African Cinema Summit in Ghana
The Ghanaian public cinema agency gathered filmmakers and distributors this week in Accra to discuss the future of African cinema, including Nigeria’s FilmOne Group and Ghana’s Silverbird Cinema, at the Africa Cinema Summit, African film meetings.
In a resounding call to exploit Africa’s rich cultural heritage, filmmakers from the continent will pool their resources and collaborate effectively to stimulate the growth of this sector.
Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante, Director of the National Film Authority, Ghana’s public cinema agency, explains the potential of African cinema: «There are stories to be told everywhere; we have so many narratives at our fingertips that we have not yet explored».
However, the African film industry struggles to give a true representation of its cultures, often relegated to mere backdrops for Western narratives. This challenge underscores the need for change.
The African continent, with the youngest population in the world according to the United Nations, only has 1,700 cinemas, compared to 44.000 in the United States and 75.500 in China.
Some African films on streaming platforms have been very successful, such as the Nigerian thriller «The Black Bookreleased on Netflix this year, which was watched by more Koreans than Nigerians, according to its director Editi Effiong.
Ghana has launched a «Shoot in Ghana»campaign to attract international film shoots.
According to UNESCO, half of Africa’s countries have established public policies in favor of the audiovisual sector, and only 44% of them have a dedicated public agency for the sector.
The lack of funding and investment in cinema is structural in Africa; few countries see it as an employment-generating industry.
