MamAfrica - Indie Doc - Rolling campaign
Donation protected
Title: MamAfrica
Production: Guembanara.org
Running time: 65 - 70 min
Format: Hd/color
Nationality: Italy-Guinée
Language: French - Sousou
Subtitles: Italian, French, English, German
Location: West-Africa, Guinea-Conakry
Link to our Blog : (FRENCH and ITALIAN version)
Link to our projects Guembanara - African Filmmaking
Became a Fan
The daily life of a great African dancer divided between Africa and Europe. It's a story of integration and traditions with Mamadama Camara and the friendly participation of Famoudou Konaté and the Merveilles de Guinee. She made the history of African culture, she represents Africa all over the world. She is MamAfrica.
We are a team of italian professional filmmakers who loves Africa.
We are making a documentary about the life of a great african dancer who lives in Belgium from more than 20 years.
Her name is Mama Adama Camara but she is also known as Mama Africa. Every year she comes back to Guinea, her birthplace, to meet her big family and to make a "˜stage' of african traditional dance with her european students. The Focus of the documentary is the daily life of Mama Africa during her staying in Guinea-Conakry combined with the reconstruction of her great career. The spoken languages of the movie are French and Sousou and we want to subtitle it in English, Italian, French and German. We already made the necessary inspections during this winter and we edited a teaser. We thought to do a Rolling Crowfunding Campaign to lead us during the different steps of this production.
--
Synopsis:
Mama Adama Camara is an African dancer who has being living in Europe now for about twenty years. People call her "MamAfrica" and before emigrating, she danced for more than fifteen years in the most important national Ballet of the Guinea's Republic and performed in tours all over the world. Every year she goes back to her homeland for a few months taking care of her big family of which she' s in charge of. Her artistic career is narrated by her personal memories and some big artists with who she had collaborated during her career; Her daily life is showed through its normal development inside her domestic life, her social-work environment. During her stay there, she will be joined by her European pupils that will stay in Guinea for two weeks to study with her the traditional African dance.
Work state:
After concluding the firsts two foundraising steps and so the African part of the movie we are now ready for the second tranche of this Work. We made the African Inspections and Shooting and now we are collecting founds for the Belgic ones.
Production plan/time of delivery:
Writing project: november 2012
African Survey: January/February 2013
Advertising and first found raising June 2013/ may 2013
Second found raising : June 2013/December 2013
African Shooting: January/march 2014
Belgic Survey: June 2014
Belgic Shooting: october 2014/ January 2015
Postproduction: March 2015/December 2015
Festival advertising and possible distribution from December 2015
Context:
Guinea is one of the poorest country of West Africa. It was a French colony and it was known for its president Sekou Touré's famous speech in front of General De Gaulle "Nous préférons etre libres et pauvres que riches et enchainés!" (we prefer to be free and poor than rich and enchained) with which he opened the way for independence for Guinea and all the countries surrounding it. It was indeed Sekou Touré who founded the National Ballets, as a way to regain their own culture, a path of pan-African revival that starts from the ancient tradition and combines modernity. Nowadays the Guinean situation is very unstable, the ethnic "“political tension reaches alarming peaks, the country struggles between corruption, disorganization and lack of resources.
Story:
The characters will be followed in their natural environment, the facts will be told during their natural development. We do not want our daily lives to be scripted but we want to catch everything as it happens in the moment . We want Guinea to tell itself through MamaAfrica's vicissitudes when she goes back home. We want to show the dynamics of her family, of the estate and the large African family who tells itself and gets the better of decisions that we could make earlier.
Characters:
The main character of this documentary is MamaAdama Camara. Professional dancer who worked for the most important Ballets of the country. She goes back home every year and stays for a few months with her big family. It will be the scheme of her relationships to define the others characters that will be part of her tail about herself and Africa. We will meet her many relatives who live in the court, older and younger brothers with their own families, all together in a big group that matches with her work relations. We will meet artists, diplomatic staff, ministers of culture and entertainment, members from non-governamental organizations. There will be her European pupils that every year join her in Guinea for intensive courses.
Directors' annotations:
This project began after the meeting between two Italian directors and one of the biggest African dancer. This work is the result of a long relationship that has brought the two directors to live in Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, following the daily life of Mrs. Mamadama Camara, former member of the first National Ballet of Guinea: Les Ballet Africains. It's a rare document from the depth of African Traditions jealously guarded by the mists of time and passed down orally by Griot, the only custodians of the history of Africa.
