Once again many persons gathered in Cannes to talk about African cinema and its difficulties. While the official selection shows only two titles one from South Africa and the other from Morocco, professionals were invited to the Cinemas of the world pavilion in the village international to make the same diagnostic of many years already: African cinema doesn’t feel good.
The topic is so general and so repetitive that one could guess already that there will be no practical solution coming out of such a meeting.
The title of the conference is: The development of new technologies offers new perspectives on African production in terms of its diffusion and visibility internationally and in its loyalty to its local public.”
This is the same tragic question that all professional are fighting to answer since years, decades even. What now? Are there any perspectives?
Mane Cisneros (Festival of Tarifa- Spain) suggested one of the new possibilities. Ibermedia is a program that could be an example to follow in Africa.
Ibermedia is a Spanish program to promote cinema and visaual arts in South America. The idea is to create a network of TV channels and impose a kind of Quota to each of them to broadcast South African films. It seems that it works why not in Africa then.
As for Kenya, Mr. Monsieur Mutie Film Commission Director, he thinks that the problem of Africans is that they look too much abroad while they should think first to local audience.
IN Kenya, he argues, there are 15 TV channels. With a minimum of broadcasting quota, there will be market big enough made of the national consumption. But this should not be only national. The whole continent should speak with the same voice.
The same idea of networking was suggested by the South African Darryl Els. He is co-founder of the independent cinema, The Bioscope in South Africa. He goes out of the mainstream circuits and finds an interesting audience for independent films.
His plan is in addition to be connected to the world network of independent cinemas, to create an African network for independent cinema, like in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania as a first step.
In Western Africa, there is another program of distribution. One of its promoters joined the debate. Bénédicte Boursier presented Mobiciné which is a method to bring cinema to the slums of the big African cities.
If the audience doesn’t go anymore to cinemas, they will be able to receive it wherever they are. Doing this there is a hope that piracy would step back, especially if the mobicine ticket doesn’t exceed the price of the illegal “video-booth” (300 FCFA)
The first prototype of Mobicine was presented last fespaco in Ouagadougou in March, and the cities of Bamako and Dakar are, until now the first to take the plunge.
Despite all these initiatives, the situation of film distribution in Africa is getting from bad to worse.
Still two initiatives can bring a ray of hope. The International Organization of Francophony is planned to enlarge its space of activity to involve the whole black continent not only the traditional French speaking countries.
Copying Iberiamedia, the IOF plans to push the African countries to adopt a strategy of quota to promote the local consumption of African films.
General Secretary Mr. Abdou Diouf, according to Madame Souad Hussein in charge of film department of the organization, has already sent a brief to the OUA and the African government to invite them to put this plan in their agenda.
The same idea inspired the French government. An international symposium is planned for the upcoming September. Africans and the financers of African cinema are supposed to discuss new tools to finance African cinema in this time of crisis.
Having said this, it seems that the solution is found to the decease of African cinema. Let’s don’t count our chicken before they are hatched. It is too early to be really optimist.
See also : Nationa Media Group
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