Africa in Motion

Welcome to Africa in Motion 2010, the festival’s fifth birthday!

We are very excited to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Africa in Motion. The growth of the festival is visible in the increased length, the wide variety of events and festivities and the diversity of our audiences. AiM’s massive success is thanks to our loyal audiences over the years, and your belief in the power of African films – thank you!

The profile of the festival has grown steadily since the inaugural season in 2006, as was affirmed by a prestigious international award we received earlier this year. The main theme of AiM 2009 was a focus on issues of trauma, conflict and reconciliation in a pan-African context, as 2009 was the United Nation’s International Year of Reconciliation. Not only were we asked to compile a report on the festival that was presented to the UN Secretary General in January this year, but we also received an award for our contribution to drawing attending to reconciliation issues, for which we travelled to Bern in Switzerland!

En Attendant les Hommes (Waiting for Men)

This fifth edition of the festival is entirely devoted to celebrations. Firstly, we are of course celebrating the successes of AiM so far, including our appreciation of our devoted audience members who grow in number every year. We are also celebrating 50 years of independence of 17 African countries. The programme is dedicated to celebrating freedom and independence, and the creativity and innovation in African filmmaking.

This year our extensive programme includes over 70 films from 28 African countries. AiM 2010 is structured thematically, with every day dedicated to a different theme including: Mandela, children, dance, North Africa, the environment, sport, music, design and beauty. We are also focusing on a number of the 17 African countries celebrating their 50 years of independence.

The Dancing Forest

As always, we present a wide range of exciting complementary events with many partners all over Edinburgh: there is a poetry event at the Scottish Poetry Library, a children’s animation workshop with Red Kite, a dance workshop at Dance Base and a fashion extravaganza in collaboration with Noir! and the Edinburgh College of Art. We are also once again taking some of the films on our rural Scottish tour in November. We will be visiting communities in Fife, Cromarty, Orkney and Skye. Please join us there if you can!

Thank you to our dedicated team of staff and volunteers, all our partners and supporters, and especially Filmhouse Cinema and all the wonderful people who work there.

We hope that you will enjoy this 16-day celebration with us!

Travelling to Edinburgh for the festival? You can find more information on how to get to Edinburgh and where to stay here.

Africa in Motion (AiM) is an annual African film festival based at Filmhouse Cinema in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Africa in Motion 2010 is taking place from 21 October to 5 November.

Still from 3SAI A Rite of Passage by Paul Emmanuel, winner of the AiM09 short film competition

AiM is the biggest African film festival in the UK and screen dozens of films from all over the continent, including shorts, documentaries and features. A number of African filmmakers are in attendance each year to talk to audiences about their work and the screenings are accompanied by a variety of complementary events such as discussions, masterclasses, seminars and music events.

The festival’s main goal is to overcome the under-representation of African film in the UK and to introduce Scottish audiences to the riches of African cinema.

Past Festivals

Africa in Motion 2009

Africa in Motion 2008

Africa in Motion 2007

Africa in Motion 2006

AiM10 – Celebrations

 In the twentieth century, and especially since the end of the war, […] we have seen the awakening of national consciousness in peoples who have for centuries lived in dependence upon some other power. Fifteen years ago this movement spread through Asia. Many countries there, of different races and civilisations, pressed their claim to an independent national life.

Today the same thing is happening in Africa, and the most striking of all the impressions I have formed since I left London a month ago is of the strength of this African national consciousness. In different places it takes different forms, but it is happening everywhere.

The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it.

This is an excerpt from the WIND OF CHANGE speech by Harold MacMillan, held in Accra on 10 January 1960 and on 3 February 1960 in Cape Town. It signalled the beginning of a change in the British Conservative government’s policies which soon led to the decolonisation of the occupied territories in Africa. This year, 17 African countries are celebrating 50 years of independence from Britain, France and Belgium: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Somalia and Togo.

To commemorate 50 years of independence of these countries, AiM10’s central theme is Celebrations. While 50 years of independence and decolonisation are the perfect occasion for celebrations, the consequences of colonisation, imperialism and extortion are still felt to this day, with Europe continuing to have a strong influence on its ex-colonies. AiM therefore wishes not only to celebrate 50 years of independence of these 17 African countries, but also to emphasise the complexity of global politics and power structures, and to evaluate the state of Africa 50 years after independence.  We want to celebrate and explore national consciousness and the formation of African nation states as a complex historical fact. As always, we will devote time to constructive discussions and debate in order to create a space for audience members to reflect on the films and what they tell us about nationalism and independence in Africa, as well as on Britain’s colonial history and current relationship with its ex-colonies.

Another reason for celebration is AiM’s fifth birthday, with the festival having grown into a significant and internationally recognised independent film festival in the short space of five years. We will celebrate AiM’s existence as a film festival valuing and giving scope to African filmmakers and their creativity, through which the festival has been able to grow and flourish, along with the vital support of our loyal audiences.

We will also celebrate African creativity and the rich diversity of African cultural traditions through showcasing films covering themes such as African music and dance, pre-colonial and contemporary rituals and ceremonies, garments and jewellery used for festivities, culinary traditions, and mask making and wearing. Although our emphasis will firmly be on celebrating Africa, the films screened will resist the exoticisation which Africa so often fall victim to. We have just opened a call for entries for documentaries to do with celebrations, as well as a call for submissions for our third and highly successful short film competition; use the links on the menu bar to find out more about these. Workshops for kids and adults on music, song, dance and storytelling, will accompany screenings. There will again be music performances, African dishes served in the café, African jewellery and crafts for sale, arts exhibitions and filmmakers in attendance. It will, once again, be an exciting and challenging AiM!