‘Africa and I’, a documentary about an adventurer that traveled from Morroco to South Africa, won Best First Feature Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Los Angeles.
This prestigious event is an official qualifying film festival for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
The doccie follows Morrocan Othmane Zolati as he travels more than 30 000km by bicycle, skateboard and on foot. He crossed 24 countries in total during this four-year journey, and through the footage in his film, viewers get to witness an Africa they might not expect.
Before Othmane left Morroco, he was forewarned about the dangers of the “dark continent” seen in the media: countries filled with poverty, crime and disease. But what he witnessed, and what he shares in his documentary, is not the continent described by the rest of the world. Instead, he discovered countries that were “vivid, varied and alive, full of beauty and surprises.”
Othmane luckily had a great team who shared his vision for ‘Africa and I’. The film was co-directed by Zolati and Chris Green, who worked on ‘Chasing the Sun’, a South African documentary about South Africa’s rise to glory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. ‘Africa and I’ was also produced by Both Worlds Pictures, who previously worked on ‘Recipes for Love and Murder’.
Thierry Cassuto, founder of Both Worlds Pictures, had unwavering faith in the film after he saw all the raw footage.
“From the first day Othmane showed me some of the 200 hundreds hours of beautiful footage he had filmed during his journey, making ‘Africa & I’ has been an intense labour of love for the entire Both Worlds team and co-director Chris Green, who helped Othmane shape and tell his amazing story,” said Cassuto, reported in an article by IOL.
Cassuto continued to thank the PAFF: “We are grateful to the jury of the Pan African Film and Arts Festival for recognising this first film by a young director who will, I am sure, take us through many more amazing adventures in the future”.
The PAFF is a world-renowned organization based in Los Angeles. Every year, it’s their vision to showcase an extensive array of black creative film works from around the world. They highlight and support those filmmakers who attempt to reinforce positive images of misrepresented countries and peoples across the globe, and they help to dismantle harmful beliefs and stereotypes.
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Picture: zolatiothmane / Instagram