Tag: awards

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Djimon Hounsou finds Blood Diamond in December

Djimon HousouThe word is Warner Bros. has finally set a December 15 release date for the highly anticipated movie ” Blood Diamond”. This comes as a surprise for me considering the pressure they’ve been getting from the Diamond industry about how the movie will hurt holiday sales of diamonds. The movie has been talked about for at least the past year, with people on all sides jockeying for position on the issue conflict diamonds. Though the movie stars Djimon Housou, one of my favorite actors, I’m skeptical about the portrayal of Africans. Having read an early script myself, I am not sure if the movie will do justice to the topic of conflict diamonds nor will it help the image of Africans in the public eye. At first reading the movie seems to be another attempt at hollywood to dumb down an important topic, but I’m reminded by a movie industry expert that scripts can be changed during production. By sticking to their original plans to release the movie during the holidays and not pushing it to the diamond industry proposed release date of January 2007, Warner Bros. is obviously confident about the star power – Leonardo Dicaprio plays the lead character – , pr controversy, and possible academy award nominations to push box office sales. The diamond industry in hopes of saving face have also got some star power of their own, partnering with Nelson Mandela to lend credibility to their efforts to change their business tactics. Despite my pessimism about the movie itself, I’m interested to see how this will play out in the coming months. Check back here for updates.

DiCaprio Housou Blood Diamond

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Namibian Venantia Otto wins Face of Africa 2006

Vanentia- Winner, Face of Africa 2006Venantia Otto was announced as the winner of the the 2006 Nokia Face of Africa competition. The Namibian-born Venantia beat out the other 10 finalists from all over Africa and was announced as the winner of the US$150,000 prize modeling contract courtesy Elite Model Management – which has represented models such as Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks, Iman, and Naomi Campbell. Venantia hopes to take New York by storm when she begins her tenure with one of the world’s biggest and boldest agencies. The Nokia Face of Africa 2006 Final was broadcast to over 40 African countries.

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Songstress Goapele Receives Activism Award

GoapeleFor those who don’t know, get familiar with this songstress. Goapele (the name means ‘to move forward’ in Sitswana, a South African language) has been doing her thing for a while both on the music and political front.

“The Bay area-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights will honor neo soul singer Goapele with its first ever “Human Rights Cultural Hero Award” next month.
Known almost as much for her political activism as for her smooth voice and groove-driven music, the singer will accept the award on September 12 during the Center’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, “Tribute to the Dream.” – Vibe

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Virtual game teaches African history to MTV generation

Africa MMO by Africast and Rapid RealityThough it is part of our history many young Africans (myself included) cringe at being characterized by drums, spears, and war paint. But one innovative company is hoping to change the implications of those descriptions. With their creation of a virtual Africa circa 1200 AD, Rapid Reality is hoping their game Africa MMO, a multiplayer online video game, sheds light on the misunderstood continent. The brains behind the Africa MMO game are John Sarpong, grandson of Ashanti king Prampeh of Ghana who runs Africast Global Media, Inc., a company that acquires and distributes a variety of Africa-focused media content, Adam Ghetti, a 19-year-old creative director at Rapid Reality, and Tracy Spaight, a 35-year-old lead designer who studied history at the PhD program at Cornell University and taught world history for five years, to include African cultures. Due to be released in December 2006, the game has already received the Most Innovative Concept Award at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo). To add to the draw of the game the developers are making the game accessible to Africans on the continent as well. “Africa,” which will be distributed via the Internet, will be designed to run well even on the less powerful computers frequented by Africans in their countries’ cybercafes. While I’m not familiar with online gaming (I stopped playing video games at Super Mario Bros.) I am quite optimistic about the game.

Here are some quotes from the game’s developers:
“We’ll take African mythology, folklore and legend and take all the bits that are somewhat familiar – we want it to be new so that people experience something they’ve never encountered before any MMO before and it’s rich and deep and fun.”

