The National Film Authority of Ghana has announced a strategic partnership with FilmOne Group, Nigeria, and Silverbird Cinema, Ghana, to host the inaugural Africa Cinema Summit scheduled to take place November 14-16 at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel and Silverbird Cinema in Accra, Ghana.
The Summit marks a pivotal moment in the history of the African film industry. With the collective aim of fostering growth, innovation, and collaboration, the summit seeks to unite cinema stakeholders from around the globe, offering a platform for insightful industry business dialogues, opportunity exchanges, and strategic partnerships. This initiative represents the first gathering on the African continent, aimed at propelling the African cinema ecosystem to greater heights.
With a total of 1,653 screens across the continent serving 1.3 billion people, Africa is by far the most underserved continent with regard to cinema distribution, according to UNESCO.
By delving into the multifaceted dimensions of the African cinema landscape, attendees will witness in-depth panel discussions, keynote speeches, and presentations by experts and major decision makers in the industry. A major focus will be given to the current trends, unique challenges, and exceptional opportunities inherent to African cinema and other distribution networks.
The summit will offer the opportunity for knowledge exchange, networking, and forging strategic alliances with influential stakeholders, African film authorities and commissions, cinema developers, suppliers, distributors, real estate professionals, seasoned producers, cutting-edge technology providers and many more across the globe. This will create an unparalleled platform for fostering valuable connections and mutual growth.
Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante, CEO National Film Authority of Ghana said, “Africa is cinema’s greatest opportunity in the 21st century and the Africa Cinema Summit serves as a call and pathway to realizing the potential of cinema for both the people of Africa and the cinema world globally. Cinema energizes communities socially, culturally, and economically and at a time when over 40 percent of the global youth population is projected to be in Africa in just a few years, the Africa cinema Summit is extremely timely. This will be the first ever cinema summit in Africa for Africa and Ghana is excited to lead the agenda and host discussions on the continent’s cinema ecosystem and highlight its huge growth opportunity to a global audience.”
Moses Babatope, co-founder and group deputy managing director FilmOne Group said, “We are thrilled to be a part of NFA’s Africa Cinema Summit, bringing together industry leaders and visionaries to shape the future of cinema business in Africa – the collective vision is to foster a dynamic platform for industry players to converge, interact, and forge robust partnerships that will galvanize the cinema ecosystem in Africa.”
Funmi Onuma, country manager Silverbird Cinemas, Ghana said, “Silverbird Cinemas, Ghana has supported the development of the Ghanaian film industry for the past 15 years and has demonstrated this dedication by proactively collaborating with producers to bring their works to the local market. We see this relationship with the NFA for the ACS as a positive step since it will set the platform for meaningful industry discussions and help forge a more exciting future for the film industry.”