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| Naishe Nyamubaya |
Red Sea Souk is an initiative aimed at discovering and connecting Arab and African filmmakers by availing a platform to develop and finance film projects, participants will also network with the film industry. Red Sea Souk activities will be held from December 8th to 11th this year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival being held from 6 - 15 December.
The Red Sea Souk event will consist of a project market, ongoing film screenings, exhibition space hosting key players in the region, panel and industry talks, and networking opportunities. More than 350 experts are expected to attend.
Three prizes will be provided by the Red Sea Foundation and will be awarded by two judges. Project Market judges will award $ 25,000 for development and $ 100,000 for production, and Films In-Progress judges will award $ 30,000 for post production. Participating projects are also eligible for additional awards.
A Zimbabwean feature film still in development was selected for participation among Red Sea Souk Project Market category. The film with working title Akashinga, is a story about two sisters Chipo and Mavis living in the rural savannah of Zimbabwe whose life paths radically change when the national park which their village borders begins to solely hire women to fight back the poaching: the Akashinga ranger team.
Akashinga is being developed by Naishe Nyamubaya, a 24 year old half Zimbabwean and half Egyptian. Naishe grew up on a remote safari farm in Zimbabwe where he fell in love with storytelling at a very early age. His mother was a writer and a poet, who constantly shared her stories with him. "My greatest passion is telling and sharing African stories. Expressing the voice of the African filmmaker. This is a voice that has been ignored, silenced or distorted; yet it screams to be heard" He says.
He became deeply fascinated by storytelling and when he was first introduced to film, He was immediately entranced. He began to understand the power of visual storytelling. He is driven on capturing audiences with stories of wonder and amazement.
Below is a complete list of film projects selected for participation at the Red Sea Souk
Selected films in post-production for the Red Sea Souk Films in-Progress Workshop are:
• Contra by Lotfy Nathan (Tunisia, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany)
• Fragments From Heaven by Adnane Baraka (Morocco, France, Qatar)
• Abdelinho by Hicham Ayouch (Morocco, France)
• Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf (France, Lebanon, Italy)
• The Cemetery of Cinema by Thierno Souleymane Diallo (Guinea, France, Senegal)
Selected projects for the Red Sea Souk Project Market are:
• Coura + Ouleye by Iman Djionne (Senegal)
• Akashinga (Working Title) by Naishe Nyamubaya (Zimbabwe, France, Germany, South Africa)
• Passing Dreams by Rashid Masharawi (Palestine, United Kingdom, Sweden)
• Zaïria by Machérie Ekwa (Congo)
• Carnaval by Mohamed Siam (Egypt, Kuwait, France)
• Montreal by Ameen Nayfeh (Jordan)
• Birthday by Lara Zeidan (Lebanon, France)
• Last Trip by Ziad Kalthoum (Syria, Germany, Poland)
• The Seasons of Jannet by Mehdi Hmili (Tunisia)
• Carnamal by Ali Kalthami (Saudi Arabia)
• Aïcha by Mehdi M. Barsaoui (Tunisia, France)