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Joost Van Der Valk
Dutch
Saving Africa’s Witch Children
Shot in Nigeria, February and May, 2008
Red Rebel Films / Oxford Scientific Films for Channel 4 Dispatches
WINNER: SONY PROFESSIONAL IMPACT AWARD
In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine - and branded witches.
They are abandoned, tortured, starved and sometimes murdered.
This film follows the work of 29-year-old Englishman, Gary Foxcroft, who has devoted his life to helping these vulnerable and desperate children.
The judges said this was a powerful, impressive and gripping film “told with dignity”. One commented, "the camerawork is subtle and restrained. It doesn't get in the way of telling what is a difficult and harrowing story."
Biography
Joost van der Valk holds MA’s in Anthropology, Philosophy and Spanish. He graduated from the National Film and Television School as a documentary director in 2003 and that same year won a Royal Television Society Best Newcomer nomination for his film Making the Moon. Since then, he has worked as a self-shooting director on documentary films and series for Channel 4, BBC and Five.
He works regularly with partner and former BBC film-maker, Mags Gavan, who produced and co-directed Saving Africa’s Witch Children.