“We felt very strongly that video games can help increase understanding and education about Africa and get the unmotivated public fired up about what is going on with Africa”

“The African mythology back from 1200 to 1400 A.D. is thousands of times richer than the J.R.R. Tolkien series of novels. Don’t get me wrong, he was an amazing individual with brilliant ideas. But that’s been milked for 80 years now.”

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Creating an African film experience

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun directs Dry SeasonChadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is dedicated to his craft. Like many African born filmmakers he is intent of furthering the African experience through film. Using his country, Chad, as a backdrop he is currently at work on another film that puts a face on the people who experience the challenges of living on the continent. A recent Washington Post article talks about the lengths to which he and his crew are going to make his movie Dry Season authentic. To some extent his filmmaking style is more documentary than entertainment. His previous films Bye Bye Africa and Abouna similarly put a face on the 30-year Chadian civil war.

Mr. Haroun is one of many filmmakers who are creating great films without the support or existence of a native filmmaking industry. Besides the virtual nonexistence of a film community and ongoing political repression, many African filmmakers also face the challenge of seeking funding abroad with “many international donors viewing the arts as a luxury in times of food shortages, health crises and other emergencies”. Fueled by their travels and a new access to resources not available in their countries, more and more Africans are using their artistic vision to tell stories of Africa as they have experienced it. Last November in New York City, I got a chance to see one of the movies cited in the Post article, Hip Hop Colony, sweep the H20 (Hip-Hop Odyssey) International Film Festival Odyssey awards, winning the Best Feature Documentary award and the Heineken Emerging Filmmaker Award. Along with Bling: Consequences and Repercussions, Hip Hop Colony was a highlight at the festival, bringing Africa-themed films to the forefront. South African film Tsotsi’s win (Best Foreign Language Film of the Year) at February’s Academy Awards has given African film a new life and with more structure they will stand a better chance of getting funding and distribution to the world.

“Africa has such a terrible image,” said Issa Traoré de Brahima, a filmmaker from Burkina Faso who was working on the Chadian film. “And at the same time, we have so many talented people with artists’ souls. We just wish they didn’t have to leave the continent to earn a living. But in some places that is slowly changing.”

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Liberian wins Environmental Award

Silas Siakor 2006 Goldman Prize winnerFor those who were wondering about Google’s latest logo, this past Saturday marked Earth Day 2006. In commemoration of Earth Day and to promote environmental awareness worldwide, The Goldman Environmental Prize will be awarded today in a ceremony in San Francisco. One of the six recipients this year is Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor (36), a Liberian environmentalist who exposed evidence that Liberian President Charles Taylor used the profits of unchecked, rampant logging to pay the costs of a brutal 14-year civil war that left 150,000 people dead. At great personal risk, Siakor collected extremely hard-to-get evidence of falsified logging records, illegal logging practices and associated human rights abuses. He passed the evidence to the United Nations Security Council, which then banned the export of Liberian timber. Fearing for his life Mr. Siakor left Liberia for a period of exile spent in several neighboring countries.

With international sanctions on timber exports set to be lifted in June, Mr. Siakor continues fighting powerful forces that want to tap into Liberia’s forests as a source of income. As director of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), in January he published a report outlining the sort of reforms he feels need to be carried out in order to protect the long term future of Liberia’s forests and the wildlife that depends upon them.

The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalist. Described as “the Nobel Prize for grassroots environmentalism” the prize provides International recognition, worldwide visibility, and financial support of $125,000 to the winners to pursue their vision of a renewed and protected environment. After the San Francisco ceremony today at the Opera House, the Prize winners will travel to Washington D.C. for an awards ceremony and events at the National Press Club, on Capitol Hill and at the Brookings Institute with political, policy and environmental leaders.

Info: BBC

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Making Mali Music

Mali's Ali Farka TouréThe NY Times recently published an excellent article on the Malian music scene and it’s growth beyond it’s borders.

