Une Affaire de Minijupe

TV series: Une Affaire de Minijupe

Innovative TV series that attracted the interest of RTS and TV5 Monde.

« Une Affaire de Minijupe » is a fiction that promotes strong messages handled with clarity and humor. Contributing to its financing would allow in an unprecedented way to broadcast a positive, unifying and rewarding series on television, both for foreign populations and for Switzerland and its model of integration.

BRING DIVERSITY TO THE SCREEN

In 2007, the Swiss Confederation promoted integration as an «essential mission of the State and society», a challenge that is more current than ever in view of the problems facing our globalized societies (fundamentalism, communitarianism, waves of immigration, discrimination, etc.). Bringing diversity to the screen could greatly contribute to the mutual understanding of populations and help to defuse tensions.

SYNOPSIS

Geneva. The Mayele family juggles between Western and African values. At the heart of this daily dilemma, Annie, a smart and revolted teenager, her father Kito, International civil servant, nostalgic of education, even of life (in the African way) and Géraldine, the young and new wife of the latter who seems to hide her game well. The day Annie returns from school, overexcited to the idea of going with her friends to Justin Bieber’s next concert, she does not suspect that she is about to shake an outward appearance of family balance. When her father finds a miniskirt in her backpack, the story races. Around them, family and friends influence the trio, between very fixed ideas, hasty decisions and senseless projects… How then will this miniskirt story end and what big problems hide behind this little piece of fabric?

THE CASTING

All actors are amateurs, volunteers, with various backgrounds (mainly Africa, Maghreb, Eastern and Southern Europe, Latin America and Asia) and recruited by casting to form the SwissAfroWood troupe. An ambitious project, initiated by the Cameroonian by origin and Genevan by adoption, director Paulin Tadadjeu Dadjeu.

A CONCEPT FROM HERE AND THERE, MIXING A PASSION FOR CINEMA AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

It all began in the summer of 2014, when Paulin Tadadjeu Dadjeu, Director, screenwriter and comedian, decided to set up a troupe of actors from various backgrounds: Africa, Maghreb, Eastern and Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia … The streets of international and multicultural Geneva prompted the idea. During the course of free workshops, he trained more than 40 volunteers in acting, for several months.

After a first project as a co-director that did not succeed, he once again gathered the troupe and created the SwissAfroWood concept.

The objective: bring together amateur actors from all walks of life for cinematographic projects, people who share a common interest in telling their origins, to share their journey in Switzerland through fiction.

The challenge: bringing to the screen a chronicle of everyday life through the lens of diversity and interactions between populations. This is how the script of the series «Une Affaire de Minijupe» began. The troupe was engaged, passionate and determined to take up a difficult challenge. They filmed the first two episodes, having been joined by a small technical team.

They organized a screen-test in May 2015. Despite very few means, the public’s enthusiasm for the show has been a real motivation.

WHY SUPPORT SUCH A PROJECT?

This is an innovative, original and unpublished project; a series serving community life that will undoubtedly impact the imagination of the general public in Switzerland as well as abroad.

State of the project’s progress: 85% !

Since the last phase can only be provided by professionals, financial support is needed to finalize this project. This series, which is a powerful vehicle for the dissemination of messages of integration and image promotion of a multicultural, open and tolerant Switzerland, will contribute to mutual understanding and visibility in the media to part of the country’s population, which does not have much visibility. The series will be an excellent educational tool to better understand the real interactions between populations and to understand the stakes of everyday life for people with foreign origins living in Switzerland.

We need you

It is with limited means that an ambitious team managed in more than two years to film a series, the very first African TV Series of Switzerland.

In order to complete this beautiful project, contributors who are sensitive to the issue of cultural diversity, sharing the values of integration, respect and tolerance dear to Switzerland are sought.

Following the promise of broadcasting the first 12 episodes by RTS on behalf of TV5MONDE, and in order to deliver a product with high quality standards for international distribution, your contributions will be used to finalize the post-production and start the last stage, namely promotion.

Director

Paulin Tadadjeu Dadjeu (Director, screenwriter and creator of the original idea) born on 24 April 1982 in Cameroon, he resides in Geneva since 2006. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Filmmaking (HEAD-Geneva), a Master’s Degree in Media Design (HEAD-Geneva), he is a PhD student in History and Aesthetics Cinema (UNIL-Lausanne). His film career started from a simple passion: to film the reality that surrounds him. He then launched into the making of films of command, before his degree required several film productions. His first feature film, «Un Africain en hiver» (2011), describes the career of a Cameroonian student who is struggling between the success of his studies and the administrative torments linked to his precarious status in Switzerland. It led to public success and his rise in professional circles. In 2011 the film was one of the official selections of the FESPACO (Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou), in Burkina Faso, one of the biggest film festivals of the African continent. In 2011 and 2012, TV5 MONDE broadcasted «Un Africain en hiver» more than 10 times on its various regional channels, which has earned him international visibility.