Tag Archives: Béatrice Mandine

Orange series to celebrate African culture

Orange and Fame Productions have partnered on a TV project designed to promote culture in Africa that will be broadcast on channels in 17 African countries.

Y’Africa (13×26’) will air between February 6 and April 30, with its name being a short version of the Lingala phrase ‘Africa ya ielo,’ meaning ‘today’s Africa.’

It will showcase 39 talented artists from 10 countries including painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, choreographers, chefs and designers.

Each episode will profile three unique artists involved in African culture today who will show their work, creativity and journey so far.

Dan Assayag, the series’ director, said: “Going to see what’s happening in all those towns, giving artists the chance to speak, show their world – what a great idea! I loved the idea that what we were doing would surprise people, just because we were going to show people what we never usually see. On a human level, it’s a continuous, artistic learning process. And it was fascinating because we could be as free as all the artists we were featuring.”

Béatrice Mandine, executive director at Orange, said: “I’m very proud of this fresh, new concept for showcasing the diversity and wealth of talent in Africa. Orange, as a responsible provider, wishes to promote all cultures, to support and improve the visibility of young talent on the booming African scene”.

Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, added: “Orange has had a presence in Africa for a number of years. Our integration in the territories has allowed us to follow the current cultural scene from close quarters and identify the talents of the moment. In this way, the Y’Africa project has supplemented a number of initiatives by Orange focusing on the cultural promotion of Africa, like the Orange Prize for African Books ,for instance. This was launched last year to promote literary talent on the continent and to support local African publishing”.

The series will be dubbed and subtitled into three languages – Arabic, Portuguese and English – and will be available outside Africa this summer on Pan-African channels such as TV5 and Monde, on culture channels, documentary channels, discovery channels and some VoD platforms.

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