the Ambassador, who directed Beyonce's album Black is King. He was here for the last physical festival in 2019.
"Last year was the first year we had to make that decision to see how we could do the festival differently. We weren't able to host showings at the Central Bank Auditorium or Little Carib Theatre as usual. We were not able to have community screenings in the Brian Lara Promenade."
Instead, the team arranged to have some past AFTT favourites broadcast on TV, which she said was beneficial, as it allowed them to reach a wider audience than in previous years.
"We are doing that again this year."
At the end of each day from May 26-30, films shown online will be made available for on-demand viewing on the AFTT website and on TV6 from June 4-7. This, she said, will allow people who may not have internet access to be part of the festival and experience the wealth of film coming from many parts of Africa and the diaspora.
Asked what new features the team has prepared for film lovers that were not part of the festival last year, Jones-Powell said, "We will have what we branded Film Talk, which will be livestream conversations with five filmmakers from South Africa, Rwanda, Angola, France and Zambia. They are all ready to talk online with us."
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The talks will be hosted and moderated by members of the AFTT team, including Jones-Powell and the founder of AFTT, regional secretary for the Caribbean diaspora at Panafrican Filmmakers Association based in Burkina Faso, Asha Lovelace.
Some interviews will be a collaborative effort with the Black Consciousness Festival.
Jones-Powell added this time around, the conversations will allow for greater interaction with the filmmakers.
Another feature being introduced this year is AFTT Conversations, led by the Black Consciousness Film Festival.
"The panel discussions are targeted at youth and (the series) is called The Ears that Hear and the Eyes that
can See. It is about passing on traditions from one generation to the other and discussing how culture and tradition are communicated through storytelling and film."
She said people of all ages can look forward to hearing from peop
