FRAMED trailer from Cassandra Herrman on Vimeo.

Framed, a new documentary in the making, takes a critical look at activism in Africa and the representation of aid recipients as victims. It investigates the West’s relationship to Africa and questions why it doesn’t focus its aid efforts on local communities in the US.

The documentary features Kenyan photojournalist Boniface Mwangi, Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina and South African-born educator Zine Magubane, who ask a range of questions about the “selling of suffering”.

Directed by Cassandra Herrman, the team behind the project are raising funds on Kickstarter to complete it. In their words: “We’re making this film because we believe it’s about something that should matter to all of us.  ‘Framed’ examines the western relationship to Africa and Africans but it’s also about how we create difference, how we unconsciously make some people more powerful and others weaker, and how it’s often easier to do that than to take a hard look at ourselves. We want this film to spark conversation and debate among students, educators, families, friends and colleagues.”