Through Mme Camara's daily life emerges culture and tradition of an entire people that found in Art and Traditions the hope for a better tomorrow.
The story is elevated by the friendly participation of many of the biggest African artists who have worked with Mamadama Camara in the past or simply has been inspired from her as Famoudou konaté, Sourakhata Dioubate, Naby Eco Camara, Sekou Sano e Les Merveilles de Guinée.
A piece of our hearts stayed in Guinea more than ten years ago.
Since then we are collaborating with different artists coming from west Africa. We have seen their houses, we have learned their languages, we have eaten their typical dishes. It's a great life- length long trip during which we want to tell pieces of a world that we have crossed accidentally and that has won us over completely. We have faced already this subject in a documentary released in 2012, which is also related to the artistic-music world of Guinea. This time our character are not children but one of the most successful dancer from Guinea Conakry : Mama Adama Camara. We met her ten years ago with the name of "MamaAfrica". She is the undisputed queen of a big happening that every year takes place in Tuscany and is called "MamaAfrica meeting" in her honor. We want to recreate her artistic path and to tell how life is in Guinea through the tableau that comes from her relations. Observing her daily life, intercepting with the cinematographic medium dialogues, expressions, conflicts and harmony that develop among people. We want to tell the social and domestic organization of a country that finds inside itself the strength to avoid sinking. The dancer's daily life becomes also the central element to outline her profile as head of household. We investigate on responsibilities that she lives as an emigrated woman with the pressure of an all entire African stile family upon her shoulders and a population that suffers and sees in music and in artists one of the very few models to follow in the attempt to escape from the prison of the misery.
Fixed Framing for the majority of the time due to the limits of our equipment that can become the symbol of this tension toward a paradise that doesn't actually exist. Thee symbol of impossibility for who is forced to stay in Africa and doesn't have any hope to obtain a visa for the area Shengen, to come out and reach Europe. The dance courses with the European pupils will be a chance to analyze in depth MamaAfrica's most protective aspects, taking care of all "her children" that is her very copious family who lives in the court and another twenty "European sons and daughters" participating with a depth empathy and a bit of apprehension at every issue. It's this aspect of her that gave her the name "MamaAfrica".
About us:
Guenbanara is a collective born in 2008 that gathers projects about Africa from different moviemakers with experience. Individually we come from media- activism stories, laboratories for the multimedia education in several conflicts zones, documentary productions and enquiries. We do many other projects: tv shows, exhibitions and video clips.. but this is the connection point between our professional life and that personal path that in a way or another brought us to Africa. It has been more than ten years now that we are telling about this country and its habits, we are living with his population putting together our competence and militant spirit. Guenbanara is the circle of our "movie-relation".
Profiles of the authors:
Andrea Rovelli
Director and filmmaker with many years of experience. Degree of Fine Arts. He learnt the video production during a process of creation
and development of independent media. In this process He has participated in multimedia workshops in conflict zones in Palestine and Africa starting from 2001. He made reports, inquiries and documentaries to arrive later in the broadcaster world where he works as director and filmaker for many National and satellite Broadcasters.
Within the project Guembanara_african filmmaking He already produced and directed another documentary, with Chiara Morcelli, titled: "Doni doni - soon you will be artists"
( Festival di Bellaria online 2012 - Ischia Film festival 2012)
Roberta Imberti
After a diploma in artistic high school she started a career in photography and later she changed to video production. She found space in television as a filmmaker and director. She exploited and learnt how to use resources and equipment. Being conscious to be part of a world and a visual language where she didn't belong, she attended cinema and documentary courses. In This way she starts to create her first independent projects, developing time after time more sensibility and competence for this field. She actualizes documentary and reports always searching for subjects and situations that enable to capture the attention with the desire to experiment forms of narrative and visual languages.
-
How can you help us?
Not only money! We're looking for interest and participation!
This film is part of a broader project to develop an independent media and production center.
