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August 28, 2003
TeleDrum wins prestigious award from Association of African Studies Programmes
West Virginia State College's TeleDrum programme has been awarded the
Francois Manchuelle Award by the Association of African Studies
Programme for its films "Duara" and "Sound the Drum."
"Duara,"
a short feature produced by filmmaker and WVSC professor Daniel Boyd,
tells the story of a young African couple struggling with the AIDS
issue. "Sound the Drum," a student-produced documentary follows the
making of "Duara."
The TeleDrum programme, which was founded
by Boyd, brought together students and faculty from the WVSC and the
University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to produce these films, both of
which premiered in November 2002 at the West Virginia International
Film Festival.
"We wish to recognize the TeleDrum program for
its creativity and its commitment to outreach efforts in communities
with limited access to African studies," said Manchuelle Award
Committee Chair Douglas Chambers.
The two films have been
shown widely to West Virginia secondary school and college students and
to Job Corps and Vocational-Tech students.
The AASP
inaugurated the Francois Manchuelle Award in 2001, to honour the memory
of their colleague (1953-1996) who lost his life in the TWA 800 air
crash off New York. Manchuelle was a well known Africanist scholar and
educator who had dedicated much of his career to public history in
under-served communities and teaching at undergraduate colleges.
The
Committee hopes that recognition from the AASP will encourage further
efforts at WVSC in support of African Studies, as well as continuing
public outreach in surrounding communities, Douglas said.
WVSC Professor and TeleDrum member, Dr. Tee Ford-Ahmed, will accept the
award on behalf of TeleDrum at the African Studies Association
Conference in Boston in November.
The TeleDrum films have been honoured a number of times over the past
year including a "special recognition" for the director of "Duara" at
the Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania, screenings at the
Czech Republic Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and at the
Cucalorus International Film Festival in Wilmington, N.C. At the 2002
West Virginia Filmmakers Festival, "Duara" was awarded "Best Short
Feature," and "Sound the Drum" was named "Best Educational
Documentary." In addition, TeleDrum has been proclaimed a "Programme of
Humanitarian Distinction" by Gov. Bob Wise.
The
next TeleDrum project will be a musical that combines the Appalachian
and African oral traditions, with the final scene to be shot on top of
Kilimanjaro Mountain in Tanzania, according to Boyd.
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