Africa Travel WeekThe International Tourism Film Festival Africa awards took place in May, and the event has shone a very welcome spotlight on the industry by showcasing what Africa really is capable of achieving. In a noteworthy highlight, Isibindi Africa Lodges walked away with Silver and leaves the industry proud.
“With 865 entries from 97 countries, of which a quarter were African, the competition was fierce,” says Caroline Ungersbock, co-founder and director of the ITFF. “As COVID-19 caused numerous logistical challenges it made sense to combine the Afro-centric version of our event with the International one this year.”
Isibindi Africa Lodge’s winning entry, COURAGE, was made and predominantly shot by Chantelle Melzer of Wild Visuals Collective. The entries were evaluated by renowned professionals in the Audio-visual, Production, Marketing, and Tourism fields.
James Byrne, co-director of the ITFFA added, “Tourism is a topic that is possibly the best suited for video marketing, as its very essence is about visual storytelling. Our objective for this year in particular was to carry a message of hope and encouragement during a time when it is so needed. This event was defined by the people that participated, and we are beyond grateful to have shared in this journey with them.”
Ultimately, this event brought people together, gave them a new focus and inspiration for future success.
Seeing the teams pull together throughout this difficult last year and a half, helped Brett Gehren, CEO of Isibindi Africa Lodges cope. He says “The heavy load of caring for Isibindi’s communities and the incredible natural wonders around our Lodges through such uncertainty was made bearable by the unwavering support from the Isibindi staff. They gave me the courage, the ‘isibindi’ … to stride forward knowing that this too will pass.”
To find out more about The International Tourism Film Festival Africa, click here: http://itff.africa .
To view the winning video click here: https://youtu.be/yi_cfrANKX0
