PRIZEWINNER
GRAND PRIX 2022
„Terre ceinte“
Project
is a play based on a novel of the same name by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (born 1990), who, in 2021, became the first Senegalese prize winner of the most important French literary prize, the Prix Goncourt.
A Les Récréâtrales production, Ouagadougou; directed by Aristide Tarnagda.
A festival 2022 revival of the production premiered in 2021.
The director of the Les Récréâtrales-Festival, Tarnagda, succeeded in acquiring the rights to the 2015 novel, which he went on to make into a play.
It is the piece of the hour for Burkina Faso; Sarr’s focus is the topic of the increasing jihadism in the Sahel region.
Sarr and Tarnagda describe how resistance forms against this new, violent world order and scrutinise concepts such as courage and cowardice, heroism and fear, responsibility and truth.
Photo © Sophie Garcia
Alain Hema in ``Terre Ceinte`` by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, adapted and directed by Aristide Tarnagda.
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``Terre Ceinte`` by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, adapted and directed by Aristide Tarnagda.
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Ali K. Ouédraogo in ``Terre Ceinte`` by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, adapted and directed by Aristide Tarnagda
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PRIZEWINNER
GRAND PRIX 2021
„A plea to sell the Congo“
Project
In his satire “A call to sell the Congo”, author Sinzo Aanza, born in 1990 in the DR Congo, examines the ethical question: What is a person’s worth – in dollars?
Aanza wraps the philosophical dimensions of this inquiry in a humorous, juridicial context.
He brings together a Congolese city’s council of elders to discuss an offer made by the government: paying families whose relatives have been shot dead by the army a small amount of compensation. Both the authorities and the military believed they were dealing with a protest march against the increasing impoverishment of a suburban district – yet the young people were simply celebrating a football victory.
The council, comprised of a catholic nun, a pharmacist, a teacher, a butcher, a police inspector, a priest, a pimp and a world-famous rock star, is to determine each of the deceased’s value and may only leave the assembly room when they have identified an “appropriate sum” for every murder victim: for an adult, an elder, a child, an embryo, a pregnant mother, an illiterate person, a university graduate, a homeless person, a responsible family man, and someone who bears no responsibility.
Sinzo Aanza received the Süd-Nord-Foundation’s Next Generation prize in 2018. The prize money enabled him to write this play.
In 2020, the play had its world premiere at Festival Les Récréâtrales, in Ouagadougou.
In 2021, the Foundation supported a tour of this large-scale piece through Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin.
Photo © Géry Barbot
Scene from ``A plea to sell the Congo``
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Prizewinner
grand prize 2020
„Softie“ a film by Sam Soko
Project
The Von-Brochowski-Süd-Nord-Foundation is happy to announce that the documentary film Softie by the young Kenyan director, author, and producer Sam Soko is to receive the Foundation’s main prize for 2020.
The €10,000 prize money is to fund the production of three versions, each of 52 minutes in length in English, French and Swahili. The abridged versions are, first and foremost, intended for public and private television broadcasters in Africa in particular.
Softie is a portrait of the Kenyan photojournalist and activist Boniface “Softie” Mwangi who champions strengthening civil society and courageously fights political corruption.
Softie had its world premiere in January 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival in the US where it was awarded the Special Jury Award for Editing. In September 2020, it was awarded Best Documentary at the Durban Festival in South Africa.
Since 2017, the Von Brochowski South North Foundation has awarded its prizes to African artists who, through their practice, strengthen Africa civil society.
Previous winners of the main prize were the Nigerian artist group Invisible Borders in 2017, the young Egyptian filmmaker Kawthar Younis in 2018, and the theatre performance Traces – Discours aux Nations Africaines (Traces – an Address to the African Nations) penned by Felwine Sarr of Senegal in 2019.
Berlin, 18th April 2021
Further information
Photo courtesy of „Hot Docs Forum 2018“.
