Africa Updates: Canal+ Takeover Of MultiChoice; Nigeria Film Fund; Yetu (Un)Limited
When Streamlined was launched two years ago, it came with a promise to cover Africa, swiftly followed by the realisation that a steep learning curve would be necessary before doing justice to the content industries of this huge and complex continent. One thing I’ve learned since launching Streamlined is that the more straightforward something looks on the outside, the more complicated it gets when you lift up the lid. After doing a ton of research and attending several Africa-themed panels in Cannes, I’m having a stab at covering some current African events.
African cinema has of course been gaining more international attention in recent years – this year alone, Mati Diop’s Dahomey won the Golden Bear in Berlin; and Zambian-Welsh filmmaker Rungano Nyoni won best director ex-aequo for On Becoming A Guinea Fowl in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; which also premiered Somalian film The Village Next To Paradise.
But outside of festivals, we usually only read about Africa’s film and TV industries when the global streamers are announcing their production plans. And some of those streamers have swept out of Africa as quickly as they swept in – with the continent becoming one of the first casualties of their international cost-cutting. What has been left are two or three players battling it out for domination of a region that is often described as the last frontier in the global film and streaming economy. Of course, the reality is a lot more complicated than that.
Several Africa-themed events took place during Cannes this year – AfroCannes returned with a two-day programme that looked at topics including the global distribution of African content and the influence of hip-hop culture on African filmmaking; Institut Francais dedicated a full day to the continent in the Cinemas du Monde pavilion, which included the launch of pan-African studio Yetu (Un)Limited (more on that below); and the Cannes Marché hosted a panel on Nigerian government support for the film industry, which covered the launch of a new film fund and plans for studios in Lagos (also more below).
