Africa in Motion Announces Emerging Curator Finalists

We are thrilled to announce the first cohort of our new Emerging Curators programme.

This exciting new pathway is designed to open new opportunities in the exhibition sector and help prevent the gatekeeping of roles within the film industry. In August, six curators with a love for film and storytelling were chosen to partake in our inaugural edition of the scheme.  

Africa in Motion’s ongoing mission is to empower creatives from the continent and diaspora to take control of their own narrative, celebrate their heritage, and showcase their stories to global audiences. We believe that stories matter and have the power to transform the world.

Over the past month, these incredibly talented and dedicated curators have been working their way through hundreds of short film submissions and have created a final list of contenders that will be invited to partake in our annual short film competition - an Africa in Motion cornerstone and one of our most popular events.

So stay tuned for an official announcement of this year’s short film programme! We can’t wait to share the news.

Introducing Africa in motion's Emerging Curators cohort of 2022

Tosin Alapafuja 

Tosin (she/her) has a deep love for storytelling through various mediums, whether through movement or film.

She finds grounding in affirming and celebrating Black people and our communities, all the while honouring those who came before, continuing to champion those here and now, and uplifting generations to come. Follow Tosin on Instagram: @tosinalap and Twitter: @_tosinnalap 

Emmanuel Falade 

Emmanuel (he/him), a Mastercard Foundation Alumni, holds an MSc in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh. He is passionate about Africa telling its own story in a way that fosters the decolonisation of existing colonial legacies on the continent.

Between 2017-2019, he actively participated in many film screenings organised by the Center of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, known as the Thursday Film Series. Emmanuel went on to lead 'The Africa Film Club' at the University of Edinburgh - focusing on screenings that tell Africa's socio-political realities while facilitating high-level debates on various discussions ranging from African philosophy, security, governance, etc. As a Pan-Africanist and an International Development practitioner, he is interested in supporting power sharing in post-colonial Africa through storytelling and film. Follow Emmanuel Falade on LinkedIn

Ya Mallen Jagne 

Ya Mallen (she/her) is a 24-year-old creative writer and copywriter living in The Gambia. She owns a blog called YÉMU, a collection of her written poetry and short prose, and is fascinated with African history and art forms - particularly literature and retro cinema. Lately, she's been dabbling in screenwriting and has a pile of stories waiting to become a screenplay.

Ya Mallen is also the Managing Director and Co-owner of Brandr, a cool start-up branding agency based in The Gambia. When she breaks away from the bustle, you’ll bump into her by the sea, sipping something, twiddling her toes — lost in her collection of retro music or her Kindle. Follow Ya Malle on Twitter: @ya_mallen

Mbali Mashaba 

Mbali (she/her) is a creative researcher, film director and film curator. She completed an Honours degree in Film and Television studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and a film residency in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2020, where she lived and studied at Gothenburg University for four months.

She is passionate about storytelling, nuanced representations of Black life, and shaping stories around the complex lives of Black women. Her passion for visual storytelling led her to create Behind Her Lens Visuals, a film curation agency aiming to spotlight stories from the African diaspora through curated screenings and festivals.

Mbali has experience as a film director, producer and editor with five short films under her belt, which have accumulated ten local and international film festival selections, including The Cherry Film Festival, The Human Rights Festival, the UFA Youth Short Film Festival in Russia and Zlatý Voči (Film Festival of the Film theory students) in Prague and the New Generation Film Festival in Serbia. She currently works as a creative researcher and directors' assistant for Bioscope Films and aspires to become a TV Commercial director in the near future. Follow Mbali on Instagram: @_thevisualsister / @behindherlensvisuals and Twitter: @bhlvisuals 

Ese Onojeruo  

Ese (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist working within film production and curation. Her practice is underpinned by the ways in which gender and race can be felt as phenomenological experiences.

Ese's curatorial practice is particularly focused on how communal experiences of ‘exclusion’ encourage alternative methodologies of learning. Follow Ese on Instagram: @ese_onojeruo and view her website:  esejadeonojeruo.com

Philippa walusimbi 

Philippa (she/her) decided to stay in the UK's seconding city, Birmingham, to work alongside musicians, artists, and various arts organisations in the West Midlands after graduating from university. Over the years, she has been a part of programming teams in organisations such as Town Hall Symphony Hall (B:Music) and Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust. Her main passion and role whilst working at such organisations has always been cultural democracy, ensuring that all feel welcome, heard and seen from entrance to stage. 

Philippa recently returned to her home county of South Yorkshire after spending eight months in the Democratic Republic of Congo, working with the youth organisation The Congo Tree. Whilst there, she had the pleasure of working alongside and collaborating with the artists of the city of Goma as singer-songwriter Philippa Zawe. Follow Philippa on Instagram: @philippazawe and Twitter: @philippazawe

To stay up to date on our upcoming events and the release of Africa in Motion’s 2022 festival programme, follow us @AiMfilmfest on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.