Thanks to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we are alert to the danger of a single story about Africa. But what is the danger of not telling that single story about Africa, especially, when it may be true?
Mr. Wehinmi Atigbi, CEO of M2DC, in a keynote address, ‘Creative Intentions in the Age of Digital Mass Media', delivered at the 5th edition of the iRepresent International Documentary Festival, believes ‘'we cannot tell our stories based on a lie.'' This is all the more important in the documentary film genre that seeks to ‘'capture the world in its naked splendour.''
Whereas the audience for films in the fiction genre is expected to suspend belief, to believe in the story, documentary filmmakers have to tell verifiable true stories about reality. And because filmmakers are not free of bias, the intention behind the telling of a story is important.
According to Atigbi, the digital mass media has created a new kind of audience. An audience that tends to spend their waking life poring over screens on mobile devices; building alternate lives on Facebook or Twitter, and sharing the next cool video on Youtube. This makes them impatient, sufferers of a short attention span.
The danger for documentary filmmakers is that in bid to hold the attention of this new audience they would, as Mr. Atigbi said, engage in "pseudo-reality shows" like Big Brother Africa that are only "frivolous reflections of reality." The role of film makers in this digital age, he said, is to ‘'remind us that there is life outside the digital space'' by telling true stories that are challenging, informative, and which open our minds.

When asked if African filmmakers should always tell the truth about Africa, even if it means washing their dirty linen in the public view of Western media, he said it should depend on the filmmaker's conviction. For Africa to be taken seriously however we must evolve to the stage where we can tell ourselves the truth, he said. In the digital world of CGIs, special effects, and Photoshop, we would continually question what is real. Documentary filmmakers can only meet this need by offering stories that are true about Africa however difficult these are to swallow.

by Ettobe David Meres

First published in iREP 2015 Newsletter - Day 1, with support of iRep FilmFest and Goethe-Institut Nigeria.