“A Malian music boom that began in the 1990’s, when the soulful vocalist Salif Keita and the singer-guitarist Ali Farka Touré achieved international stardom, has brought an influx of tourists, record producers and aspiring musicians seeking to emulate the stars’ successes. (The news of Mr. Touré’s death on March 6 from cancer resonated around the world.) As a result, Bamako has become a meeting place and incubator for West African talent, and one of the best places on the planet to hear live music.”

This year’s Grammy Awards featured two Malian albums in the Best Traditional World Music Album category. Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabate’s win against fellow Malian Mamadou Diabate for their album In the Heart of the Moon,” goes on to re-enforce the worldwide appeal of the distinct sound and culture Mali continues to produce.

Link courtesy of The In Crowd

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Ghanaian Twins get Rising Star Award nomination after feature in Black Enterprise Magazine

Roadstarr Motorsports in Black Enterprise MagazineI must give props to Black Enterprise Magazine. For as long as I can remember they have continued to deliver timely and in depth stories about issues relating to black business. The January 2006 issue was no exception. On first glance the cover story, “Great opportunities for young entrepreneurs”, was the usual feature but upon reading it I soon found that it highlighted three African entrepreneurs who are making an impact in the business world.

One of those entrepreneurs, Roadstarr Motorsports, has made such an impact as to be nominated for a Black Enterprise Magazine Rising Star Award. Started in 2001 by Ghanaian twins Hassan and Hussein Iddrissu (28) and cousin John Spio , Roadstarr Motorsports has been making a flashy impact in the car customization culture. As the popularity of MTV’ Pimp My Ride has shown, car customization is really taking off in the mainstream. Not ones to fall into line the Ghanaian boys have taken the trend to another level by targeting only the very high-end luxury cars like Porches, Lamborghini’s, and Mercedes Benz. Their hard work is certainly paying off. RoadStarr MotorSports, located in Los Angeles, California, generated 3.8 million in revenue in 2005 and appearing on the cover of January’s Black Enterprise and now the award nomination, their stock can only go up. Get the new issue of Black Enterprise to see the other nominees.

Congratulations to Roadstarr Motorsports.

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Nokia picks the Face of Africa for 2006

Oluchi OnweagbaOn April 22 the Nokia Face of Africa 2006 contest will have its final casting in Johannesburg, South Africa. Having covered 12 cities since February, the contest is in its eighth year of selecting a unique model who will reign as the Face of Africa. In countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, Namibia and Nigeria, a scouting team has already chosen a semi-finalist. The winner of the continent-wide search will be chosen on August 13 in Sun City in Johannesburg.

Though the contest has been long running, with Nokia backing the efforts, the winner of the contest will gain more exposure than the winners of the past. Only one model so far has turned her win into an international modeling career, though others continue to work as models. Since winning the contest in 1998 at the age of seventeen, Nigerian model Oluchi Onweagba was awarded a three-year contract by Elite Models Management. Oluchi (as she’s known in the modeling world) has since graced the covers of Italian Vogue, I-D, Elle, Untold, and Surface and has been featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and Vogue while working with the who’s-who of the fashion world.

The Nokia Face of Africa 2006 contest is being filmed by South Africa’s M-Net channel for its African lifestyle program Studio 53 and will dedicate three programs in July to the search for Nokia Face of Africa 2006.

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Cape Town Fashion Week dates announced

Stones CherrieOne of the largest gatherings of African fashion talent will take place this July in Cape Town, South Africa. Nokia Cape Town Fashion Week will take place 11th -15th July 2006 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

With the rising interest in African fashion, Cape Town Fashion Week is positioning itself as the gateway to Africa and its fashion talent. Known as the place where many foreigners first experience Africa, Cape Town looks to be the center of African fashion as well. Guest designers, from over ten African countries such as Nigeria, Namibia, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania, will join local designers such as Stoned Cherrie, and Sun Goddess to showcase their Spring/Summer 06/07 collections.