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African Cinematography: Colonial Film to Nollywood Lecture 4

Explore the struggles faced by African filmmakers in accessing audiences and markets, from colonial influences to contemporary issues. Discover the impact on storytelling and representation. Get insights into the industry's dynamics and the influence of European funding.

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African Cinematography: Colonial Film to Nollywood Lecture 4

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  1. African Cinematography: Colonial Film to NollywoodLecture 4 Derek Barker www.derekbarker.info Dr.Derek.Barker@gmail.com

  2. African Cinema: An audience without a market ? There is no market for African cinema • Few African films “catch on” in the West • Problems faced in Africa: • Movie theatres closing • Pirating • Local TV stations unsupportive • Lack of state support • Audiences prefer Hollywood productions or local popular productions

  3. In the shadow of Europe… • African filmmakers “cut off” from African audiences by being led by European backers to make “arty” films • Subsidies by European state or private organisations focused on production, not distribution or marketing • “Case by case” subsidies given to projects “on merit” by committees on the basis of screenplays (strongly promotes artistic approach)

  4. French funds Subsidy criteria: • Must be shot in Africa • Most of subsidy spent on postproduction in France • Emphasis on artistic quality and not on access to market • Influence of French conception of cinema as a “universal” message

  5. Audience but no market • Arty films “too intellectual” • “Little screen” taking over “big screen” • Chad: French Cultural Centre • Less than 20 theatres in French speaking sub-Saharan Africa • South Africa: 360 (SterKinekor) + 250 (NuMetro) • Large theatres obsolete

  6. Audience but no market • Rich have plasma screens, poor go to video clubs • Pirating – DVDs out before official release • Financing – Popular films using embedded advertising; no TV sponsored filmmaking • Privatisation of cinemas: conversion to shops or churches

  7. Tsitsi Dangarembga • Born in Mutoko, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1959 but spent part of her childhood in England. • She began her education there, but concluded her A-levels in a missionary school in the Rhodesian town of Umtali (now Mutare). She later studied medicine at Cambridge University but returned home soon after the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980.

  8. Tsitsi Dangarembga • In 1988, she published the novel Nervous Conditions • In 1996, she became the first black Zimbabwean woman ever to direct a film: “Everyone’s Child” so far her only feature film. • Dangarembga studied film in Berlin at the Deutsche Film und FernsehAkademie, where she studied film direction and produced several short film productions, including a documentary for German

  9. Everyone’s child • Released in 1996, story follows the tragic fates of four siblings after their parents die of AIDS. • Two teenagers left destitute after their uncle gives their cattle and plow in payment of their father's debts, Tamari and Itai must somehow care for their two younger siblings. • Itaileaves for the city, finds not jobs, turns to crime • Tamari, with no means to feed her family, sells her body to the local shopkeeper for food and clothing.

  10. Film view: Everyone‘s Child Pre-screening questions • Africa + Aids = stereotyping? • Parentless children in Africa: what do you know about this phenomenon? • Who‘s to blame for it all? • Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?

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