This Autumn, with the support of the British Council, Afrika Eye Festival of Bristol has teamed up with Dakar's film festival Image et Vie to set up an exchange project with two young artists from their respective home cities.

Delving into each city and creating new work based on their discoveries, their responses in film and music, will be shared at each film festival. Bristol filmmaker Pierre Niyongira & rapper/songwriter Joel Douglas (aka Splitz P) will travel to Dakar for a two-week visit, soaking up the atmosphere & recording their findings. The return visit will see Senegalese filmmaker Kady Diedhiou & festival event manager Fatou Diabel Mbaye embark on a similar journey of cultural discovery in Bristol.

This project aims to:

• enable young and emerging artists to develop their skills in a new cultural environment;
• open up opportunities for shared initiatives between festivals in West Africa and UK; and
• raise the profile of African artists in the creative industries.

This is the first partnership project between Afrika Eye Festival and Image et Vie and the exchange is the first of its kind between Bristol and an African city of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. It is hoped to build on the relationship between the two cities as a result of this inaugural project.

The project engages African and Diaspora artists across the globe and unites artists across the global North and South. It will also support leading to future exchanges and professional opportunities for the artists involved, as well as promoting intercultural dialogue and the mobility of artists across the cities.

Projet supported by