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"If Scenarios from Africa didn’t exist, we would have to create it, because in Mali the best resources we have in the fight against the AIDS pandemic are the Scenarios from Africa films.” Moulaye Ismael Dicko, CESPA, Mali "Here
in the city, you hear people talking about them [the Scenarios films] all the time." “I am in Kenya this summer and a few nights ago I was at a Kenyan friend's house and between the news and the World Cup match one of the Scenarios from Africa came on! It was the one about the hiv+ wife that makes her husband run and get condoms just to prove he will take care of himself. I called everyone, my friend and all her sisters, in the room to watch. They thought it was funny but then proceeded to tell me they had seen it before. Then they began a spirited discussion of what Scenarios film they liked the most. They had seen so many and Iron Underpants was mentioned as one of their favorites!” Visiting US scholar "The films are
very, very effective, because they speak directly to us. As they are
films written by Africans and directed by Africans - and not Europeans
or Americans, as is so often the case - they reflect our own perspectives…..The Scenarios films are great for everybody - really young kids
and the aged. There's something for everyone…. Public response
is very enthusiastic…." "[The Scenarios films are] extremely useful and valuable in our efforts [to curb the
epidemic]. What is key for us right now [is] Education for Transformation,
and the Scenarios films fit in perfectly...." “I would like to request a copy of the Scenarios from Africa films in Portuguese. The reason for my asking is that I must now announce a positive HIV test result to a woman from Cape Verde here in Paris, and she only speaks Portuguese. I want to have materials in her language on hand for the counseling. Your urgent help would be much appreciated.” A doctor in Paris “We've received the DVD's and started airing them on weekly basis! They are great and the reaction is awesome. Last week we held a workshop and broadcast a couple of the films; the public reaction was very encouraging. Some participants even requested to have copies. We look forward to air new productions to our audiences.” Tilly Boateng, Sankofa TV, serving immigrant Africans in the Netherlands “You are doing a wonderful job and many lives are being saved as a result. I created a French version of OuagaNet, monburkina.com, for the francophones and I always get positive feedback for the movies.” Luc Zio "I’ve given the magnificent Scenarios from Africa films a place of honor in our toolkit targeting Quebecois of Haitian origin. Those films, along with the Discussion Guide, are among the pillars of the toolkit.” Valérie Lepine, Office of Public Health, Montreal, Canada
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Film distribution
DVD DISTRIBUTION: The SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA films are distributed on a non-profit basis to NGOs, CBOs, governmental and inter-governmental entities, educational establishments and businesses.
To date, nearly 100,000 original copies have been 
shipped to recipients in every country of Africa and to people in 56 other nations across the globe. In addition, users of the SCENARIOS DVDs are actively encouraged to burn copies - as many as they wish - on condition that the films are never sold.
The SCENARIOS films are presently available from Global Dialogues on the following regional, multi-language DVD sets:
RED DVD set, PAL format (with languages of the Sahel region of Africa): all 33 films in English, French, Portuguese, Wolof, Pulaar, Dioula and Moorè + 18 of the 33 in Hausa and 2 of the 33 in Chadian Arabic.
BLUE DVD set, PAL format (with languages of the Great Lakes region of Africa): all 33 films in English, French, Portuguese, Lingala, Kinyarwanda and Kiswahili.
GREEN DVD set, PAL format (with languages of the West African Gulf of Guinea region): all 33 films in English, French, Portuguese, Twi, Mina, Fon, Yoruba and Igbo.
GREEN DVD set, NTSC format (for use in North America), all 33 films with soundtracks as above.
GREEN DVD set, PAL format with Anglophone sign-language interpretation on screen: the first 28 films with soundtracks as above.
Local partners are urged to create additional language versions (“dubbing” the films) as they wish. In support of such initiatives, Global Dialogues gladly provides a free film master with a separate “music and effects” track to facilitate dubbing, as well as complete English, French or Portuguese shoot scripts for the translator and background documentation on the creation of new language versions of the SCENARIOS films. Dubbing is extremely attractive on a budgetary level, as all 33 SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA films – some 3.5 hours of material – can be dubbed into one language at broadcast quality for a total budget of under US$25,000.
The SCENARIOS films are used extensively in a myriad of different ways, such as in community awareness-raising activities, in HIV-related training courses, as part of VCT programs (both to encourage testing and in post-test counseling), in advocacy efforts worldwide, by mobile cinemas in disadvantaged periurban and remote 
rural areas, in workplace HIV/AIDS programs, in presentations at scientific conferences and in university lectures, on long-distance bus services, in local video clubs, by language teachers, on closed-circuit television in hotels, in curricula for African refugees, in waiting rooms of clinics, as part of training for UN peacekeepers….
TELEVISION: The SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA films are donated on a rights-free basis to broadcasters and are shown on locally-based stations in almost every country of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on several international satellite networks (TV5Monde, RFO, CANAL+HORIZONS, RTP…) and by stations serving African refugees and immigrants in Europe and North America. Well over 100,000,000 people have been reached by broadcasts of the SCENARIOS films.
The films have been greeted with universal enthusiasm by TV station directors, who appreciate their high quality and entertainment value, availability in local languages, diversity of topics and tones, and a short format that allows for great flexibility in programming between and during regularly scheduled shows. Those characteristics are certainly largely responsible for the unprecedented amount of free air time the films have been granted.
SCENARIOS films are often broadcast during prime time, such as just before the evening news, in the middle of popular sitcoms or soap operas, or immediately before or at halftime of World Cup and African Cup of Nations football matches.
RADIO VERSIONS: The soundtracks of SCENARIOS films have been adapted for use on the radio in French, Moorè, Dioula, Pulaar and Wolof, and over 1,000 copies of those audio CDs have been donated to radio stations in Africa, where they are often used as a way to spark listener involvement in call-in shows.
THE INTERNET: A growing number of SCENARIOS partners (including TV5Monde, CFAO/Sida-Entreprises, 
Creative Associates International, OneWorld TV, Ouaganet …) have made some or all of the films available for viewing on their websites. The SCENARIOS films can also be seen on video-sharing sites like YouTube, Metacafe and DailyMotion.
Anyone wishing to include the films on their websites, or create links to the films on this SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA website, may do so.
In 2009, a new website is being created from which it will be possible to stream and download for free burning all of the SCENARIOS films, as well as the radio adaptations, in all language versions currently available.
For detailed information on how the films are distributed and used, as well as critical commentary on the films from users across Africa and beyond, please consult the April 2009 SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA Audio-Visual Report.
To read the results of the most recent evaluative study of Scenarios from Africa films (June 2009), please click here. This study was conducted among young people in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and focused on Scenarios films that deal primarily with HIV prevention.
To watch a six-minute film on one particularly innovative idea for using the Scenarios from Africa films – video kiosks in waiting areas at small community banks in Senegal – please click here. This project was carried out independently and proactively in 2002 by the USAID-funded project Dyna Entreprises.
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