The inaugural African Cinema summit (ACS) scheduled to hold from November 14-16 has commenced at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel and Silverbird Cinema in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
The summit which focuses on current trends, unique challenges, and opportunities inherent to African cinema and other distribution networks, is new strategic partnership with FilmOne Group (Nigeria) and Silverbird Cinema (Ghana).
Host, the National Film Authority of Ghana (NFA) which affirmed the summit will be one of the first continent-wide gatherings dedicated to cinema, has Silverbird Cinema as Associate and screening partner while Filmhouse Group remains the organising partner.
The event has interesting highlights such as: panel discussions, keynote speeches by African industry leaders, dedicated networking sessions for visitors, a showcase of contemporary African films and business matchmaking events.
Commenting on the event, 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 (ACS) 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% 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 of the Lagos-based FilmOne Group, which has had distribution deals with Disney on the continent, said he is “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,” he said.
Funmi Onuma, Country Manager Silverbird Cinemas, Ghana, added: “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.”
