Yahoo News Ghana’s Africa Cinema Summit Sets Date, Theme & Executive Team For 2024 Edition
EXCLUSIVE: The National Film Authority of Ghana has re-teamed with regional operator Silverbird Cinemas to mount the Africa Cinema Summit in the nation’s capital, Accra.
This year marks the event’s second edition. The summit will run October 7-10 at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra and the theme will be “The Relevance of Cinema in African Communities.”
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Last year’s inaugural summit featured representatives from 20 African countries with discussion focused on exploring and tailoring cinematic opportunities to suit the unique characteristics of each geographic location across the continent. The meeting was the source of multiple strategic gains for the regional industry. Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo pledged to approve a film tax incentive for the Ghanaian film industry. The credit was officially passed a few months later as a 20% tax rebate. Following the event, Nigerian operator Filmhouse Group also committed to distributing Ghanaian films across Nigeria and other partner nations. Silverbird Ghana pledged to incorporate local snacks into their cinema foods and Ster-Kinekor, the leading cinema chain in Southern Africa, committed to exploring e-sports in their cinemas.
Organizers today said this year’s edition aims to “further consolidate the progress made in the African cinema industry, fostering collaboration, innovation, and sustainable growth.” The 2024 summit will focus on the “growth in quality of local content production and consumption driving the case for increased cinema investment.” The summit will also further delve into “reimagining and rethinking cinema for Africa’s mass market segment.”
Attendees at the summit will include cinema exhibitors, industry leaders and investors, filmmakers, producers, distributors, studios, policymakers, and stakeholders from across the continent and the globe.
The executive team running the event, led by Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante, CEO of the National Film Authority of Ghana, includes:
● Moses Babatope, Co-founder and former Group Managing Director, Filmhouse Group
● Rob Arthur, Founder and partner, Entertainment Solutions
● Tim Yaw Struthers, Senior Advisor, Global Engagement, National Film Authority of Ghana
● Ojoma Ochai, Managing Director, Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) Africa
● Funmi Onuma, Country Manager, Silverbird Cinemas
“Africa’s cinematic prowess is undeniable, yet remains largely untapped,” Asantewa Asante told us this morning.
“Through the biggest cinema event in Africa, the Africa Cinema Summit, we envision a transformative journey that can create over twenty million jobs and contribute an impressive $20 billion to the continent’s combined GDP, as projected by the 2021 UNESCO Report. I am also delighted to welcome back key executives from the global cinema, content, and creative communities to collaborate with me on this new edition and beyond.”
Asantewa Asante added that this year’s edition will focus on “the growth in quality local content” and finding ways of “introducing the cinema culture to Africa’s largely youth population who have never been to a cinema.”
“Over 80% of Africans on the continent have never been to a cinema, as the lack of cinema infrastructure has meant the eroding of the cinema culture in African communities,” she said. “This is a big opportunity, and we have the mindset that it is possible to drive Africa’s 1 billion youth population to think about Cinema as a viable entertainment option. The entire cinema world must join us on this journey that holds the future sustainability of not only African cinema, but world cinema.”
Andrew Egyapa Mercer, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ghana added: “Funding the film industry is a wise investment. Opportunities for investment in the sector are wide and we call on all those interested in investments in Africa and especially Ghana, to consider investing in the infrastructure that supports the ecosystem, especially in studios and cinemas. This can only yield great returns on investments considering that the future of cinema is this continent. Ghana as well is committed to working on the policy changes needed to help propel a thriving film ecosystem”
The Africa Cinema Summit will take place from October 7-10, 2024, at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, Ghana.
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