AFRICA RISING with Afua Hirsch
3x60’ - BBC2 and International Distribution
2023
Producer/Director
This travelogue series profiles African culture (in Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco) and is presented by journalist, author, and broadcaster Afua Hirsch. Immersive sequences explore music, art, photography, fashion.
I directed the lead episode about the art and culture of Morocco, and took the film through the edit.
Morocco is Africa’s most popular tourist destination, famous for mosques, medinas and, more recently, football. In this film, Afua Hirsch goes beyond the clichés to explore how Morocco is changing. She gets the inside track from young creatives who are updating traditions, expressing new ideas and connecting Morocco to wider African culture with thrilling new art forms.
She is snapped by internationally renowned photographer Hassan Hajjaj, goes riding with Tbourida horse rider Amal Amhari and explores Amazigh rug weaving with artist Sarah Allaoui. Afua also looks into the tensions between heritage, tradition and the desire for change with pioneering women artists Majida Khattari and Zainab Fasiki and Morocco’s superstar singer-songwriter Rym Fikri.
The series is the follow up to the series ‘African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power’ which I directed in 2020.
4* reviews in The Guardian and The Daily Mail, and ‘critics choice’ and ‘pick of the day’ in The Independent, The Times, The Observer, The Radio Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, and The Mail on Sunday.
The Guardian -‘This skilful three-part documentary about Africa’s cultural renaissance looks at Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa. Expect everything from TikTok dances to the legacy of Fela Kuti… Hirsch opens the door for the Africa-curious and makes it clear why the world should pay attention to every part of it. The series makes you wish 51 more episodes were coming, to cover the rest of the continent.’