L. to R.: Toni Kamau, producer; Sam Soko, director; Marjon Javadi, producer
The activist Boniface „Softie“ Mwangi and his wife Njeri
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„Softie“ (Movie poster)
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grand prize 2020
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, founder and artistic director of Savvy Contemporary, Berlin
Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, artistic director of Les Francophonies Festival, Limoges
Patrick Colpé, artistic director of Le Théâtre de Namur
Gabriele von Brochowski, founder and former head of the European Commission representation in Africa, Brussels
Torsten Maß, chairman of the foundation, Berlin
The director
Sam Soko
Sam Soko, 36, is a socially committed Kenyan director, author and producer who is based in Nairobi. He is co-founder of the multi-award-winning Kenyan film production company, LBx Africa, who, with local and international artists and partners, bring exclusively African topics to a large audience.
Softie is Soko’s first feature-length film and is the recipient of several awards. The documentary picture is a portrait of the Kenyan photojournalist and activist Boniface ``Softie`` Mwangi and his fight against political corruption when he decides to stand as a candidate in a regional election.
Soko’s next large-scale project is Free Money, a film about a solution proposed in Kenya on the issue of “basic income”.
In addition, he also produces documentary film projects about stories and subject matter from Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Sudan, which—as is always the case with Soko—focus on strengthening African civil society.
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junior prize 2020
“Les chasseurs de rêve” of Saliou Waa Guendoum Sarr
Project
The biennial Von Brochowski Next Generation Prize 2020 has been awarded to the film project Les chasseurs de rêve.
The €3000 prize money is to contribute to the creation of the documentary film as well as the production of French and English dubbing which, in turn, will foster wide coverage on African TV channels.
The young Senegalese stage and film director, author and musician Saliou Waa Guendoum SARR views his fourth film as “the description of the shared laborious path towards sustainable change for the good of society.”
The protagonist, Mamadou Dia, returns to Gandiol, his fishing village in the north of Senegal, after many years of exile in Spain. Despite all economic and ethnic adversities, he begins building a socio-cultural meeting place with a first aid station and a women’s centre.
The project has been selected and incubated in october 2020 within the framework of the 5th Quaga Film Lab, organized by GENERATION FILMS and his curator Alex Moussa Sawadogo of Quagadougou.
On 1st October 2020, the panel of judges unanimously decided upon this project, the fruit of a daring voluntary return and a contribution to the strengthening of African civil society. (Judges: Olivier Barlet, film journalist with a focus on African cinema; Stefano Manservisi, former General Director of the European Commission; Gabriele von Brochowski, Founder of the South North Foundation; Torsten Maß, Chairman of the South North Foundation.)
Since 2017, the Von Brochowski South North Foundation has supported artists from African countries who, through their practice, make sustainable contributions to the development of their respective countries.
Berlin, 24th November 2020
Jury
junior prize 2020
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, founder and artistic director of Savvy Contemporary, Berlin
Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, artistic director of Les Francophonies Festival, Limoges
Patrick Colpé, artistic director of Le Théâtre de Namur
Gabriele von Brochowski, founder and former head of the European Commission representation in Africa, Brussels
Torsten Maß, chairman of the foundation, Berlin
The artist
Saliou Waa Guendoum Sarr (director)
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Prizewinner
grand prize 2019
„Traces“ by Felwine Sarr
Project
The performance Traces – Discours aux Nations Africaines (Traces – an Address to the African Nations) has been awarded the Von-Brochowski-South-North-Foundation prize for 2019. The prize money of €8,000 is to contribute towards guest performances in African countries.
In a blazing appeal, Felwine Sarr, one of Africa’s leading thinkers and the author of Traces, makes a plea to the world’s political and economic decision-makers: Africa’s future determines the future of our planet.
Etienne Minoungou’s composition of the poetical text, supported by Aristide Tarnagda’s directorial gaze, develops a compelling current within the performance: the texts’ philosophical-linguistic “elevated tone” and traditional African music performed live by Simon Winsé und Tim Winsey carry, indeed lend wings to, the easy to comprehend nature of the project.
The first test performance of Traces took place in December 2018 for the opening of the Musée des Civilisations noires in Dakar, Senegal. The official world premiere will take place in the autumn of 2020 at Théâtre de Namur, Belgium.
With the support of European and African partners, the performance is to be shown in particular places in African countries.
