John Riber, Media in Development International, Tanzania

Born and raised in India (to American parents), John Riber completed university film studies in the United States in 1977 and immediately set off for Asia where he spent the next ten years making documentary and dramatic films in Bangladesh and India.

John moved to Zimbabwe in 1987 where he and his wife, Louise, established Media for Development Trust, one of Africa’s leading production and distribution houses.

In 2004 the Ribers moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and established Media For Development International-Tanzania, a Swahili multi-media production house working in radio, film and television, music and print.

During his career John has worked as a 16mm Film Lab Technician, Cameraman, Editor, Scriptwriter and most notably as Producer of the award winning African feature films, Neria, More Time, and Everyone’s Child and Director/Producer of Yellow Card and Shanda.

 

Dorothy Ghettuba, CEO., Spiel Works Media, Kenya

Dorothy Ghettuba is the Co-founder and C.E.O of Spielworks Media Ltd – a regional leader in content creation, production, distribution and broadcast. In seven years since inception, Spielworks has produced award winning properties; 15 Television Shows, over 20 shows for the web, and over 40 movies for Television.

Dorothy is also the co-founder of KEJA an online subscription video on demand (SVOD) streaming platform targeted at Africans in the Diaspora and on the continent. Dorothy is dedicated to developing creative talent, creating quality content and telling authentic African stories that resonate and engage audiences.

Dorothy honors include:

Dorothy is an alumnus of The Bucerius School of Global Governance in Hamburg, Germany and a 2016 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow. She is dedicated to telling the African story.

 

Amil Shivji, Kijiweni Productions ltd

 Amil Shivji is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, his homeland, as a freelance filmmaker and lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam. He believes Filmmaking is the strongest medium for bringing about social change by confronting social and political injustice. He has always felt the pull of media having experience as a news reporter and a radio host now as a filmmaker.

Neocolonialism, cultural and political imperialism and Palestinian solidarity have been at the centre of his activist and media work. He is particularly interested in using his work to challenge historical and contemporary misrepresentations of the African continent. His short films “Shoeshine” and “Samaki Mchangani” has received worldwide recognition and picked up many accolades on the way. He has just released a feature fiction called “Aisha” in July 2015 that is already gaining momentum locally and internationally.

 

Zziwa Aaron Alone, Managing Director, Zarron Motion Pictures, Uganda

Zziwa Aaron Alone is an award winning film director and producer from Uganda. He has been in the film industry for 9 years . He has directed films such as the Superstition, which won the best Film at Arusha African Film Festival in 2014 and Silicon Valley African Film Festival 2014. He wrote, produced and directed WAKO , which was nominated in Africa Movie Academy Awards for best African language in 2016 and also won best film in Arusha African Film Festival 2015, and was also selected  for Zanzibar International Film Festival 2016 and won best sound film in Uganda Film Festival in 2016.