President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

In May and early June, AFI Project 20/20 conducted several screenings and dialogues with local audiences in South Africa. AFI Project 20/20 is an American Film Institute (AFI) program done in collaboration with the President's Committee on the Arts & the Humanities. It is the only international film and filmmaker program that is supported by three of America's principle cultural agencies—National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—and the U.S. State Department.

South African university students participated in a recent AFI Project 20/20 program with U.S. and African filmmakers.

In South Africa, AFI 20/20 filmmakers Jay Craven (US), Chad Lowe (US), Norman Maake (South Africa) and JB Rutagurama (US/Rwanda) showed their films and spoke with audiences in Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg. In the township of Nyanga outside Cape Town, one filmmaker remarked on how "the kids and college kids that came to that screening were so engaged and starving for dialogue and interaction." The inclusion of two African films in the visit to South Africa was particularly powerful as there is "very little distribution for African films" and AFI Project: 20/20 was able to open a window not only on America, but also their own continent as well.

Filmmaker Jay Craven and his film Disappearances were among the AFI Project 20/20 delegation that shared their artistic expertise and experiences with audiences in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

As AFI FEST Associate Director of Programming, Shaz Bennett remarked on her experience in this delegation “The power of film to reflect the universal truths that different world cultures can identify and embrace was a highlight of the visit and underscores a key aspect of project 20/20. There were wonderful conversations about what responsibility lies with the filmmakers to fairly and accurately depict the cultural identities of the characters and places in their films and stories. We also all talked at length with the audiences about the experience of sharing the world's view through each other's films and stories."

All the filmmakers in the delegation concurred that "AFI Project 20/20 could inspire and encourage the local filmmakers to tell their own stories in a powerful and meaningful way." During the first leg of the two-week AFI Project 20/20 visit, Jay Craven and Norman Maake screened their films for more than 100 university students at the Technical University of Tshwane (TUT), the University of Pretoria and the University of Limpopo in the northern part of South Africa. According to the U.S. Embassy staff that helped coordinate the delegation's visit, "Both filmmakers connected with their young audiences, prompting far-reaching discussions on history, art, and current society. The students at TUT's film school were particularly pleased to engage with Norman Maake on the challenges inherent in South African film production. This program provided another opportunity in the Embassy's s ongoing efforts to engage with South African youth."

Native South African independent filmmaker
Norman Maake provided audiences with a rare
opportunity to learn about the challenges of film
production in their country.

In September AFI Project 20/20 will celebrate the one year anniversary of its formal launch by First Lady Laura Bush at the White House as a major component of the Department of State's Global Cultural Initiative. After South Africa, AFI Project 20/20 and its filmmakers are scheduled to visit Venezuela, Israel, China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Jordan, and Malaysia

PCAH's AFI Project 20/20 Completes a Successful Cultural Exchange in South Africa

Learn More