A unanimous decision was made for Traces on 30th June 2019 in Cologne by the Von-Brochowski-South-North-Foundation jury upon the occasion of the first European presentation of Traces at the Africologne festival.
Berlin / Gordes, 15th July, 2019.
Jury
grand prize 2019
Valérie Baran, long-standing director of TARMAC – La scène internationale francophone, Paris;
Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, director of the festival, Les Francophonies – Des écritures à la scène, Limoges;
Bonaventure S.B. Ndikung, founder and director of Savvy Contemporary, Berlin;
Gabrielle von Brochowski, founder, Gordes / Brüssel;
Torsten Maß, director of the foundation, Berlin.
The Artists
Felwine Sarr (author)
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Etienne Minoungou (actor)
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Prizewinner
junior prize 2018
Sinzo Aanza
Project
In autumn 2018, within the framework of the Récréâtrales Festival in Ouagadougou and on the occasion of the presantation of „May your will be Kinshasa”, a new prize for the next generation of artists was introduced: the „Von Brochowski South North Next Generation Prize“, for which the prizewinner is awarded € 3,000.
The prize was awarded to Sinzo Aanza, born in 1990 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The prize enabled the completion of the young writer’s play, „A Plea for the Sale of the Country“. The piece questions the value of the dead; it negotiates and theatrically exaggerates the question: how much are people of different origins’ lives worth – in Euros?
“A plea to sell the Congo” by Sinzo Aanza
The council of elders of the number 2 district has gathered to discuss the government’s offer of paying families compensation who have lost relatives who were shot by the army. The government and military believed they were dealing with a protest march against the increasing poverty in the suburban neighbourhood – yet young people just wanted to celebrate a football victory.
The council is to determine the value of each of the deceased and to identify a sum that, on the one hand, is just, honourable and helpful to the families and that, on the other hand, does not overwhelm the state which lacks funds thanks to an absent economy, diminishing sales markets and the declining price for exporting raw materials.
The council may only leave the meeting room when appropriate figures have been identified for each of the deceased: for an adult, for an elderly person, for a child, for an embryo, for a pregnant mother, for an illiterate person, for a person with a university degree, for a homeless person, for a person with a future, for someone without a future, for a responsible family father and for someone who carries no responsibility, etc.
Info to „May your will be Kinshasa” (photo)
Unexpected encounters on a large street in Kinshasa, about which, Lili, who libes there, says: „We decide to write history and to discuss it. The official history doesn’t resonate. I don’t have the right to say, in a loud voice, it’s pitiful, no one has the right to. I’m talking about the history of this street.”
The piece paints a poetic and humorous portrait of inner Kinshasa. The stories of those stranded on these streets have universal character : they represent everyone – those stranded in their own country, stranded in this world.
Jury
junior prize 2018
Valérie Baran, Paris, directrice du Tarmac – la scène internationale francophone
Jan Goossens, Marseille, directeur du Festival de Marseille
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Berlin / Bamenda, fondateur et directeur de Savvy Contemporary Berlin
Gabrielle von Brochowski, Bruxelles, fondatrice
Torsten Maß, Berlin, directeur de la Fondation
The Artist
Sinzo Aanza
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Prizewinner
grand prize 2018
Kawthar Younis
Project
The Von Brochowski South North Foundation is happy to announce that the “Von Brochowski South North Prize 2018”, with prize money of €8,000, has been awarded to young Egyptian filmmaker Kawthar Younis.
In awarding the prize, the foundation hopes to support this 25-year-old director and producer from Cairo, whose films take a committed and artistically striking approach to dealing with the socio-political reality of present-day Egypt.
In her two films “How to Kill a Cactus” and “A Present from the Past” she skilfully combines the private and the public.
This award from the foundation is intended as encouragement for the young artist to continue pursuing the difficult path she has set out on.
The jury reached their unanimous decision on 1st July 2018 in Marseille.
Berlin, 8th August 2018
Addition and Addendum:
Using the prize money, Kawthar Younis was able to make her short film Sahbety / My Girl Friend. The film had its world premiere in September 2022 at the 79th International Venice Film Festival. It was the first contribution from Egypt in the festival’s official short film competition.
