Tag: natural-resources

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Kenya’s first Sci-Fi film hits Sundance

Pumzi FilmMade by writer/director Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya’s first science fiction film to hit Sundance, Pumzi, takes place “thirty-five years after World War III, the “Water War,” and tells the story of a woman from East Africa who flees an enclosed community in hopes of once again restoring life outside its walls. The film which screened last month at the Sundance Film Festival was made with grant money from Focus Features’ Africa First short film program, the Goethe Institut, and the Changamoto arts fund, and was part of the festival’s New African Cinema program.

Like recent standouts District 9 and Sleep Dealer, the short film taps into Third World realities and spins them forward for dramatic effect. But to produce Pumzi, Kahiu looked to the past, as well as the future. She researched classic 1950s films to create her movie’s futuristic sets, comparing the processes of matte painting and rear-screen projection with indigenous African artwork. “We already have a tradition of tapestries and functional art and things like that, that loan a backdrop for films,” Kahiu said.

via Underwire

Pumzi_director

With Focus Features’ Ditrict 9 now considered a global box office success and it’s recent Academy Award nomination, look out for more funding to be injected into Africa-inspired films. As Ms. Kahiu proves, the whole continent – not just South Africa – has endless stories to tell and Africans are dreaming up creative ways to tell them.

Watch the Pumzi trailer below:

If you can’t see the video above click here

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Morocco’s desert region a widescreen backdrop for Hollywood films

Speaking about the Ouarzazate region in Morocco, The Global Post reports:

Chances are you’ve unwittingly seen this region’s wild vistas in any number of movies. Among other locales, the desert was billed as Iraq in “Body of Lies,” dressed up as Jerusalem in “Kingdom of Heaven” and transformed into ancient Egypt in “The Mummy Returns.”

An array of ready-built sets, cheap labor and stunning landscapes has helped turn this sleepy provincial capital into a Third World Hollywood.

Production remnants abound, from concrete castles and plaster villages, to an American gas station falling to pieces beside a two-lane road. Featured in the horror film “The Hills Have Eyes,” its English sign offers non-existent beer to the Muslim drivers passing by.

But veterans of the country’s film trade say they wish more of their studios were in use this year. The global downturn has caused several big films to cancel or push back start dates, delaying cash upon which a growing population of technicians, actors and extras have come to depend.

The video below tells an interesting story of the North African desert’s draw for Hollywood.

If you can’t see the video above click here.

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Maker Faire Africa edition 2009 (video)

Below is an excellent video documenting the recent inaugural Maker Faire Africa event held in Accra, Ghana. The event was organized as a a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, with strong participation by local makers. Find out more about the event and the upcoming 2010 Kenya edition at the official website here. A job well done by the organizers.

via whiteafrican

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Annansi notes: Brangelina buys Ethiopia, Africom, MTV Africa awards begins, (RED)washing at Gap

  • Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought Ethiopia. (Not the African country itself, but the island which represents Ethiopia in Dubai’s island phenomenon The World)
  • American general seeks to play down fears over new Africa command. (Uhhh… sure. No worries.)
  • Africa’s nuclear hopes. (Could this be the solution to the electricity shortages?)
  • MTV begins Africa Music Awards (Viacom knows where the money is)
  • More (RED)washing at The Gap (African charity still gets consumers in the retail door)
  • Gucci’s African charity Indy bag drops (holidays + African charity = $$$$)
  • India eyes Africa to meet rising energy needs (African’s need to refine and accelerate our business models)
  • First black (Nigerian) mayor elected in Ireland (A Nigerian Irish mayor. Wow!)
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Why Africa’s oil riches don’t make Africans richer

Here’s an interesting read from Wharton School’s Knowledge network.

But most Africans are seeing little benefit from this influx of oil drillers and investment. In fact, because of an economic paradox known as the “Resource Curse,” they are often hurt by exports of their countries’ oil. “Between 1970 and 1993, countries without oil saw their economies grow four times faster than those of countries with oil,” Ghazvinian notes, adding that oil exports inflate the value of a country’s currency, making its other exports uncompetitive. At the same time, workers flock to booming petroleum businesses, which saps other sectors of the economy. “Your country becomes import-dependent,” he says. “That decimates a country’s agriculture and traditional industries.”

