Follow Afrika Eye on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!

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For those of you plugged-in to the vast world of social media, you can now follow Afrika Eye 2010 on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube!

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We'll be using Facebook and Twitter to send out bitesize chunks of news from the main Afrika Eye hub, as well as airing the thoughts, feelings, and latest news from the Afrika Eye directors as the weekend of the festival approaches!

You can visit these pages by clicking on the images below:


YouTube is a little more exciting. For now you can watch the trailers of all the films announced so far, but we'll also be posting a whole host of related clips and snippets!

You can visit the Afrika Eye YouTube channel by clicking on the image below:

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Programme announcement: film two of reconciliation theme.

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Surfing Soweto

Director: Sara Blecher & Dimakatso Raphoto;
Origin: South Africa, 2010;
Running time: 85 minutes

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We are delighted to have confirmed the second film under the theme of reconciliation. A brand new documentary, Surfing Soweto is scary, shocking, and an insightful window into some of South Africa’s post-apartheid lives.

‘Surfing’ on top of speeding trains is the ultimate adrenaline rush for South Africa’s disillusioned youth. Exposing this illegal and dangerous pastime, Surfing Soweto shows the complexity of how structural ‘disadvantage’ in the wake of apartheid impacts on peoples lives. The proposition being that only when this impact is properly understood and acknowledged can meaningful reconciliation can take place.


Most of the surfers come from broken homes. They spend their days drinking, smoking, and teaching each other the latest train surfing techniques. Director Sara Blecher documented the lives of three train surfers: “We have followed Bitch Nigga, Lefa, and Mzembe on to the top of trains hurtling though Soweto. We have watched their lives fall apart. And we have watched them battling to piece them back together again”.

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We’re showing a brand new version of the original documentary released in 2007. Watch a clip below and sign up to our mailing list to be in the loop when tickets go on sale!

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Opening film announcement!

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Benda Bilili!

Directors: Florent de la Tullaye & Renaud Barret;
Origin: Democratic Republic of Congo/France, 2010;
Running time: 90 minutes

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Our opening film isn’t from South Africa, but we’re so excited to have scooped its Bristol premiere that we couldn’t resist including it in the programme!



Benda Bilili! ("looks aren't everything") documents the career of Staff Benda Bilili, a band of seven paraplegic Congolese musicians living in poverty on the streets of Kinshasa. Directors Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret started following the band in 2005 and continued to do so as their global popularity began to grow. After meeting Belgian record producer Vincent Kenis, the band released Très Très Fort on Crammed Discs in 2009 and have been touring a string of European dates since, including both Glastonbury and WOMAD 2010 (to name but a few). The film - about both the lives and music of the band and its members - received a standing ovation at Cannes, where it was chosen as the opening film of the Director's Fortnight. With a soundtrack of the highest calibre, Benda Bilili! will get you dancing in the aisles and in the mood for the Afrika Eye 2010 after party, featuring a local Congolese band to help you let your hair down and move your feet!

Watch the trailer here and check out our YouTube Channel for a clip of Staff Benda Bilili performing live!

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This film and the opening night of Afrika Eye 2010 will be hosted
on Friday 29th October at the Watershed cinema, Bristol.

Stay tuned for details of how to book tickets by signing up to our mailing list!

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EYEFULL 2010: Call for entries!

We are pleased to announce the opening of EYEFULL 2010.

EYEFULL gives local and regional filmmakers the opportunity to have their short films - told from an African or Diaspora perspective - screened at the Watershed cinema as part of the Afrika Eye Film Festival.

This year a prize of £250 will be awarded to the best short.
For more information visit the EYEFULL page.