At the end of two hectic days of Impact-based pitching, discussion and exchange, the awards of this FIFDH Impact Days 2024 were handed out.
The StoryBoard Impact Award (10,000 CHF) was won by the Peruvian project Hakuchu Munayta by Augusto Zegarra. In the film, Fernando, a voice actor from Cusco, Peru, is trying to save his indigenous language from extinction. He dreams of dubbing the animated classic The Lion King into Quechua, the language of the Incas. His journey to achieve this will make him re-examine his role as a father and an activist, with his 8-year-old son, Dylan, as his essential sidekick. Btw, Hakuchu Munayta, ‘that means no worry.’
“It can speak or perhaps sing to an audience that will consider cultural preservation and the importance of language in a global context. The film itself is a powerful recognition of a diverse community connected by a common language and a joyful call to action to celebrate that language and community,” said StoryBoard’s Patricia Finneran.
The Sublimages Impact Award was handed to the Brazilian Brotherhood of Weeping Men by Helena de Castro. On the Brazilian isolated island of Fernando de Noronha, 375km from the mainland, ANOVE is more than an association of amateur football players; it is a religion taken very seriously by all the associates. For over 30 years, they have been gathering every Saturday to play football, eat, drink and listen to classic romantic songs from the 60s and 70s. However, due to a tragic event, this group of friends has developed a ritual of shared crying that has become an essential part of their weekly meetings and their lives…
“It’s a really special story, a little story, but with a big worldwide impact,” said Sublimages CEO Manuel Soubiès on handing out the award.
The StoryBoard Collective, in association with the South Africa-based Sunshine Cinema, gave an additional 10,000 CHF grant for community screenings to the Kenyan film The Battle for Laikipia, represented in Geneva by producer Toni Kamau and Impact producer Elsie Ann Wambui Kariuki. The film, directed by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi, addresses the tensions within Kenya’s Laikipia region which has been a grazing route for indigenous pastoralist communities for centuries. It is also home to white ranchers and conservationists, who settled there during the British colonial era and stayed on after Kenya’s independence in 1963. These tensions are exacerbated as climate change wreaks havoc across the country.
“We are excited to announce an additional Impact Africa grant for community screenings for a project that is multifaceted, that challenges our assumptions about what’s happening and what can happen in Kenya and throughout the African continent. Their film [addresses] these urgent issues and calls for collective action,” said StoryBoard’s Finneran.
On Monday March 11, StoryBoard Collective and Sunshine Cinema awarded a similar grant to Kenyan producer Samuel Ekomol to help fund community screenings of Between the Rains, directed by Moses Thuranira Thiane and Andrew H Brown.
