The annual awards 2022 for the achievements of the Nigerian film industry took place recently in Germany. The event is dubbed Nollywood week 2022. The awards are called NEGA awards and according to its sponsors and organizers, “NEGA Awards – is designed to honor Nollywood stakeholders, stars, comedians, musicians (both in Africa and in the Diaspora) which has also been expanded to recognize the artistic bias of outstanding politicians and business men and women both in Africa and beyond but whose actions in the area of culture and tourism sector, have directly or indirectly impacted upon Africans and other continent outside the scope of African countries and the Nigeria film industry in particular, thereby shaping what it has grown to become today.”
In a narrow sense, the cinema is generally viewed as a form of public entertainment; perhaps the most popular form of entertainment in the world. If we look closer or deeper than the eyes can see, we realize that cinema or the film industry is one of the most profitable and fast growing industries in the world. Artistically, cinema can be the most complicated form of art as it involves a lot of producers, actors, directors and a number of other professionals who take part in the production of a movie. As an industry, cinema is a lucrative business that generates a lot of income to production studios, actors and all those who take part in the business of making films.
In Africa, the film industry is not a highly developed business and studios are not as rich as their counterparts in Europe and America. The African cinema is s still in its infancy with few exceptions that have evolved rapidly to become serious business undertakings. The Nigerian film industry is the biggest in Africa and the second largest film industry in the world in terms of volume, number of annual films, revenue and popularity. It is also the second largest film producer in the world. In 2016 Nigeria’s film industry contributed 2.3% towards its gross domestic product. The achievements of the Nigerian film industry are impressive indeed. The industry produced 2500 movies each year.
According to a blog post called Education and Information Portal, “The film industry in Africa is booming, with Nigerian Nollywood being the largest and best film industry in Africa and one of the best in the world. In terms of revenue, Nigeria generates the largest share of box office revenue in Anglophone West Africa.”
According to the same post, the four biggest African film industries are: Nollywood is the Nigeria film industry and the best movie industry in Africa, and is in fact the second largest movie industry globally in terms of output, producing about 2,500 films in a year. This number surpasses Hollywood, and is second only to India’s Bollywood.
The second biggest film industry is Ghallywood, the Ghanaian film industry and one of the best in Africa. According to BBC News reporter in 2019, Ghana’s TV and film industry, known as Ghallywood, was once the pride of Africa but has now fallen on hard times. Now a movie industry like Nollywood has taken its place.
“During the Nkrumah regime, 1957-1966, the Ghanaian film industry became one of the most sophisticated film industries in Africa.” Nkrumah viewed film as an almost perfect strategy to build a nation under the same values and drives.
Kumawood is another movie industry in Ghana. It is a privately owned movie and awards industry that is based in Kumasi, Ghana. It was founded by Samuel Kwabena Darko, a Ghanaian businessman and entrepreneur.
The South Africa African film industry is the fourth biggest film industry in Africa.The cinema of South Africa refers to the films and film industry of the nation of South Africa. South Africa has a vibrant, growing film industry that is growing in reputation and is competitive internationally.
With the exception of the above fourth film industries, the rest of African filmmakers seem to be lagging behind both in quality and quantity of film production, revenue and business impact. The cinema is increasingly being regarded as an important if not potentially lucrative industry. As a result of this, the artistic aspect of filmmaking is given less importance contrary to the situation in the old days when filmmaking was first an artistic occupation and then a business venture.
According to a recent study by UNESCO, “The African film industry has great potential, but the lack of infrastructure like one cinema screen per 787,402 people makes it a laggard.”
According to a new UNESCO report, “about 5 million people currently work in the film sector in Africa, which contributes $5 billion to the continent’s GDP. The African film industry still remains historically and structurally underfunded, underdeveloped and undervalued, according to UNESCO’s first comprehensive report about Africa’s film industry. The report says that the industry is booming and could create 20 million jobs and generate $20 billion revenues per year. And yet Africa’s potential as a film production hotspot remains largely untapped.”
The UNESCO report further noted that, Africa’s cinema network is the most underserved and the least developed in the world in terms of movie theatres.Currently, there are a total of 1,651 screens across the continent, meaning only one cinema screen per 787,402 people. The film industry also faces the problem of piracy. The UNESCO report estimates that 50 percent of the potential revenue is lost to piracy, though precise data does not exist.
While government support for African film industries could play a positive role in the development of the cinema in the continent, only 19 countries out of 54 in Africa enjoy financial support for filmmakers. The industry thus remains underfunded, underdeveloped and undervalued. Nevertheless the African film industry is booming in a few countries and could create as many as 20 million jobs and generate $ 20 billion revenues per year. Given its potentials for growth, the potentials of Africa’s film industry still remain untapped.
The Ethiopian film industry, if there is at all a film industry is one of the least developed ones even by African standards, although data on its size are largely unavailable. What comes as more surprise is the fact that Ethiopia started to make films while most African countries were under colonial rule. Like anywhere in Africa, there are also many talented filmmakers in Ethiopia. We have an annual film award known as Guma Awards that honor best films and best actors as well as best producers and directors.
The challenges that the Ethiopian film industry facing are many and complex. The first is the absence of a government film policy for the development of the industry and financial support to those involved in the business. Banks lend money to other businesses but not to filmmakers because most do not think that filmmaking in Ethiopia is not a profitable business. The few courageous private investors who fund films do so at their own risk and whether they prove profitable or not they tend to withdraw from the business as soon as possible for fear of potential bankruptcy or financial loss. In this was private film makers could not set up studios or engage in the business permanently.
Dealing with the challenges the Ethiopian film industry is facing, the Wikipedia Encyclopedia says that “The Cinema of Ethiopia and the film industry in general is a relatively recent phenomenon in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian film industry is growing, but faces many problems that have prevented it from fully flourishing. Historically live stage theater enjoyed more popularity in Ethiopia, creating a handful of relatively successful stage actors. Ethiopian films began modernizing since 2000s, implementing Amharic language, but due to wide home video and DVD distribution, it often frustrated by copyright infringement in the presence of piracy. Despite recently developing, the Ethiopian film production continued to be lack of complement quality in relation to world premiere with low budget amateurish style.”
There are still rooms for government intervention to turn the mediocre Ethiopian film industry into a vibrant economic activity. It only takes to set up a department in the Ministry of Culture that would look into the modalities of film investment by the government and the budget for starting the process to roll full speed. Awareness is also another problem. How many people in the cultural establishment would grasp the significance of the film industry to the development of the country? How many of them are ready to take the risk and take the first steps in this direction.
Ethiopian filmmakers can take a few lessons from their more successful peers across Africa and see how they would implement feasible strategies for the sake of the Ethiopian film industry. The Chinese were late to come to the global film industry but they caught up with the leading filmmakers like Hollywood and Bollywood simply because they worked hard to make the leap from anonymity to fame by involving the state cultural establishment, businesses and cultural workers in every department. The payback was huge and China is nowadays boasting as one of the leading film venues internationally by making use of its rich cultural and historical legacies by turning them into money making ventures. Martial art that has become the bread and butter of most Chinese film companies is a form of Chinese culture that is modernized and turned into blockbusters thanks to special effects and other technological gadgetry.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The Ethiopian Herald 15 May 2022