We have to organize parties and events to share and fund the project, making screenings of our works, debates, concerts. We are looking for old hardware and laptops, small cameras etc. etc. If you can not donate you could be part of our projects in some different ways, contact us!!
links:
Guembanara - African Film Making
Guembanara-FaceBook
Fb FanPage - MamAfrica
Link to our Blog : (FRENCH and ITALIAN version)
Became a
Production: Guembanara.org
Running time: 65 - 70 min
Format: Hd/color
Nationality: Italy-Guinée
Language: French - Sousou
Subtitles: Italian, French, English, German
Location: West-Africa, Guinea-Conakry
Link to our Blog : (FRENCH and ITALIAN version)
Link to our projects Guembanara - African Filmmaking
Became a Fan
The daily life of a great African dancer divided between Africa and Europe. It's a story of integration and traditions with Mamadama Camara and the friendly participation of Famoudou Konaté and the Merveilles de Guinee. She made the history of African culture, she represents Africa all over the world. She is MamAfrica.
We are a team of italian professional filmmakers who loves Africa.
We are making a documentary about the life of a great african dancer who lives in Belgium from more than 20 years.
Her name is Mama Adama Camara but she is also known as Mama Africa. Every year she comes back to Guinea, her birthplace, to meet her big family and to make a "˜stage' of african traditional dance with her european students. The Focus of the documentary is the daily life of Mama Africa during her staying in Guinea-Conakry combined with the reconstruction of her great career. The spoken languages of the movie are French and Sousou and we want to subtitle it in English, Italian, French and German. We already made the necessary inspections during this winter and we edited a teaser. We thought to do a Rolling Crowfunding Campaign to lead us during the different steps of this production.
--
Synopsis:
Mama Adama Camara is an African dancer who has being living in Europe now for about twenty years. People call her "MamAfrica" and before emigrating, she danced for more than fifteen years in the most important national Ballet of the Guinea's Republic and performed in tours all over the world. Every year she goes back to her homeland for a few months taking care of her big family of which she' s in charge of. Her artistic career is narrated by her personal memories and some big artists with who she had collaborated during her career; Her daily life is showed through its normal development inside her domestic life, her social-work environment. During her stay there, she will be joined by her European pupils that will stay in Guinea for two weeks to study with her the traditional African dance.
Work state:
After concluding the firsts two foundraising steps and so the African part of the movie we are now ready for the second tranche of this Work. We made the African Inspections and Shooting and now we are collecting founds for the Belgic ones.
Production plan/time of delivery:
Writing project: november 2012
African Survey: January/February 2013
Advertising and first found raising June 2013/ may 2013
Second found raising : June 2013/December 2013
African Shooting: January/march 2014
Belgic Survey: June 2014
Belgic Shooting: october 2014/ January 2015
Postproduction: March 2015/December 2015
Festival advertising and possible distribution from December 2015
Context:
Guinea is one of the poorest country of West Africa. It was a French colony and it was known for its president Sekou Touré's famous speech in front of General De Gaulle "Nous préférons etre libres et pauvres que riches et enchainés!" (we prefer to be free and poor than rich and enchained) with which he opened the way for independence for Guinea and all the countries surrounding it. It was indeed Sekou Touré who founded the National Ballets, as a way to regain their own culture, a path of pan-African revival that starts from the ancient tradition and combines modernity. Nowadays the Guinean situation is very unstable, the ethnic "“political tension reaches alarming peaks, the country struggles between corruption, disorganization and lack of resources.
Story:
The characters will be followed in their natural environment, the facts will be told during their natural development. We do not want our daily lives to be scripted but we want to catch everything as it happens in the moment . We want Guinea to tell itself through MamaAfrica's vicissitudes when she goes back home. We want to show the dynamics of her family, of the estate and the large African family who tells itself and gets the better of decisions that we could make earlier.
Characters:
The main character of this documentary is MamaAdama Camara. Professional dancer who worked for the most important Ballets of the country. She goes back home every year and stays for a few months with her big family. It will be the scheme of her relationships to define the others characters that will be part of her tail about herself and Africa. We will meet her many relatives who live in the court, older and younger brothers with their own families, all together in a big group that matches with her work relations. We will meet artists, diplomatic staff, ministers of culture and entertainment, members from non-governamental organizations. There will be her European pupils that every year join her in Guinea for intensive courses.
Directors' annotations:
This project began after the meeting between two Italian directors and one of the biggest African dancer. This work is the result of a long relationship that has brought the two directors to live in Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, following the daily life of Mrs. Mamadama Camara, former member of the first National Ballet of Guinea: Les Ballet Africains. It's a rare document from the depth of African Traditions jealously guarded by the mists of time and passed down orally by Griot, the only custodians of the history of Africa.
