‘There are many African filmmakers, but there no African cinemas’
The need for an independent net of distribution and for an alternative
funding, key aspects of the first FCAT Espacio Professional
Córdoba, 15th October 2013. FCAT Espacio Profesional, a spaced
conceived for the critical debate on African cinemas, has started today
at the African Film Festival of Cordoba. The activity has consisted of a
twofold panel – on the one hand, the presentation of the book Les
cinémas d'Afrique dans les années 2000 by the expert on African Film
Criticism, Olivier Barlet; and a round table with African filmmakers and
Barlet himself revolving around the present of African cinemas.
Olivier Barlet, has been accompanied by Carlos Domínguez, director of
FCAT Espacio Profesional, eager to prompt the translation and
publication of this book, into Spanish, firstly and secondly, in
English; María Sylveyro, Head of the Editorial Ocho y Medio in Spain,
who has stated that the idea of Ocho y Medio is to have this book
published into Spanish by this date next year; and Marion Berger, FCAT
Curator, who has highlighted from the book the questioning of the
Western thoughts on Africa and the dynamism of the notions revolving
around Africa. Olivier Barlet is one of the most prolific and relevant
film critics specialized in the cinemas of Africa, as well as a key
promoter of the film critic profession and genre in Africa. According to
him, Les cinémas d'Afrique dans les années 2000, is a book following
Mbembe’s idea of Europe not being the centre of the world any longer.
‘Africa teaches us how to understand the world, since Africa has already
encountered the other, and they are used to the unexpected. Their
capacity of action is very different and can teach the Western world a
lot’, Barlet has stated. The book, whose departing points are not
Western but Africans, has two aims – to understand the world and to
learn about cinema.
In addition to Olivier Barlet, the second panel has hosted some of the
most relevant experts on this field to discuss the current situation of
African cinemas. Among them, South African filmmaker, Arya Lalloo, whose
documentary film Jeppe on a Friday (2012) is in the official selection
of FCAT Cordoba 2013; Algerian filmmaker, Lamine Ammar Khodja, and
Senegalese filmmaker William M’baye, whose documentary film Président
Dia (2012) is also lined up for the official selection of this festival.
The panel has revolved around the need for finding new ways of funding
both popular cinema and ‘cinéma d’ateur’ and for finding a solution to
the lack of distribution that most of African countries are experiencing
today.
“There are many African filmmakers, but there are no African cinemas”
Ousmane William M’ Baye, director of the documentary film Président Dia
(2012, 54’), has provoked the very engaged audience and speakers at FCAT
Espacio Profesional, by stating – ‘There are many African filmmakers,
but there are no African cinemas’. M’Baye was referring to the presence
of worldwide acclaimed filmmakers, that are usually framed as ‘African’,
but the lack of exhibition of African cinemas in the continent. In the
end, African films are screened elsewhere in European film festivals.
This statement has very much entailed with Barlet’s reflection on the
digital era, where Africans can easily create their own films, as ‘the
image has always been a key aspect for communications in Africa’.
However, there is not a learning process on this image and thus, the
resulting images can be highly problematic and misrepresentative of
Africa’. M’baye has claimed ‘an aesthetical wave in Africa, which is how
we should respond to crisis’. In this way, the contribution of Arya
Lalloo have been of great relevance, as she has highlighted the
importance of ‘audience participation’, so we answer to the questions of
‘what cinema are we doing and for whom? There have been many changes,
but the solution in cinema must be addressed through the film language
itself’. This is why cinema as a mirror is not as relevant any more as
cinema as a reflection. The South African filmmaker has highlighted the
importance of a creation of an alternative circuit, as today the reason
for the large number of co-productions is the lack of funding for
independent creations.
The need for an independent distribution network
Algerian filmmaker, Lamine Ammar Khodja, shared as well his concern of
the lack of distribution in Africa in general and in Algeria, in
particular, where ‘there is just a State cinema with over 100 films per
year, yet where people do not watch independent cinemas’. This is a
frustrating situation, according to him, that could be solved if the
State leave cinema for filmmakers, and engaged in the promotion of a
fluid net for the ways of funding those cinemas.