In a playful manner, the film examines clearly defined gender roles in the increasingly restrictive period following the failed “Arab Spring”. Younis portraits a young couple who assume risky disguises in order to be able to spend their first night together – which does not turn out as planned or hoped.
Berlin, 22nd November 2022
Further information
My Girl Friend (Poster)
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My Girl Friend (Press Kit)
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
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Scene from ``My Girl Friend``
Apply For PositonJury
grand prize 2018
Valérie Baran, Paris, director of Le Tarmac – la scène internationale francophone
Jan Goossens, Marseille, director of the Festival de Marseille
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Berlin / Bamenda, founder and art director of Savvy Contemporary Berlin
Gabrielle von Brochowski, Brussels, foundation founder
Torsten Maß, Berlin, foundation director
The Artist
Kawthar Younis
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Prizewinners 2017
Artist Collective: “Invisible Borders”
Project
The winner of the first Von Brochowski-Süd-Nord-Prize is the African artist group Invisible Borders with its “Trans-African Project”.
The group of artists consists of photographers, authors, writers, filmmakers, visual artists and performers from various African countries and the diaspora. The Nigerian core of the group was formed in 2009 around Emeka Okereke in Lagos, Nigeria. Since then, every two years Invisible Borders undertakes a journey through various African cities and countries, crossing linguistic, cultural, economic and political boundaries.
On their travels, they document and comment on the public space and places of life in their (im)perfection, their contradictions and their beauty.
Local artists and specialists in local life are involved in the respective trips in each location. The young artists’ view of the existing boundaries and their spontaneous artistic intervention with them temporarily blurs the boundaries making them partially permeable.
Invisible Borders have participated in, amongst others, exhibitions, interventions, conferences, lectures and performances in New York, Amsterdam and Venice. They most recently participated in the exhibition Cosmopolis at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, curated by Catherine David, the curator of documenta X.
Berlin, 9 May 2017
Further information
Jury 2017
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Berlin/Bamenda
Valérie Baran, Paris
Jan Goossens, Marseille/Bruxelles
Gabriele von Brochowski, Gordes/Bruxelles
Torsten Maß, Berlin
The Artists
Emeka Okereke
Emeka Okereke, born in 1980, is a Nigerian photographer who lives and works in Africa and Europe.
In 2001 he came into contact with photography. He was a member of the renowned Nigerian photography collective Depth of Field (DOF).
He is the founder and artistic director of Invisible Borders‘ Transvisible Photography project, an annual photographic project that brings together up to ten African artists to promote a creative journey on the street, across national borders in Africa and above all to Europe.
Through Emeka Okereke Photography & Projects, Okereke co-ordinates projects based on exchanges, some of which are crossing compass: Lagos-Berlin Photo Exchange (May - June 2012) and Converging Visions: Nigeria - Netherlands Photo Exchange (June - September 2012).
In 2003, he won the award for the best young photographer of the AFAA Afrique en Création at the 5th Bamako Photo Festival of Photography. He has a Bachelor's/Master's degree from the National Art School of Paris and has exhibited at biennials and art festivals in various cities around the world.
His works will be shown at the 56th Venice Biennial of the Arts in the Invisible Borders presentation A Trans-African Worldspace.
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Amara Okolo
Amara Nicole Okolo is a lawyer and writer based in Abuja.
Her novel, Black Sparkle Romance, was published by Ankara Press, an imprint of Cassava Republic (2014, Nigeria, Africa; 2016, UK / Europe). Her second book, a collection of short stories, Son of Man, was published by Parresia Publishers (2016). References to her work have appeared on Africa in Words, Okay Africa, Chimurenga the Chronic, Reuters (Africa), Brittle Paper, CNN, Aljazeera, Radio France International and The Guardian UK.
She was among the participants of Chimamanda Adichie’s Farafina Workshop 2015. In April 2016, an excerpt from one of her works was read at the University of London.
In 2017 her essay, The Things We Never Say, was published by Catapult.
