The management of Accra Indie Filmfest (AiF) has launched the 4th edition of this annual international short film festival that throws more light on cultural exchanges between Ghana and the United Kingdom, which began in 2019 with the maiden edition.
The much-anticipated short film festival solidified its relevance as one of the biggest film festivals in the world with its maiden edition in 2019, the sophomore edition, followed with Virtual Access Edition in 2020 and a hybrid edition in 2021. AiF has gradually registered itself as one of the highly competitive and innovative international film festivals on the African continent.
The 5-day event slated for 2nd to 6th August 2022 will consist of exhibitions, film screenings, master classes, industry conversations, an award ceremony and so much more to experience. As part of the festival comes AiF FilmArt 2022, a flagship film incubation programme for young and emerging filmmakers in partnership with a UK-based production company, Mediathirsty Production, and supported by the British Council.
This is to give underrepresented emerging screenwriters in the UK an opportunity to collaborate with young filmmaking teams in Ghana. This programme is designed to foster cultural and experiential exchanges between Ghana and the UK and to birth new narratives.
The 4th edition is celebrated under the theme ‘Expand Your Creative Horizon’ and will be the first time it has resumed as a full in-person festival after emergence of the global pandemic COVID-19 in 2020. There will still be some virtual elements to help widen the audience scope for the festival, according to management.
The festival has already closed submissions and has received over 700 short films from 98 countries waiting for official selections to be announced in couple of weeks. Accra Indie Filmfest is a non-profit organisation established as a hub for emerging and independent filmmakers searching for their voices in storytelling.
The management stated that as part of this new phase of the Ghana film industry, there is a need for them to contribute to the solution by tackling the problem from its core foundation, saying: “We are super proud to continuously stay in our core mandate of addressing some of the major challenges faced by young and independent filmmakers all around the world; which include the lack of conducive atmosphere for short film productions and exhibitions. This offers us enough energy to curate this year’s edition of the festival to meet the current global need of film experience”.