Finally, Olivier Barlet has demanded as well the need for the
co-existence of the duality popular cinema and cinema d’auteur – ‘The
filmmaker must think of the artistic side of his work’. Barlet explained
that the creation of new cinemas has nothing to do with the success
regarding audience. For instance, in Chad there was a creative boom, a
very big cinema was build up in the capital, but it barely gathered 21
spectators per day. He indicated as possible solutions the creation of
schools of cinema and Film Reviews magazines in order to mobilise the
audiences.
Further panels at FCAT Espacio Profesional 2013
FCAT Espacio Profesional will be running until Friday the 18th of
October, every morning at Casa Árabe. Tomorrow, the panel will be aimed
at women, with Arya Lalloo, Laurence Attali (filmmaker and producer from
France/Senegal), Latifa El Berki (Moroccan producer) and Narimane Mari
(Algerian-French filmmaker and producer) chaired by Guadalupe Arensburg,
author specialist in African films.
International Media Office:
Estrella Sendra
Tel.: +34 667 39 26 13
media@fcat.es
DOWNLOADS:
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Catalogue: http://goo.gl/eaWMPq
Press Dossier: http://goo.gl/hTzVL0
FCAT Poster: http://goo.gl/F7bRBR
Video FCAT poster: http://goo.gl/KtWjfd
‘The future of African cinema lies on reinventing smart cinema’
The online distribution platform Africafilms.tv cements its
collaboration with the African Film Festival of Cordoba-FCAT, offering
five titles from the 18th October
Cordoba, 18th October 2013. The professional forum at the African Film
Festival of Cordoba-FCAT, known as FCAT Espacio Profesional, has given
voice today to the filmmakers of emerging projects aimed at the online
distribution. The round table, ‘An outlook on the audiovisual sector in
Africa’, has started with an outlook of the history of African film
festivals, the relation with festivals and the digital, and the capacity
of the festivals of building audiences and allowing the existence and
distribution of African films. These points, supported by Dr Lindiwe
Dovey, founder of London Film Africa, and professor at the School of
Oriental and African Studies (U. London). This panellist has been
followed by Enrico Chiesa, director of Africanfilms.tv, who has been
contributing to the festival since the foundation of the online site in
2011. Chiesa has explained that they have just launched an initiative
consisting on providing audiences with a series of films taken from the
FCAT film archive. This initiative, that will start on the 18th of
October, dovetailing with the closing and awards ceremony of the
festival, will allow audiences to stream and watch these films in their
own computers. ‘African film must enjoy the great advantages of the new
ITCs in order to meet the enormous audience’, Enrico Chiesa has stated.
The VoD (Video on Demand) site, funded by the ACP States and the
European Union, aimed at promoting the African film sector and the
cooperation among professionals in Africa, Spain and beyond. The
project, based in Dakar, is also available in Mali and France, other
than in Senegal. During his speech, the director of Africafilms.tv has
highlighted the importance of reinventing smart cinema to prompt a
popular cinema.
The five selected films to be provided out of charge to the surfers for a
week are Ezra, by Nigerian filmmaker Newton I. Aduaka; the
German-Kenyan coproduction Soul Boy, by Hawa Essuman; Surfing Soweto, by
Sara Blecher; Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry, by Cheik Fantamady Camara,
screened at the festival; and Jimmy Dakar Soul, by Marina Aguirre and
David García, an international premier at FCAT Cordoba 2013.
However, Africafilms.tv is not the only one aimed at the online
distribution of African cinemas. The round table has also counted on
Russell Southwood, who has presented Smart Monkey Tv , a Youtube
channel linked to Balancing Act, an online site devoted to information
and communication of African issues and cultures. Southwood has shared
Chiesa’s point on the necessity of enjoying the new tools, such as the
smartphone, which has become the “medium of choice in Africa”.
FCAT Espacio Profesional concludes today with the forum of production
and co-production in Africa and Spain. The festival will celebrate its
closing and awards ceremony this evening, revealing the five winners out
of the 27 films on competition.
International Media Office:
Estrella Sendra
Tel.: +34 667 39 26 13
media@fcat.es
CONTACT: Wealth-X, +65 68325169, press@wealthx.com alert 
