THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen was founded in 1954 and is not only one of the oldest short film festivals in the world but also one of the major international platforms for the short form.
Every year in spring the festival takes place in Oberhausen with this year marking the 66th anniversary. The Corona pandemic has however put a stop to festivals like this one, at least in the form we knew. However, instead of cancelling the screenings, the organisers have decided to take the Festival online this year.
This, in fact, could even make the festival accessible to more visitors, since it enables many people who might normally not have been able to make it to Oberhausen to attend the screenings, discussions and panels.
The new collaboration premieres with the Nairobi Goethe-Institute presenting the multidisciplinary artist collective The Nest. The collective will be showcasing their interactive web series “Tuko Macho” which deals with the social realities of the city of Nairobi and reflects African urban and contemporary experiences, including crime and vigilantism.
Some of the pressing social issues that the collective deals with include issues of queerness and feminism in Kenya, the situation of the young generation of millenials and the dysfunctional systems in which so many Kenyans live. All these are addressed in the mini-series “We Need Prayers” which will also be showcased during the film festival.
And what’s a festival without a party? DJane Akati Khasiani, Kenyan writer, musician and member of The Nest collective will be hosting an online party night. If she gets you hooked to the beat and you want more music from The Nest, just visit their website, where they regularly feature new sounds by members of the collective.
The Nest Collective was founded in Nairobi in 2012 and unites artists from the fields of film, music, fashion, visual arts and literature. The queer anthology film “Stories of Our Lives”, realised by the collective, has been shown in over 80 countries and has won numerous awards.
The Nest Collective also founded the first creative business fund of its kind in Africa, HEVA-Africa, to strengthen the livelihood of creative entrepreneurs in East Africa.
Find out more about The Nest by visiting their website HERE.
Tina Adomako
This year’s International Short Film Festival Oberhausen takes place online from 13th to 18th May. The festival ticket costs less than 10 € and gives access to all screenings and other online events. To register, go the festival website: https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/blog-festival-2020/
