The children’s component of Sithengi, which will run from November 8 to 15, is being held in partnership with, among others, the Children’s Broadcasting Foundation for Africa and Unicef.
Sithengi is the first African festival to give priority to children and children’s programming. The market, styled as Africa’s premier media event, will include an exhibition/trade show, conferences, workshops, pitching forums, a film festival and networking functions.
Participants in the children’s festival will be brought from Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng and Western Cape.
The event will bring together young people and producers of children’s programmes, giving them the opportunity to share ideas and engage in workshops.
The children will also make their own animation programmes; do hands-on workshops on video production; discuss and debate issues around children’s programming; and present and be interviewed on radio.
An outcomes document will be developed at the end of the festival.
Ruth Landy, head of Unicef’s broadcasting division in New York says: “Our ultimate goal is to help improve the quality of children’s broadcasting in Africa through the participation of children themselves.”
The children will also co-produce a 15-minute programme to be distributed to local and international broadcasters for Unicef’s annual International Children’s Day of Broadcasting on December 8. On this day children worldwide take to the air as reporters, presenters and producers of programmes that express their own dreams and concerns.
Sithengi CEO Michael Auret says: “We would like to make the Children’s Festival, part of Sithengi every year. We want to encourage better quality and quantity of children’s programmes throughout Africa by showcasing African broadcast productions and holding workshops on best practices in children’s programming.”
The seventh annual Southern African International Film and Television Market is on from November 10 to 14. Book at Computicket. Further screenings are at the Labia Cinema, Tel: (021) 424 5927. The closing-night screening is Rabbit-Proof Fence at Cinema Starz, GrandWest, Tel: (021) 534 0250. More info: www.sithengi.co.za.