Through Mme Camara's daily life emerges culture and tradition of an entire people that found in Art and Traditions the hope for a better tomorrow.
The story is elevated by the friendly participation of many of the biggest African artists who have worked with Mamadama Camara in the past or simply has been inspired from her as Famoudou konaté, Sourakhata Dioubate, Naby Eco Camara, Sekou Sano e Les Merveilles de Guinée.
A piece of our hearts stayed in Guinea more than ten years ago.
Since then we are collaborating with different artists coming from west Africa. We have seen their houses, we have learned their languages, we have eaten their typical dishes. It's a great life- length long trip during which we want to tell pieces of a world that we have crossed accidentally and that has won us over completely. We have faced already this subject in a documentary released in 2012, which is also related to the artistic-music world of Guinea. This time our character are not children but one of the most successful dancer from Guinea Conakry : Mama Adama Camara. We met her ten years ago with the name of "MamaAfrica". She is the undisputed queen of a big happening that every year takes place in Tuscany and is called "MamaAfrica meeting" in her honor. We want to recreate her artistic path and to tell how life is in Guinea through the tableau that comes from her relations. Observing her daily life, intercepting with the cinematographic medium dialogues, expressions, conflicts and harmony that develop among people. We want to tell the social and domestic organization of a country that finds inside itself the strength to avoid sinking. The dancer's daily life becomes also the central element to outline her profile as head of household. We investigate on responsibilities that she lives as an emigrated woman with the pressure of an all entire African stile family upon her shoulders and a population that suffers and sees in music and in artists one of the very few models to follow in the attempt to escape from the prison of the misery.
Fixed Framing for the majority of the time due to the limits of our equipment that can become the symbol of this tension toward a paradise that doesn't actually exist. Thee symbol of impossibility for who is forced to stay in Africa and doesn't have any hope to obtain a visa for the area Shengen, to come out and reach Europe. The dance courses with the European pupils will be a chance to analyze in depth MamaAfrica's most protective aspects, taking care of all "her children" that is her very copious family who lives in the court and another twenty "European sons and daughters" participating with a depth empathy and a bit of apprehension at every issue. It's this aspect of her that gave her the name "MamaAfrica".
About us:
Guenbanara is a collective born in 2008 that gathers projects about Africa from different moviemakers with experience. Individually we come from media- activism stories, laboratories for the multimedia education in several conflicts zones, documentary productions and enquiries. We do many other projects: tv shows, exhibitions and video clips.. but this is the connection point between our professional life and that personal path that in a way or another brought us to Africa. It has been more than ten years now that we are telling about this country and its habits, we are living with his population putting together our competence and militant spirit. Guenbanara is the circle of our "movie-relation".
Profiles of the authors:
Andrea Rovelli
Director and filmmaker with many years of experience. Degree of Fine Arts. He learnt the video production during a process of creation
and development of independent media. In this process He has participated in multimedia workshops in conflict zones in Palestine and Africa starting from 2001. He made reports, inquiries and documentaries to arrive later in the broadcaster world where he works as director and filmaker for many National and satellite Broadcasters.
Within the project Guembanara_african filmmaking He already produced and directed another documentary, with Chiara Morcelli, titled: "Doni doni - soon you will be artists"
( Festival di Bellaria online 2012 - Ischia Film festival 2012)
Roberta Imberti
After a diploma in artistic high school she started a career in photography and later she changed to video production. She found space in television as a filmmaker and director. She exploited and learnt how to use resources and equipment. Being conscious to be part of a world and a visual language where she didn't belong, she attended cinema and documentary courses. In This way she starts to create her first independent projects, developing time after time more sensibility and competence for this field. She actualizes documentary and reports always searching for subjects and situations that enable to capture the attention with the desire to experiment forms of narrative and visual languages.
-
How can you help us?
Not only money! We're looking for interest and participation!
This film is part of a broader project to develop an independent media and production center.
We have to organize parties and events to share and fund the project, making screenings of our works, debates, concerts. We are looking for old hardware and laptops, small cameras etc. etc. If you can not donate you could be part of our projects in some different ways, contact us!!
links:
Guembanara - African Film Making
Guembanara-FaceBook
Fb FanPage - MamAfrica
Link to our Blog : (FRENCH and ITALIAN version)
Became a
Organizer
Andrea Rovelli
Organizer
