The Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a pan-African social enterprise working to advance digital rights and inclusion in Africa, has released its second short film titled Focus to the public. The film has been uploaded on YouTube in both English and French versions to allow for easy and free access.
The release was preceded by a premiere on Thursday, October 14, which was attended by social and digital rights activists, journalists, policymakers, members of the diplomatic corps, social media influencers, and others.
Focus is directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Tolulope Ajayi, and produced by Up In The Sky, a creative and production agency based in Lagos. The short film creatively explores in a cinematic form PIN’s 2020 annual digital rights and inclusion report dubbed Londa, which depicts the state of digital rights and inclusion in 20 African countries.
The movie Focus is PIN’s second short film after the widely-regarded first short film, Training Day, and marks a continuation of the organization’s aim to harness the power of story-telling in raising awareness on its research findings.
Focus accentuates the importance of citizen vigilance in confronting and halting the disturbing wave of restrictive policies enacted across several countries in Africa.
Speaking at the premiere, Paradigm Initiative’s COO, Nnenna Paul Ugochukwu said, “Londa is an effective tool for building advocacy because it contains up-to-date information about the digital landscape in Africa. With Londa, we are able to foster relevant, contextual and multi-stakeholder conversations around issues such as access, inclusion, gender gap, freedom of expression, etc. Everyone can learn about what’s going on in their country or region and empower themselves to advocate for digital rights and inclusion in their communities.”
The film’s release coincided with last year’s ENDSARS protest against police brutality that received global attention with an attack on protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
Twitter, the social media service that played a central role in how young Nigerians were able to mobilize and coordinate actions for the protest, remains inaccessible in Nigeria following a suspension enforced by the government since June.
Internet blockades and arbitrary bans formed part of the central theme of the short film as PIN presented options to citizens facing such repression on how to maintain access using tailored tools to boycott the blockades.
Focus also alerts citizens to means to identify and take collective actions against the plots by government to slip through policies and other restrictive measures aimed at limiting online freedoms and censoring speech.
With the support of The Kingdom of Netherlands, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the United States Department of State, Focus continues Paradigm Initiative’s efforts to mainstream topical issues using the medium of storytelling as a vehicle of social transformation.