(via CB)

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Tanzania launches first ever US television campaign on CNN

Tanzania TV campaignTwo weeks ago I attended the African Travel Association‘s Second Annual Presidential Forum on Tourism at New York University. The forum, organized by the ATA – a global travel trade association promoting tourism to Africa – and hosted by NYU’s Africa House, was put together to provide African leaders from Tanzania, Ghana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, and Rwanda with the opportunity to “present the continent’s rich travel opportunities to almost 200 leaders from government, non-government and business communities, the tourism industry, travel trade media, and education”. As we waited for the Presidents and representatives to arrive, I spoke to Maria Mmari, Tanzania’s Assistant Director of Tourism Development, who told me about her country’s efforts to encourage tourism. Ms. Mmari informed me that the week prior, Tanzania had launched it’s first ever television campaign “Tanzania: Land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and The Serengeti” with an event at at Tavern on the Green. In line with the ATA’s ATA presidential forumcurrent theme of promoting “Destination Africa“, Tanzania’s campaign focuses on positioning the nation as the home of some of Africa’s most recognized destinations, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti, Speaking to Ms. Mmari, I got the feeling that the Tanzanian tourism board had the right idea about what steps to take to encourage American tourism. As Ali Velshi, CNN senior business correspondent, said during his presentation at forum, “American tourists are concerned with safety, reliable communications, stable governance, reliable banking, and luxury”, and African countries hoping to attract these high-spending tourists need to find ways of alleviating these fears. Though I haven’t yet seen Tanzania’s television spot on CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN Airport and CNN.com where it is currently running, I applaud the Tanzanian government for taking the steps to create a brand association for their country. I would encourage the tourism board to continue their efforts. It’s good to see that African governments are taking branding and marketing seriously. I’ve long argued that African countries needs to work on their brand image at the same time as it is working on it’s other problems. While everything might not be perfect on the ground, there is no reason not to start the process of repairing the global image and get interested parties involved in our successes early on.

Bradford Global Marketing, New York, is handling the campaign, which will run through the year-end holidays on CNN’s airport network. Placement also includes CNN’s “Headline News and CNN.com through next March and resumes again next fall. Budget was not disclosed. The outreach also will include on online training program to train travel agents as destination specialists. The U.S. is Tanzania’s No. 2 source market behind the U.K. More on the campaign at BrandWeek

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More oil found in Ghana

The headline says it all.

Tullow Oil has made another “significant” oil discovery in Ghana, in a block adjacent to one where it made a big discovery in June, supporting investor hopes that the country will become a major profit centre for the firm.
London-based Tullow said in a statement on Wednesday that the Hyedua-1 well discovered “a significant light oil accumulation”, in the Deepwater Tano block, which Tullow operates and in which it has a 50 percent stake. U.S.-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp and private-equity backed Kosmos Energy own 18 percent each.

Oil will be developed as soon as 2011. Read more

(via YG)

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Climate change threatens Ghana’s economic future

Akosombo Dam by ckoukkosSpeaking to people living in Ghana recently, I had become worried by the ongoing power problems. While power outages are nothing new to many of us in developing countries, I have started getting worried about the effects of Ghana’s ongoing power issues on the country’s looming economic growth spurt. While power shortages are an inconvenience to the regular Ghanaian, for Ghana’s growing entrepreneur class the shortages are a critical issue. The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Phillips writes

Just as its economy is picking up steam, Ghana is finding its growth stunted by a force beyond its control: climate change.

Rainfall in the West African country has declined so sharply in recent years that the water level behind the 41-year-old Akosombo Dam, long the country’s main power source, is now at a record low, forcing the government to ration power and companies to invest in costly diesel generators. Economists estimate the water-and-power shortage could slash as much as two percentage points off Ghana’s economic growth this year.

The water level at the Akosombo Dam is 41 feet below the dam’s high-water mark, affecting Ghana’s power distribution and subsequently it’s business climate. “Officials say they will bring emergency generators on line and hope a long-dormant plan to add a Chinese-financed dam on the Black Volta River, upstream from Akosombo, will become a reality within a few years.” the WSJ article points out. But while global warming has accelerated it’s unreliability, many Ghanaians I’ve spoken to fault government officials for not moving quickly enough to find alternative sources of electricity to relieve the pressure on the 41-year old Akosombo Dam. With the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and numerous other economically beneficial events planned in the next year alone, Ghana is at a crossroads and a wrong step can undo 50 years of steady growth.

(photo by ckoukkos)