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Kenechukwu Nwatu
Kenechukwu Nwatu is a second generation photographer and filmmaker, born and raised in Nigeria.
Through his father, he was confronted with media and technology at an early age and was thus able to navigate his creativity digitally.
In recent years he has received professional film and photography certifications, most recently from Montana State University. The university focuses on social justice issues, in particular mental health.
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Kechi Nomu
Kechi Nomu is a poet and cultural writer. In 2017, she was a finalist of the Brunel International African Poetry Prize.
Her Chapbook Acts of Crucifixion (Akasha Books, 2018) will be released as part of the New-Generation African Poets box set. Her publications in the realm of culture have appeared in Voices of Africa, The Theatre Times, Olisa Blogazine and openDemocracy.
She is editor-in-chief of the African poetry press Konya Shamsrumi.
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James Bekenawei
James Robert Bekenawei is a Nigerian writer, who accidentally found photography during his studies in the Philippines.
He tells pictures, snaps stories, questions answers, is addicted to black and white and has always been fascinated by humanity. James began with writing and found photography in the Philippines during his studies where he also flirted with cinematography; he’s a good mix of all three. He sees himself as a documentary photographer because he is fascinated by society. One of his life goals is to travel the Niger Delta and make short films and documentaries.
James sees Invisible Borders as a step in the right direction for him. He is currently also co-admin of IgersNigeria; the official Nigeria instagram community, which has been sharing visual stories from Nigeria since 2016.
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Yinka Elujoba
Yinka Elujoba was born on March 11,1991. He studied engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University and graduated in 2014. In 2010, he won the EditRed Poetry Challenge.
Yinka is a Nigerian writer. His essays are meditative with a focus on literary and art criticism, on how shifts in space affect the human condition.
He regularly contributes to Saraba Weekly. His works have been published on Saraba, Klorofyl, Aerodrome and elsewhere. He's blogs on elujoba.com. In 2016, he was selected to participate in Invisible Borders‘ Borders Within project.
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Nengi Nelson
Nengi Nelson is a photographer and emerging filmmaker, born and raised in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
She is a Lagos-based documentary and portrait photographer, who uses her images to explore human body shapes, emotions and forms of expression in communication.
Her passion for photography has driven some collaborations with other creative minds in curating visual content across multiple platforms.
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Kemi Falodun
Kemi Falodun is a Nigerian writer who lives in Lagos. She studied microbiology at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
In her short stories and essays, she deals with issues of loss, memory and the complexity of human relationships. As editorial assistant for Saraba Magazine, her short story Waiting was nominated for the Awele Creative Trust Award 2016.
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Innocent Ekejiuba
Innocent is an amateur photographer, content developer and project manager with a bachelor's degree in English from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria.
His interests are diverse - from art to technology, social media, traditional journalism, educational reforms and film criticism, to name but a few. He is an IT enthusiast, a media analyst and a literary critic.
In 2015, he teamed up with a few friends to launch the film criticism website FilmsandCinemas. He also provides social media consulting services for Barnhouse Publishing, Roving Heights Book Distribution, Sankofa Initiative for Culture and Development and Fourth Canvas Design Agency. Innocent is the project manager for Borders Within: The Transnigerian Road Trip Project 2016.
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Invisible Borders at Centre George Pompidou, Paris.
The Centre Pompidou presents the first edition of Cosmopolis: a new kind of event dedicated to artistic practice, combining research and exchanging experiences. This platform, which consists of exhibitions, lectures, performances and discussions, focuses on these new practices and creates the conditions for exploring the social, urban and political issues they raise. Cosmopolis provides an insight into the various places where contemporary art flourishes, as well as approaches and experiments on cultural translation, which are rooted in a local context but are also part of an international network.
Invisible Borders launches book series for children
As part of our goal to redefine the place of contemporary Africans in the world and to promote understanding of African experiences and identities, Invisible Borders will launch a project to publish a series of books for children aged 7-12 years. The books will focus on the history and culture of Africans and will highlight some of the continent’s most important, yet relatively unknown, characters and stories.
We are looking for African writers and illustrators to work with us on the prject’s first book. The selected author and illustrator will be paid for their work.