BET to screen documentaries through AfriDocs partnership

The wide-ranging documentaries, provided by AfriDocs, celebrates some of the best African talent in music and other fields—from legendary musicians to a young generation of dancers making waves in Africa and beyond. AfriDocs’ extensive library of African and international documentaries is moving, educational and entertaining. The collection of documentaries also captures personal journeys of individuals facing everyday challenges.

Designed for lovers of African stories and culture, activists, and anyone with a passion for powerful and real stories, the programme sees African and other international documentaries screened across 49 countries of sub-Saharan Africa on a weekly basis.

First off is ‘Mama Africa’, a biopic of Miraiam Makeba, the iconic “Mother of the Continent”. Thereafter, such features as ‘Under African Skies’, the story-behind-the-story of Paul Simon’s Graceland, will be screened.

Young African dancers and their impact are showcased in the film Martha & Niki and Shake the Dust, a powerful film from executive producer, the rapper Nasir “Nas” Jones, chronicles the influence of breakdancing, exploring how it strikes a resonant chord in the slums, favelas and ghettos of the world.

Since its inception in 2014, AfriDocs has presented over 150 documentaries, including powerful environmental doc Virunga, Rehad Desai’s award-winning Miners Shot Down, Nas Jones’ Shake the Dust dance documentary and Nigeria’s, The Supreme Price. It has also included internationally awarded and acclaimed films such as the Academy Award winner ‘CitizenFour (the Edward Snowden story)’, the Academy Award-nominated The Act of Killing, the SAFTA winning The Dream of Shahrazad, and many others.

“We look forward to rounding out our factual content offering, and illuminating and entertaining our Sunday night audiences thanks to AfriDocs’ intelligent, thought-provoking and stimulating documentary titles,” said Vice president, BET, Youth & Music, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa Monde Twala.

Executive producer, AfriDocs, Don Edkins adds: “We are excited about this new relationship with BET in Africa and we look forward to sharing our curation of the best documentary films on offer.”

Apart from airing the documentaries, this deal will see the BET having themed months such as Human Rights Month, Music Month, and Women’s Month.

The AfriDocs schedule is as follows: Mama Africa, 5 February; Shake the Dust 12 February; Under African Skies, 19 February and Martha & Niki on 26 February.