Don Edkins: Creating an African Voice
Variety (July 20) brought an article (written by Christopher Vourlias) from Durban Intl. Film Festival, where Don Edkins was talking. Characterised in the article as « veteran filmmaker and executive director of non-profit group Steps », I can only add from many – but still too few – meetings with Edkins that he stands out as a pioneer, when it comes to production and distribution of documentaries in Africa, but also internationally, a true gentleman, who has been a wonderful visitor, when he came to Copenhagen, mostly together with his Finnish friend and collaborator Iikka Vehkalahti.
I pick a couple of quotes from the article that you should definitely read in its total length, link below :
“For me, in my work as a filmmaker and producer, the documentary genre has a particular role,” he said. “It’s about real people, about real situations, about looking at the state of our societies, about challenging the status quo, and making it possible to talk about difficult issues, and also about inspiring people…”
« …Several years later, Edkins would bring that lesson to bear on a monumental project focused on the HIV and AIDS crisis affecting southern and eastern Africa in the 1990s. “The documentary films being made about it were being made by European and American filmmakers, and were about death, tragedy, and hopelessness,” he said. Through the non-profit media company Steps, he helped build a community of African filmmakers and European supporters that in the span of a year produced 38 documentary films centered on people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. The films would go on to screen at over 300 festivals and be broadcast on TV stations around the world…”
… » The organization is now focused on growing its community of filmmakers closer to home with Generation Africa, an initiative that involves filmmakers, journalists, artists, migration experts, and documentary film mentors. “The aim of Generation Africa is to provide an African narrative to the global discourse on migration, to hear the voices of the majority youth on the continent, about their aspirations and challenges, and to help shift and disrupt the world around us,” said Edkins. The group currently has 30 films from 17 African nations in production or development…”
