International Tue 14-06-2011

Kenyan and South African Photographers Win Prestigious Photoafrica Awards in Tarifa, Spain
Press Release

Photographers from South Africa and Kenya won prestigious awards at 4th Photoafrica contest, which took place within the 8th African Film Festival of Tarifa.

1st place award, endowed with €1,500, went to Jessica MacLeod from South Africa with the photograph titled “You see a shack, I see my house”.

Jessica MacLeod, 8th Tarifa Festival Winner

Jessica MacLeod

2nd place award, endowed with €1,000, went to James Muriuki from Kenya with the photograph titled “44”.

3rd place award, endowed with €500, went to the winner of 3rd Photoafrica, Mimi Cherono from Kenya with the photograph titled “Khusi and the Giraffes”.

“It was incredibly difficult to decide the winners, as the fourth edition of Photoafrica experienced a record number of over 400 entries and once again proved the unique potential and quality of African photographers”, says Pablo Juliá, chairman of the jury and director of the Andalusian Centre Of Photography.

Mimmi Cherono, 8th Tarifa Festival

Mimi Cherono

The unique potential of present African photography was also confirmed by Gaetano Gualdo, coordinator of the 8th African Film Festival of Tarifa.

“This year for the first time saw participation of photographers from countries like Madagascar, Namibia and Lesotho. South Africa had 23 entries out of which 16 made it to the finale and one of them, Jessica MacLeod, won the 1st prize,” highlighted Gualdo.

The topic of this year Photoafrica was “Urban Space” of African cities seen through the photographers eyes. There were 25 photographers from 11 African countries competing with their works in the finale of this year Photoafrica contest.

James Muriuki 8th Tarifa Festival

James Muriuki

The exhibiton of altogether 27 large format photographs from this year's finale was inaugurated and installed outdoors in Tarifa and after the end of the festival will be travelling the whole year through Spanish and African cities.

Participation in the this year's contest represented newcomers as well as experienced photographers, and in some cases even winners from previous editions (Mimi Cherono and Adolphus Opara).

The winning photograph from last year, “Portrait of the artist as a young woman” by Mimi Cherono was selected as the official visual of this year's Tarifa African Film Festival .

The most entries this year (23) came from South Africa. Surprisingly the average age of South African finalists was between 20-30 years. with some of them having started photography in their teen years.

From Tarifa, the 4th Photoafrica exhibition will be travelling through Spanish and African cities till the end of the year.

Since it has started in 2008, Photoafrica has exhibited 215 photographs from 120 photographers.

25 photographers competing at 4th Photoafrica were: Abdelmohcine Nakari (Morroco), Aboubacar Traore (Mali), Adolphus Opara (Nigeria), Djibril Drame (Senegal), Georges Senga (DRC), James Muriuki (Kenya), Hlompho Letsielo (Lesotho), Resta Nyamwanza (Zimbabwe), Mário Macilau (Mozambique), Marwen Trabelsi (Tunis), Mimi Cherono Ng'ok (Kenya).
From South Africa: Noncedo Charmaine Mathibela, Roanne Sutcliffe, Anthony Purnell, Bianca Kerstein Vinay, Cendyl Charlton, Chandre Busschau, Costas Christodoulou, David Kutlwano Moagi, Davina Gokool, Hayden Brawn, Ihsaan Haffejee, Jessica MacLeod, Kristi Bailey and Mack Magagane.

About FCAT

African film festival of Tarifa (FCAT – Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa) is an independent and competitive film festival and one of the biggest African film festivals in Europe.

The FCAT celebrates its eighth edition from 11th to 19th June, 2011 in Andalusian town Tarifa - the closest town of continental Europe to the African continent. The two continents are in fact only 14 km apart from one another in this geographical area.

This year FCAT will screen up over 100 African films and will bring together some of the most distinguished African filmmakers. Its aim is to spread knowledge about African film production by exhibiting a representative wide variety of audiovisual African works every year: from the classics to more innovative and recent films, from documentaries to feature length fiction films, from South Africa to Morocco and from Senegal to Ethiopia.

For more info, contact:
Filip Hruby
International Press Officer
African Film Festival of Tarifa (FCAT)
Mobile: +420/775 011 550
Skype: filip.hruby2409
Email : gabineteprensa2@fcat.es
www.fcat.es