Founder and Executive Director

IAN MARK KIMANJE

 Ian is a creative writer, director and producer who works in mostly Canada and Africa, with 15 years of experience in the television and film industry.  In the past he has worked on content for broadcasters such as National Geographic, PBS, TVO, CBC, MNET Africa, Facebook, and Microsoft. Recently, he directed the African elements of Kensington’s, The Shadow of Gold (TVO, Canal Plus), and his own documentary, Lockdown Baby (CBC).

Inspiration Behind ACTFF: 

September 2014. I’m on a flight from Melbourne to Uganda.  I am searching through my bags, looking for the book I had set to read on the 16 hour flight. My eyes land on these DVDs that I had got from a friend at the Australian Children’s Television Foundation.  I had copies of DVDs from the Australian television industry and was taking them to my nieces and nephews to watch and learn from content made in Australia. It started bothering me that I was being the promoter of other cultures to African children.

Two weeks later in Uganda, I went to see my sister and her children tell me how they like the series I brought them and they are learning from it but, one asked, “Are their no black people in Australia?”  I replied that there are, and in fact there are many of them. She then asked if they are not allowed to give birth to children, that perhaps that’s why their children didn’t appear in the series.

Now, that was some serious thinking for a 10 year old girl. I knew where she was going with it and how she was bothered, that among all the 10 DVDs I had got for them, with various television shows, not one had any black children or young people in the content.

The next day, I started educating myself on how to create content for children and young people so that I could make content for African children.

Then, in Early 2015, African Children’s Television and Film Foundation was formed.