Africa’s movie industry has grown tremendously in recent years led by increased commercial production in Nigeria and South Africa. While South Africa boasts more dynamic relationships with the world’s top film markets than Nigeria, the west African country has one of the most vibrant local audiences.
With over one million people employed in the film industry in Nigeria, the sector is the second largest employer after agriculture in a country that relies mainly on oil and gas to fuel its economy. South Africa’s film sector on the other hand employs over 35,000 people.
The rest of the continent remains largely a consumers market of films from these two countries. Film makers in countries like Kenya and Tanzania are still struggling to solve the puzzle of turning the productions profitable.
It however seems that the answer to boosting film production around the continent lies more with the Nollywood model that focuses more on low-budget films that are locally financed than the South African model which largely depend on foreign funding and partnerships.
With the financial crises in Europe and US crippling most small film companies in recent years the reliance on their financial and expert prowess has also dwindled.
In other words, African countries with non-existent film industries perhaps need to focus more on finding and nurturing local audiences than trying to get into Cannes.
Michael Ekenyerengozi, a Nigerian media expert and frequent consultant for Canada-based IMAX Corp. and Johns Hopkins University, told AFKInsider in an interview that the Nigeria’s film industry, better known as Nollywood, had played a key role in helping the country’s economy become the largest on the continent with a GDP of over $522 billion.
Films that can stop wars…for a a few hours
In Northern Nigeria, which boasts more than 1,000 screening centers or better known as community cinemas, armed groups such as Boko Haram terrorists and Ivorian rebels have been known to stop fighting to watch new film releases — not a bad reason to scale up local film funds, Ekenyerengozi said.
Counting both professional and amateur films, Nollywood produces about 2,500 films a year. Over the years, it has consistently been ahead of other film industries in the world except for India’s Bollywood.
The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics estimates the industry’s share of Nigeria’s GDP at 1.4 percent. With budgets often less than $30,000, $1-video CD releases, and in spite of rampant piracy, Nollywood has managed to create countless media jobs, while offering Nigerians the chance to see their own people and cultures portrayed on the big screen.
So far, Nigerian film has not fared as well outside the country.
Initiatives such as the 2014 EAVE Lagos workshop help bridge the gap between local productions and the global film market. EAVE is a Europe-based film networking organization that holds workshops around the world to create opportunities for emerging talent.
Mariam Adams, an EAVE Lagos participant and a former child presenter on a local Nigerian TV station, told AFKInsider her interest in film sparked after she saw Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan in a Bollywood movie. She has since been passionate about film making, and she dreams of bringing the Indian star to shoot in Nigeria, connecting the worlds of Nollywood and Bollywood.
“There are many points in common between Indian culture and the Hausa tribes,” Adams said.
“Nollywood is talentopia,” she told AFKInsider, “a world full of natural talents, and it aspires to be the best from the actors to the production crews. A world that never sleeps or fails to showcase our rich culture and stories for a better understanding, against all odds, especially when it comes to funding.”
Not enough films from Africa?
At the recent European film festival investors interested in funding movie productions in Africa complained that they do not get enough projects from Africa, according to South African producer Elias Ribeiro of Urucutu Films.
“Perhaps initiatives like the EAVE Workshop, which bring foreign experts to African soil in order to help African talent tell their own stories, can, in the long run, provide the platform necessary to bring African films to a wider international audience,” Ribiero told AFKInsider.
“Since Nigeria is one of the biggest film industries in the world, we were very curious,” said Roshanak Nedjad, the production tutor at the EAVE Lagos event.
“We found Nigerian producers to be very well prepared, much more than their European equivalents. Nigerian producers do have a business; they have an audience, they know their audience and they want to serve their audience by making e films that speak to their audience.”
But Nigeria was still not representative of the film industry in Africa, Nedjad said. With an industry that grew from zero local production to become one of the top three local film markets in the world, Nollywood is more of an exception than the norm.
South and North African film have had a slightly easier path to international distribution. Egyptian productions are some of the key players in North Africa.
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