Over the last 26 years, Afda students in their final year of their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees showcase their work at the annual Afda Graduation Festival. The festival is a multi-faceted and multi-medium event, which this year, for the first time, will take on a hybrid format - hosted online as well as traditionally in cinemas, theatres and studio venues in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth from the 3-15 December 2020.
"The annual Afda Graduation Festival is an important platform for our final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students to showcase the final practical outcome of their qualification. This outcome is the culmination of their learning journey at Afda and finding their voice as young creatives. The content the Afda graduates create is culturally relevant and engaging content for their chosen target markets. Many meaningful industry collaborations and connections have resulted from our Graduation Festival in previous years, creating opportunities for Afda students as well as industry and media stakeholders alike," says Afda CEO Teresa Passchier.
The festival will showcase over 120 productions and projects from the respective Afda campuses. These include live action short films, animation films, documentary films, telenovela pilots, theatre plays, live music performance shows (EP releases) and business innovation projects.
In accordance with Covid-19 protocols, crews from the School of Motion Picture Medium have shot films and documentaries remotely, with actors filming and playing their roles from their bedrooms and gardens while being directed from the far side of town. Crews have taken the hybrid approach and shot in studios on campus as well as remotely, while others have chosen to shoot in isolated spaces.
From the School of Live Performance, theatre plays are being rehearsed in a virtual space with costume and make up from mothers cupboard and music performance students have been recording in make-shift studios in garages.
The final-year undergraduate BCom in Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship students will also be presenting and reporting the results of their innovative, disruptive, monetised and up and running business startups to shareholders and potential shareholders at the festival.
"What an enormous challenge this year has been for our Afda students and staff! The Covid pandemic threw life, as we knew it, under the bus. For the first time in Afda history, we had to deal with concepts such as lockdown, online learning, working out how to shoot remotely and adapting to a new timetable.
"The fact that we are so close to the finishing line, completing stage, film, television and business innovation projects for the Graduation Festival, is evidence of students and staff drawing on their strongest attributes of grace and perseverance to succeed against all the odds. You have shown what resilience is, and - as the screenwriting guru Robert McKee says - true character is character under pressure. I cannot wait for our first Hybrid Grad Fest. I am so proud of you all," says Afda Durban dean, Dr Janet van Eeden.
Watch this space for further information regarding the online link to the festival as well venues and schedules of the respective campuses.
Dates:
Johannesburg campus - 3 to13 December
Cape Town campus - 4 to 15 December
Durban campus - 12 to 13 December
Port Elizabeth campus - 12 December
