2024 Africa Cinema Summit; Stakeholders call for more investment into creative sector to push the positive narratives about the continent

The 2nd Edition of the Africa Cinema Summit is being held in Ghana from the 7th to the 10th of October,2024 which seeks to follow up on the successes of the inaugural edition to create meaningful working partnerships among policy makers, industry practitioners and creatives to develop a world class continent wide and economically savvy industry which creates thousands of jobs and generate additional incomes to economies in general.

The theme of this year’s Conference is based on; ” Cinema Relevant in African Communities” which seeks to harp onto the bandwagon of compelling storytelling based on the time tested traditions and culture of Africa to inculcate social change and development among the current generations and generations unborn of the undiluted quality of its societal fibre.

The august occasion was headlined by top production executives from global production houses and marketing platforms like African American superstar , Idris Elba, Fiona Lamptey (Former Netflix Executive) amongst other distinguished panellists for the 4 day event of networking , business pitching and cooperation pertaining to the full exploitation of the cinema potential which has the effect of drawing huge inflows into the industry from a plethora of sources both locally and globally.

Speaking at the event , the Guest of Honour and Overlord of the Ga State , HRH King Tackie Teiko Tsuru in a speech read on his behalf , by celebrated sports journalist, Nathaniel Attoh intimated that African cinema has over the years served as a factory where the beautiful and authentic traditions of Africa are portrayed and sell the continent in a positive way to the global audience to correct the negative image of our continent through colonial vestiges centuries ago.

Films are not just products to showcase just compelling narratives to both local and foreign audience but rather takes us through the unfolding tapestry of our origins , where we have gotten to and the next steps we as Africans are taking on the development paradigms which in turn creates quality products that pays the incomes of all stakeholders in the sector economically speaking as well.

” African cinema is not just the primary product of pushing our unique identities in the world but is a walk back of how our societies have developed over the years and informs our future locations as a people whilst serving as an economic vehicle to keep thousands of creatives and allied professionals in active employment, which in turn adds up to the economic benefits to governments across the continent.

We need to push the advocacy and support of the industry into the doors of officialdom to create sound policy platforms and economic support to stakeholders to be able to meet the changing dynamics of the industry whilst focusing projecting more indigenous stories in modern ways to keep attracting eyeballs to the time tested traditions and, share the spotlight with local heroes to inspire the generations after them.

The Ghanaian movie industry must endeavour to tie its laces to giants like the Nigerian sphere (Nollywood) which generates billions of naira in its cinema sector second only to agriculture in contribution to its local economy whilst leveraging on the network of other African partnerships to create jobs and sustainable incomes for the persons who engage in this noble art of keeping our identity sacred”.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Film Authority, Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante revealed that the ever changing dynamics of the cinema industry calls for a concerted effort by governments and stakeholders to create an enabling environment for film makers and allied professionals to creative world class movies , features and documentaries with the potential to rival other well performing industries like Korean , Nigerian, American and Latin American co-equals which gross billions of dollars in returns to develop their home countries.

Those achievements she added, must come in the form of tax waivers, incentives , provision of modern cinema infrastructure per their population sizes to maximise the returns on investment in cases where less than 10% of Africa’s 2.5 billion people lack access to decent screens to experience cinema life which has bee confirmed by a recent UNESCO report which estimates 20 million jobs being created by the continent wide industry and draw in close $20bn in returns to propel massive development across board on the continent.

” Reliable date shows that despite the beautiful production done by cinema stakeholders on the continent to sell its folklore and culture to the world, locally the appeal to the audiences has not been well maximised with research showing that only close to 10% of the continent’s population have access to a decent cinema viewing experience which is not good enough for the sustainable growth of the industry.

It the behoves on policy makers and governments to tap into the rich potential of the cinema industry by creating funding and business development link ups between cinema stakeholders , private partners and development agencies like the African Development Bank ,and UNESCO to dedicate funds to the thousands of budding African film makers to be able to reach the huge markets both locally and in the diaspora to direct billions of dollars through movies and tourism transactions which serves as a win win for all parties in the value chain”.

The Africa Cinema Summit (ACS) is a three – day summit that brings stakeholders from the cinema industry value chain across the world to Africa.

The summit is unique as it is the first of its class to be held in Africa and it focuses on the peculiarities in the African cinema space as well as the challenges and the numerous opportunities the industry offers.

This is a result oriented summit, skewed towards creating a compelling and conducive avenue for participants to network, foster partnerships, generate leads and possibly close deals during the event and thereafter.