Africa’s Film Industry could see a quadruple rise in revenues to 20 billion dollars and create an extra 20 million jobs in creative industries, according to a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) about cinema on the continent.
According to UNESCO, “the booming film industry in Nigeria, Nollywood is the world’s second largest film industry in terms of output – and Senegal were examples of African countries with defined business models and growing avenues for local film productions, which are increasingly sought after by television and streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+”.
Most creative industries in Africa are grossly underserved, in part due to the failure of policymakers and local authorities to protect and invest in audio-visual industries, and there was the potential to add 20million jobs across African countries, according to the report.
UNESCO’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay said, the report which assessed the capacity and shortcomings of each country’s film and audio industries, “showcases the great potential of Africa’s audio-visual sector both in terms of creativity and growth”.
“We need to strengthen international cooperation to enable film-makers of all countries to express themselves and develop viable and competitive cultural and creative industries”.
The latest report was commissioned yesterday, 5th October 2021.This was after a meeting of Africa’s culture ministers in 2019 where they considered ways in which largely low-income countries could boost growth in creative industries.
The findings and recommendations will be discussed at a meeting of key stakeholders in film and creative industries across Africa at the Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, later this month, October.
While countries across Africa are adopting a range of models for growing their film industries, from providing digital services to hosting festivals, most are struggling to attain sustainable growth, the report said.
According to UNESCO’s report, Africa is by far the most underserved continent with regard to cinemas, with only one screen per 787,402 people. In Nigeria, the number of cinemas has doubled since 2015, although locations remain scarce.
Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for culture noted that a significant concern was that much of the money generated by African film industries does not go back into the local economies. Two-thirds of African countries acknowledged that more than half of proceeds were lost to illegal avenues such as piracy.
“Creatives do not receive copyright payment in return for their work. There needs to be much stronger legislation”.
According to the report, 30 of Africa’s 54 countries lacked national film commissions or recognized audio-visual institutions that can champion creatives and fair usage rules, making reforms hard to achieve.
Ottone said: “We are in a moment where if those countries don’t engage quickly with these challenges, they will keep losing film-makers, who flee to other countries like Nigeria and Senegal”.
Ottone further mentioned that despite their size and low income, Mauritius and Cape Verde have seen relative success, driven by private sector support and banks offering credit for short films and documentaries. Cape Verde’s industry has “made a very big jump” in the past five years. UNESCO UNESCO
Only 19 African countries offer any kind of financial support to film-makers, most often in the form of small grants or subsidies. For many in Nigeria’s film industry, the stunning rise of Nollywood, a near billion-dollar industry producing about 2,500 films each year, has come largely without significant support from successive governments.
In Ivory Coast and Senegal, significant investments by international television corporations such as Canal+, has boosted locally produced television productions, but in many countries, investment have been lacking. While the coronavirus pandemic has severely hit television advertising and cinema industries, the crisis has also spurred exciting change, the report added.
“In countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Senegal, new generations of directors can now live off the income generated online by their work,” the report revealed, because digital cinematographic equipment has become more affordable. Platforms like YouTube, Netflix and local mobile video services offer new ways of distributing and monetizing live content.
These changes, it said, had spurred “the emergence of a new economy for African content creators, who are now doing without traditional players”.
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