Screening – Africa United

Africa United is the story of three Rwandan children and their incredible journey to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg.

Travelling across 3000 miles we get to see Africa through their eyes, over a journey through seven African countries.

After setting off to reach the vital selection trial disaster strikes the children as they board the wrong bus and cross into Congo. Without identification or money they are taken to a children’s refugee camp. With incredible ingenuity (and a World Cup wall chart for a map) they manage to escape and continue their journey, along the way creating an ensemble "dream team" of displaced kids who help them through the highs and lows of their incredible adventure.

Directed by Debs Gardner-Paterson
2010
88 mins

Official Selection London Film Festival 2010
Official Selection Toronto Film Festival 2010

In association with Dramatic Need (www.dramaticneed.org)

James Mullighan (Shooting People) will introduce the film with Director Debs Gardner-Paterson. James is Creative Director Shooting People, and a trustee of Dramatic Need.

Madeleine Morris is a presenter and reporter for the BBC World Service. She recently returned from Washington where she reported on politics and North American news for BBC radio and television. She is a founding trustee of Dramatic Need.

Bernie Gardner is a musician and composer based in London. He studied music in Nashville, played drums in the studio there and on stage for STOMP. He often collaborates with other artists and as well as session drumming (covering rock to bangra to jazz), and is developing several projects connected to East Africa – relating to his latest film-score ‘Africa United’.

Amber Sainsbury trained as an actress (Webber Douglas) specialising in physical theatre. She has taught drama extensively across Africa, particularly in South Africa and Sierra Leone. She was a keynote speaker at the British Arts Council’s Creative Partnerships Conference 2009 on the role of the arts in development, and a contributor to the Commonwealth Ministers Reference Report on the subject. She founded Dramatic Need in 2007.

Ignatius Mugabo is Chairman Rwandese Community Association in the UK (RCA). The RCA is the umbrella organisation respresenting Rwandans resident in the United Kingdom.