AfricAvenir Windhoek: Broadening our Work in 2012

The year of AfricAvenir Windhoek has started off very successful and it promises to remain that way. AfricAvenir Windhoek attended the 1st edition of Luxor African Film Festival where AfricAvenir was official partner and co-organizer. We were glad to see that this 1st edition of the festival had such a good and prominent attendance and an omnipresent Pan-African character. |+| ReportnRemaining in the region, AfricAvenir has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentary and Short Films (Egypt) to be hosted in June 2012. The festival celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. |+| Website of the Festival 
Our main project in Windhoek, the monthly film series  "African Perspectives" remains an integral part of the cultural scene in Namibia’s capital. We now have once again picked up speed by extending our monthly screenings to a second venue. After screening African films at the Studio 77 since 2008, we now additionally screen at the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) mid of the month. |+| Next Screening: A Screaming Man 
The FNCC has been our partner since 2007 when we started our screening initiative. In 2009 we once again teamed up with the FNCC and also with Joe Vision Production in order to establish the "Namibian Movie Collection". Overexceeding our hopes and dreams, the movie collection has spread its wings and currently we hold 45 films in the collection. We hope to reach 50 films by the end of 2012. |+| Namibian Movie CollectionnThe movie collection has also sparked some interest in neighbouring countries and we hope, that similiar initiatives can be duplicated in the SADC region.
 
Our work shows some effects also in the region. After having advised the African Arts Institute in Cape Town in 2011 to establish an African film series in Cape Town and select films, we recently were able to share our knowledge with cineasts in Sambia to also establish an African film series in Lusaka. We wish them well in their endevours.nWe received some interest from Namibia’s coastal town Swakopmund and the business hub in Northern Namibia, Ondangwa, to also create these regular screenings in these places. We welcome the interest and wish these initiatives all the best. Where we can assist, we will assist!
 
We hope we can broaden our work by creating an oral history project, which should record the testimonials of Namibian World War II veterans like Tate Hermann Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Mzee Simon Kaukungwa, and Uncle Paul. Especially for this project we need additional funding and we invite all interested parties to contact us in this regard.
 
Your AfricAvenir team Windhoek