Ghanaian filmmaker Leila Djansi has been named one of the mentors for a Netflix & UNESCO project.

‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ is a short film competition across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The winners will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a US$75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”.

The award winning filmmaker was part of the judges and mentors who did the first round of selection and shortlisted 21 emerging filmmakers out of over 2,000 applications.

The “I sing of a well” producer posted on her Facebook page:

“I am so excited to see the number of WOMEN selected for this! $75,000 from Netflix to make a short film that will debut on the streamer? That’s career defining. Congratulations ladies! see you all soon!"

She stated that Nigerian storytellers have always been top notch.

”From Buchi Emecheta to Chimamanda Adichie. They got 4 candidates in. Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya always putting in extra effort.”

The other judges and mentors are Nigeria’s Femi Odugbemi, South Africa’s Bongiwe Selane, L. David Tosh Gitonga from Kenya, and Jean Luc Herbulot from the Republic of Congo and representatives from Netflix and UNESCO who will act as guides in the process.

The panel will select the final six filmmakers who will receive a production grant of $75,000 (through a local production company) to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated.

Each of the six winners will also receive $25,000.

Netflix Director of Content in Africa, Ben Amadasun said the “response from all the aspiring filmmakers who took time to submit their application proves that there's a wealth of storytelling potential and talent in Africa and we at Netflix are excited to be part of this journey for more talented new voices to share their stories with the world”.