Catalogue > At random

As the leader makes a speech, the skies rain...

With his feature film Ezra, Newton I Aduaka won the Etalon d’or de Yennenga at the 20th edition of FESPACO. Premiering in competition at the Sundance film festival, it was nominated for the Humanitas Prize, screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes and was awarded the United Nation’s prize for Peace and Tolerance, the FIPRESI award and various other awards, including 6 grand jury prizes. Prior to that his multi-award winning indie film debut feature, Rage, was released nation-wide in the UK to critical acclaim and was a recipient of the Carlton television multicultural award, FESPACO’s Oumorou Ganda award, PAFF best first feature award and the OCIC prize. A Ford Foundation grantee, Newton was Filmmaker in Residence at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation’s La Résidence du Festival and writer in residence at The Moulin d’Ande. Commissioned by the Society of French Directors (SRF) and Cannes’ Quinzaine des Réalisateurs he made a short film on the theme, “Cinema and Globalization”. The result was Funeral. His short films, have screened, in various official competitions and won awards at numerous film festivals such as the Mostra de Venise, Oberhausen film festival, Claremont Ferrand Intl. film festival, Uppsala Intl. short film festival Edinburgh International Film Festival... The NGO, Global Dialogue, commissioned Aduaka to direct four short films on AIDS awareness. These films have been translated into numerous African and European languages and are effectively used as educational tools across the world. Aduaka was a member of the London based Activist film collective Migrant Media. Aduaka was invited to speak at TED, “Africa: The Next Chapter”, held in Arusha, Tanzania. His speech is available online at www.ted.com. He was invited by the Berlin film festival as an expert, to speak on drama and aesthetics of Cinema at the Berlinale Talent Campus. At the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Aduaka was invited to hold a Master class. One Man’s Show, his third feature premiered at Fespaco, winning the Critics’ Prize. The film had its US premier at the Mill Valley Film Festival. In the past few years Aduaka has made forays into experimental cinema and visual art installation pieces, a return to his days as a member of the radical avant-garde cinema in the early 90s at the London Film-Coop. Aduaka studied Film at the London Film School. He is a published short story writer. The British newspaper, The Independent, named Aduaka as one of the 50 greatest cultural figures shaping the African continent. Aduaka lives in Paris.