Out of Africa

When I lived in Nigeria, we mostly watched and talked about foreign films. Even the last time I visited, family and friends would pull out bootleg copies of recent American releases I hadn’t even seen. The foriegn film consumes the film/movie industry in Nigeria – as far as locals are concerned, local films just don’t meet the same standards.

I also had never been to a movie theatre in any of the 5+ years I lived in Nigeira. I don’t even remember seeing one anywhere in the town my family lived in. And I know none of my friends went “to the movies” for fun. Any films we watched were in the confinement of our homes.

If the film was Nigerian, it was far from big-screen quality and was a generally a poorly-produced straight-to-video movie. (Which I personally find hilarious, if overdramatic and overly drawn out).

A story I found on allafrica.com looks into why there is little room for African films on the continent.

However, African films have been getting some spotlight here in the United States. There’s a film festival in New York highlighting 40 films throughout African and the African Diaspora.

And apparently, there is a budding film industry in Africa that just need the attention and market to keep it thriving. There’s an African Academy Awards and film festivals in countries like Rwanda.

Outside of Africa, others also seem to think it is important for Africa to build its film industry. A group of Canadians started a film school in Burundi last year. The idea was to tell the stories of this country, and let its people do the telling.

I think that is probably the most important element – letting Africans tell their own stories. It’s a good way to to counter a lot of the prevalent images and myths about Africa. And help to build awareness and a better understanding of Africa’s past and present.

However, I do praise and appreciate the recent American films on Africa – Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda, The Last King of Scotland – that already do these things.