An event created on the initiative of UniFrance and Les Villages Enchantés, in partnership with the Fondation ENGIE, the Afrique Junior Festival will hold its second edition (following its first edition held in Côte d'Ivoire) in collaboration with the associations The Jane Goodall Institute and Panthera. Film screenings will be in Senegal from January 9 through 15, 2020—in Dakar at the Institut Français and the Canal Olympia Téranga, as well as at outdoor venues in the villages of Kedougou and Dindefelo.
The goal of the Les Villages Enchantés association is to organize free film screenings for disadvantaged communities, with a special focus on children who do not have the possibility of seeing movies in theaters. This initiative has been established as an extension of Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognizes the right of every child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities and free and full participation in cultural and artistic life.
Since it was founded in 2007, the association has undertaken eleven operations in Africa, in five countries. This has involved transforming around a dozen sites into large-scale open-air screening venues, such as in village squares, soccer fields, and sites run by the SOS Villages d'Enfants organization.
For this twelfth operation, held in Senegal, the association responded to an invitation from the Jane Goodall Institute, an organization that is known for its commitment to the study and protection of chimpanzees, and Panthera, a charitable organization dedicated to the conservation of wild cat species. Dr. Goodall discovered that when local communities are placed at the heart of conservation programs, the lives of people and animals, and the state of the environment, are significantly improved. With the screening of films that feature animals as their main characters (chimpanzees and wild cats), the association Les Villages Enchantés and UniFrance and proud to contribute to raising the awareness of local populations of the important work undertaken by the Jane Goodall Institute and Panthera.
Program Details
In Dakar, at the screening theaters of the Institut Français and at the Canal Olympia Terranga: a screening of the French film Forward by Gilles De Maistre on Wednesday, January 15.
Free film screenings held in the villages of Kedougou and Dindefelo:
Kedougou village: Friday, January 10
Forward by Gilles De Maistre: screening at 7:30 p.m.
Mia and the White Lion by Gilles De Maistre: screening at 9:10 p.m.
Kedougou village: Saturday, January 11
The Lion King by Jon Favreau: screening at 7:30 p.m. (Disneynature film)
Chimpanzees by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill: screening at 9:10 p.m. (Disneynature film)
Dindefelo village: Sunday, January 12
Forward by Gilles De Maistre : screening at 7:30 p.m.
Mia and the White Lion by Gilles De Maistre: screening at 9:10 p.m.
Dindefelo village: January 13
Chimpanzees by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill: screening at 7:30 p.m.
Felines by Keith Scholey and Alastair Forthergill: screening at 9:10 p.m.
