The multiple windows that African cinema opens | Future Planet

Two weeks away from one of the biggest events in African cinema, the festival Fespaco, to be held between 16 and 23 this month in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), UNESCO publishes, to open your mouth, a comprehensive analysis on the state and potential of the film industry on the continent. In figures, the report notes that the sector currently employs five million people and represents $ 5 billion of Africa’s GDP. About 4,300 million euros. But it could be higher. Four times more according to the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), which generates about 20 million jobs.

Beyond these numbers, the potential is even greater. Nobody escapes the bad times of the cultural sector in general during the last year and a half of the pandemic. Many industries experienced an unprecedented period of disruption around the world, including Africa. For the film and audiovisual sector in particular, these last 18 months have been marked by enormous challenges related to the closure of theaters and the postponement of most production activities.

However, this hiatus in turn revealed unprecedented opportunities, as the public turned to online platforms in droves to satisfy an immense thirst for connection, knowledge and entertainment. At the international level, African cinemas are enjoying a growing projection. Netflix, Amazon it of the movie have their channels and buy and produce more and more on the continent, opening the narrative landscape historically bleak over Africa.

The international success of films like The man who sold his skin (I’m Hania), The night of the kings (Philippe Lacôte), Atlantiques, by Mati Diop, contributes, as do music, fashion or the visual arts, to the emergence of a new soft power African.

On the other hand, the digital revolution underway, which began 20 years ago and accelerated with the pandemic “has been a true milestone for the industry in the continent, allowing not only to distribute, but also to monetize content through online platforms (from YouTube and other social networks to local mobile video services, such as Senegalese Wido) enable the emergence of a new economy for content creators. In countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Senegal, new generations of filmmakers can now live off the income generated online by their work, ”says the Unesco study itself.

Avoiding persistent obstacles

Despite significant production growth across the continent, where Nigeria, for example, produces some 2,500 films a year, the report argues that this potential remains untapped.

In addition to the giant Nigerian industry known as Nollywood, other countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia or South Africa also have an increasingly prolific sector, with characteristics specific to each area that respond to the idiosyncrasies of their audiences but also to the need to innovate. before the deficiencies of the surroundings.

Nigeria produces around 2,500 films a year

Although today digital film equipment has become more affordable, the study identifies persistent challenges affecting the industry, especially freedom of expression, —professionals from 47 of the 54 countries considered report limitations on the subjects that can manage—, training and Internet connectivity, which would ultimately be undermining the development of the industry in the continent both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Four veteran Sudanese filmmakers told it with irony and tenacity in the multi-award-winning documentary Talking about trees (Suhaib Gasmelbari, 2019): many of the movie theaters that populated the main cities of the continent at the end of the 20th century have been closing and today it is a challenge to relaunch them. Political censorship, public tastes and new ways of consuming images did not escape his musings. Is the same movie theater concept profitable today or will it have to be rethought? According to the study, Africa only has one cinema screen for every 787,402 inhabitants, making it the most underserved continent in terms of movie theaters. Initiatives such as red Canal Olympia, which has 18 cinemas and shows located in 12 countries could alleviate this deficit, with an express policy of promoting local cinema.

Africa only has one cinema screen for every 787,402 inhabitants, making it the most underserved continent in terms of movie theaters.

Piracy is another major problem for the industry and, although there is no precise data, the report estimates that it takes between 50% and 75% of the income from the film and audiovisual industry. It is worrying that the people participating in the study affirm that “when it exists, the regulation of the sector is sometimes perceived more as an obstacle rather than a support”. The document further highlights the fact that only 19 African countries out of 54 (35%) offer financial support to filmmakers.

The publication is designed to help the film industry and decision makers take stock of the current landscape and strategically plan for future growth. To do this, they recommend four growth plans: the Nollywood model (profitable and local); the author model (culturally more diverse, including alternative voices); the service model that would respond to the laws of the global market; and the festival that aims to gradually introduce the values ​​of the continent into cinematographic narratives. They also warn of the need to protect and preserve the cultural value of products created on the ground “so that they benefit Africa and contribute to its splendor in the rest of the world.”

The challenge of reaching the big screen

The proliferation of African film festivals in recent years is covering the almost total absence of African films in Spanish theaters. Apart from the already consolidated Tarifa African Film Festival who celebrated his coming of age in 2021, the Barcelona appointments, the Festival Wally! —Which opens the online room in Filmin this October— and the FICAB Barcelona International African Cinema Festival secure seats for lovers of these filmographies. Other appointments are the Festival of Other Cinemas (FAC) from the Balearic Islands or the new incorporation Afrikaldia, which celebrates its first edition in Vitoria this week.

To go deeper into the subject, the translation of Contemporary African cinema. Critical perspectives, by Olivier Barlet and it is recommended to follow the magazine sections on contemporary arts and cultures WIriko and of my africa.

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