AFDA honours alumna Flavia Motsisi has recently been selected to be part of a new initiative to develop and empower upcoming African producers.

17 producers have been selected for the inaugural Creative Producer Indaba scheme, which has been developed by Realness Institute (created by fellow AFDA alumni Cait Pansegrouw and Elias Ribeiro) in partnership with Sundance Institute, International Film Festival Rotterdam and European training outfit EAVE.

The year-long training programme will include masterclasses and one-on-one meetings with assigned mentors to address topics such as project development, financing, marketing and advocacy. The first workshop will run online for two weeks from August 28.

The scheme has also selected a small number of producers from outside the continent, who aim to co-produce in Africa and forge connections with the international market.

Flavia is a Commissioning Editor for the M-Net, Local Entertainment Channels. Flavia’s portfolio focuses solely on the scripted content genre with the primary role of originating, developing and commissioning innovative drama series, telenovelas and movies. She assumes a project manager role by providing creative leadership during the development, production and post production process, encouraging innovation whilst maintaining the broadcast standard for the programs.

In addition she served as a board member in the NPO SWIFT (Sisters Working in Film and Television) which is an organization that is committed to empowering women working in the Film and Television. SWIFT advocates for gender and race parity, recognizing the intersectionality of women’s experiences both in front of and behind the camera. Flavia was one of the leading sub- committee members on the Skills and Mentorship pillar and heads up the national vision for Sisterhood Cinema at SWIFT.

Flavia is also an entrepreneur and owns an online Boutique as well as a health products business. She is a business mentor and assists women predominantly to start up home based businesses around their commitments, to date she has helped over 17 women around Africa launch their businesses.