Harvard University will host the Africa Alive! summit from October 11 to 13. The event brings together African alumni, students, and affiliates to lead conversations on the continent’s challenges and priorities.
The event will also screen the recently released Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti biopic on October 10 as a “special event” during what the organisers have termed “pre-event sessions”.
Directed and produced by Bolanle Austen-Peters, the film covers the life of the activist and mother of Afrobeat musician, Fela Kuti. It stars Kehinde Bankole, Joke Silva, Iyimide Ayo-Olumoko, Adunni Ade, and Ibrahim Suleiman.
Africa Alive! is 0rganised by Harvard’s African community. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and former Ethiopian president Sahle-Work Zewde, and US Trade and Development Agency Director Enoh T. Ebong are among keynote speakers for the summit.
The summit will also feature a diverse range of chairs, moderators, and facilitators, including Mariama Wurie, a consultant and film producer, Tano Aka, an economist at the World Bank Group, as well as Patrick Katembwe, Minister of Communication and Media in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Audu Maikori, co-founder and CEO of Chocolate City Group and Pixel Ray Studios.
According to the organisers, “Africa Alive! represents a pioneering vision for reengaging with the dynamic, Africa-centered work done by Harvard’s alumni, faculty, and students, renewing expectations about Africa’s relevance and rising in the technologically mediated global economy, reclaiming prospects for deeper and fruitful connections across Harvard networks that share a commitment to Africa’s flourishing, and revitalizing Harvard’s stake in it.”
At the AMVCA ceremony held earlier this year, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti won the Best Writing In A Movie category. Read the Film Efiko review of the Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti biopic here.
