Medeshi Sep 29, 2008Fiction on Somalia wins award
Kent Mensah and Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editors in Accra, Ghana
A fiction on environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia - Charcoal Traffic - has won the Best Short Fiction award at the San Francisco, California (USA) VideoFest. It is a story of two brothers trapped in a murderous cycle of environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia.
Charcoal Traffic has been selected and screened at 19 film festivals around the world, a press statement to AfricaNews from Hot Sun Foundation on Monday said. Santa Mukabanah, Hot Sun Foundation Communications Officer, who signed the statement said: “Charcoal Traffic is especially close to our hearts considering that one of the co-founders of Hot Sun Foundation, Mr. Gordon Ojiambo co-produced the short film. He is a testament of the unique creativity available in the Kibera slum.”
It added: “Charcoal Traffic is the world's first short fictional film based on Somali pastoral culture. It was shot entirely on location in northern Somalia under very challenging conditions due to almost 20 years of civil war.”
What makes the movie unique, the statement said, is that it is made up of an entirely local Somali cast with no previous acting experience. It was acted in the Somali language but with English subtitles for international viewers.
Charcoal Traffic was directed by Nathan Collett, assisted by Godfrey Ojiambo, and co-produced by international award winning environmentalist, Fatima Jibrell with James Lindsay, co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking. Godfrey Ojiambo, resident of Kibera and trustee of Hot Sun Foundation, travelled with Nathan Collett to Somalia to film Charcoal Traffic.
The BEST SHORT FICTION AWARD would to be presented to Charcoal Traffic during the VideoFest in San Francisco, California, October 17-18, 2008. Charcoal Traffic was made possible because of an alliance between two unique east African organizations - Sun Fire Cooking and Hot Sun Films.
Kent Mensah and Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editors in Accra, Ghana
A fiction on environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia - Charcoal Traffic - has won the Best Short Fiction award at the San Francisco, California (USA) VideoFest. It is a story of two brothers trapped in a murderous cycle of environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia.
Charcoal Traffic has been selected and screened at 19 film festivals around the world, a press statement to AfricaNews from Hot Sun Foundation on Monday said. Santa Mukabanah, Hot Sun Foundation Communications Officer, who signed the statement said: “Charcoal Traffic is especially close to our hearts considering that one of the co-founders of Hot Sun Foundation, Mr. Gordon Ojiambo co-produced the short film. He is a testament of the unique creativity available in the Kibera slum.”
It added: “Charcoal Traffic is the world's first short fictional film based on Somali pastoral culture. It was shot entirely on location in northern Somalia under very challenging conditions due to almost 20 years of civil war.”
What makes the movie unique, the statement said, is that it is made up of an entirely local Somali cast with no previous acting experience. It was acted in the Somali language but with English subtitles for international viewers.
Charcoal Traffic was directed by Nathan Collett, assisted by Godfrey Ojiambo, and co-produced by international award winning environmentalist, Fatima Jibrell with James Lindsay, co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking. Godfrey Ojiambo, resident of Kibera and trustee of Hot Sun Foundation, travelled with Nathan Collett to Somalia to film Charcoal Traffic.
The BEST SHORT FICTION AWARD would to be presented to Charcoal Traffic during the VideoFest in San Francisco, California, October 17-18, 2008. Charcoal Traffic was made possible because of an alliance between two unique east African organizations - Sun Fire Cooking and Hot Sun Films.
