Masterclass & Film Screening with Shameela Seedat  
African Moot










African Moot

directed by Shameela Seedat


The best law students from many African countries compete in the annual African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. This edition is being held in Botswana. Who is the best mooter? They argue fictional cases, alternating between prosecution and defense. This year’s focus is on the rights of refugees—no less than a quarter of all refugees in the world are found in Africa.

During the preparation and the competition itself, we get to know participants from Uganda, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt, as well as their background and motivation. They include an LGBTQ+ activist who is the son of a refugee, a highly ambitious young woman from a poor district in Kenya, and two competitors from Uganda’s Makerere University, competing with the alma mater’s pride on their shoulders.

We witness the tension of the competition, and a painful moment, as well as fun and friendship. The concise impressions of the competition are the starting point for a vivid portrait of a new African generation. These observations show not only the complexity of African politics and identity, but also the participants’ confident commitment to the future.






Photo:

Samra Sabanovic

Photo: 

Shoot Hayley




Shameela Seedat

director

Shameela Seedat worked for several years in the field of law and research – including at the Constitutional Court, Unifem and Idasa, before turning to filmmaking. Her first feature-length docu- WHISPERING TRUTH TO POWER (2018),  about the last year in office of South Africa’s first female Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, opened several film festivals, and won multiple international awards including from HOT DOCS, FESPACO, the Luxor African Film Festival, Minneapolis St Paul’s Film Festival, Jozi Film Festival and the African Studies Association.  Shameela’s second feature-length documentary AFRICAN MOOT (2022) had its world premiere at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, and is also screening at the Sydney Film Festival and Encounters, amongst others. 
Shameela has also directed several programs for local and international television stations and civil society organizations and published widely on law and social justice in journals, newspapers and book chapters. She was the first in-resident film activist at the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in Cape Town in 2019, and served on several documentary film juries over recent years, including at the Sydney Film Festival and the Adiaha Women filmmakers Awards.


Sharron Todd

moderator

Sharron Todd is an African-Asian American writer, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and currently a marketing executive at a diversity investment firm based in Washington D.C., and New York City. She and her sister spent 10+ years in Helsinki, Finland as the owners of the Brooklyn Café and Brooklyn Baking Co. shops. Sharron has written for various publications and was the English editor and contributor to the award-winning book, No Justice, No Peace (Helsinki, 2020). She wrote and directed her first short film, Dear Elijah (2020), which premiered at the Ateneum museum in Helsinki during the Urban Apa Festival. The film was an official selection at the John Hopkins Film Festival, Chicago Indie Awards, and Culver City Film Festival, and won the Best Producer award (Brenda Todd) at the Toronto International Women Film Festival. 
Photo:

Maria Rannanheimo