African filmmakers are urged to tell African stories during the opening of the Africa Cinema Summit in Accra

The need for the world to be aware of the richness and diversity of the African tale, coupled with the continent's expanding youth population, has made the appeal made by a number of speakers at yesterday's summit imperative.

African filmmakers were urged by Mantse Aryeequaye, a creative consultant and Chale Wote festival organizer, not to promote other cultures at the expense of their own in his submission.

He noted that Africa had a long standing culture dating back to many centuries, with many stories to be told but its filmmakers have shied away from telling the organic African story just to meet up with an accepted “global standards”.

He was adamant that taking on these projects would alter the course of events and improve the prospects of African motion pictures with unique tales.

"What do you want to tell the world?" is the inquiry. We watched Kungfus in Chinese films, American blockbusters, and Indian films growing up, all of which conveyed different lessons about conquering hardship.

It's interesting to note that Africans have authentically told our stories. For example, in Ghana, many of the films from the 1930s, such as Kwaw Ansah's Heritage Africa, are still relevant today.

“Africa has a lot of mysterious, compelling stories. A lot of our mythologies are unique but somehow, we don’t want to tell those stories but we want to look elsewhere. For instance, some of our groundbreaking stories from Africa shouldn’t be about violence or shaped around Hollywood.

“We are surrounded by everything we can make films but we are not taking advantage of the opportunities,” he stated.

The three day Africa Cinema Summit which started yesterday is a means for stakeholders in the industry value chain across the world and particularly Africa,  to discuss challenges and explore potential and opportunities in the African cinema space.

Speakers

The first day saw a number of industry persons lead a panel discussion on relevant key areas  such as “Fostering collaborations among African countries, “ Role of the Youth in Cinema Development in Africa” and “ Youth –Centric Film Marketing: Strategies for the Digital Age”.

Among the key speakers for day one were Moses Babatope, Co-Founder/Group Deputy Managing Director for FilmHouse Group; Carl Ampah, National Program Officer for Culture (UNESCO); filmmaker, Nana Asihene, Tony Asankomah, Founder of GHMoviefreak.com; Ama Ablorde, Filmaker; Nowe Segun-Ojo, Communications Manager, FilmHouse Group; and filmmaker Majeed Suhuyini.

The others are Nana Kwame Obiri-Tete, Sales and Marketing Lead, Silverbird Cinemas, Ghana; and Adesola Hane Ade-Unigbe, Entertainment Content Partnership lead, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tiktok.

The National Film Authority (NFA), in collaboration with Silverbird Cinemas in Ghana and Filmhouse Group, is organizing the summit.

Juliet Asante, the CEO of the National Film Authority (NFA), stated earlier in her speech that although Africa has the highest youth population, the region has not been able to attract young people who love stories to the movies.

She said, "This is a part of the National Film Authority of Ghana's cinema agenda strategy to work to impact the cinema space with a pan African approach."

The product manager of Filmmakers Mart, Moses Babatope, co-founder of the FilmHouse group, and Funmi Onuma, country manager for Silverbird Cinemas in Ghana, all vowed in their speeches to support the development of African cinema.