New AU statute to boost African cinema industry
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Summary:
This renewed effort will have following benefits a robust audiovisual and cinema industry capable of projecting a positive image of Africa
There is a general consensus that African cinema isn’t where it is supposed to be given the number of stories that are there to be told, yet very few of these stories make the mark at continental level. Many observers admit that it is an industry in crisis, from the names that have been adopted for national productions such as Bongo movies which present an identity crisis to the budgetary crisis that it faces. On many occasions African cinema has only hit the global scale when produced by foreign producers who tell the stories in their own lenses. As Dexter Davis an American Film producer pointed out at the Zanzibar International Film Festival in July, there is nothing like a film industry in Africa. “You cannot claim to have an industry without enough screens where the films can be shown because that is the only way you can recoup the investments,” he pointed out then. Though it continues to operate informally, the audiovisual and cinema industry account for $5 billion of the continent’s GDP, employing an estimated 5 million people. With the current push for its development, the industry is expected to grow to over 20 million jobs and US$20 billion in annual GDP contribution. The AACC was established in June 2016 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia as a specialized agency of the African Union. The Ministers also approved establishment of the AACC Temporary Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya. |
The statute has been endorsed by leading film producing countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe among others. Establishment of AACC was first called for by the AU Executive Council in Maputo, Mozambique some 14 years ago. Members were requested to support the creation of these centres across the continent to enhance production of more quality films. The Pan African Federation of Filmmakers which was founded in 1969, is the voice of the African Filmmaker. The FEPACI Secretariat moved to Kenya in 2013 and began its work of facilitating, strengthening, and promoting the interests of the African Filmmaker through creation of structures and programme. |