At a time when movie theaters are closing almost everywhere in Africa due to different economical or political reasons varying from nation to nation, other venues started to proliferate in West and East Africa in order to bring films to the urban and rural zones of Africa. In West Africa, they are commonly know as video-clubs, in Madagascar, they are known as “cine-gargottes”, in Kenya, they are called “video-dens”, whereas Ugandans use the word “Bibandas”. This research aims to dress a portrait of the existing alternative distribution circuits within the African continent and predominantly in what way the video-halls are emerging as a substitute to a nonfunctional model inherited from the colonial period.
Video halls and film culture
The Nigerian cinema known as Nollywood has a countless effect on the development of video-halls in the neighboring countries. The video-halls owners would rely on Nigerian low-cost piracy circuits to buy their films, whereas some think that piracy is a threat to the African cinema, others would say that it’s a generative force for a new cultural production, the moral borderline between copyright and media piracy becomes blurred, it goes on to state that the informal economy allows more then three thousands Nigerian films to circulate within a large pan-African audience, all of this of course, without any assistance from the government, organizations, or film festival circuits. Thus, Nollywood and African audiences are unfolding the overdeveloped world ethics around intellectual property.
During his passage at the FESPACO in Ouagadougou, the Cameroonian filmmaker, Jean-Marie Téno was curious about the existence of video-clubs in the modest neighborhoods of Burkinabe’s capital, he then directed a documentary called “Sacred Places” exploring the survival and the patience of the film culture within the avid African cinephiles. From a wider perspective, this film showed for the first time an unusual social structure behind this video-club owned by Koro Bouba and located between a mosque and a cathedral at the heart of the commercial activities of the neighborhood. At the entrance of this semi-café/semi-store, we can see the film’s program that Koro Bouba offers every day and night. The titles of the films are handwritten with a felt-tip pen, and for most important films, a Djembé player announces them to the public. From the outside, Koro Bouba’s cine-club seems to be a makeshift place, though indoors, there is an obscure area that allows Koro to project his films during the day. The room is equipped with a TV screen, a videocassette recorder, a DVD reader and an Audio Amplifier, not to forget the 80 to 100 places room capacity. If this space allows people of the neighborhood to have convivial gathering while sipping tea to discuss the content of the films, their personal concerns, as well as the political life of their country, it’s also used as a praying space for the Muslim community working around the area. When the time of projection has come, spectators comment in real time the sequences of the films; others are eating while some others are smoking their cigarettes. The ongoing conversations during the projection clearly reflect the sociability of cinemas, giving it also a performative dimension. Indeed, according to Gabriel Teshome, the « Third World cinematic experience is moved by the requirements of its social action and contested and marked by the strategy of that action ». Through his examination of the two modes of culture expression between the Third World traditional culture and the Western culture in regards to perfomatory effect, he noted that the first one « expects viewer participation, therefore arouses activity and prepares for and allows participations » while the Western culture « inhibits participation ». With that in mind, the above description of video halls’ culture, as anecdotal as it may appear, in fact gives us some key features of the cultural and social practices across the continent inherent to alternative modes of film distribution.
Community-based production and informal economies
While, the terminology of the word video-club in the US or Europe means all sort of stores that sells or rents DVDs and videotapes, this does not include any projections, which is forbidden by the US/Europe legislation. However, the meaning of the video-club is completely different in Africa due to the influence of Nigeria, known for their cheap VCDs and widespread film piracy. The owners of the video-clubs project films coming from marginal distribution circuit, which in the majority of the cases, are coming from the informal market. Nollywood developed following the logic of a decentralized network of community-based production and trade. In order to fight against this ‘fraudulent market’, several African governments tolerate the existence of those spaces but try to push the video-club’s owners to pay taxes to their respective empty treasury, as in Nigeria where the government now collects revenue from the home video sector turning the sector into a veritable film industry. Ultimately, even if the majority of African governments are condemning the video-halls for piracy, moral and economical reasons, and even if they are adopting several laws to regulate them, they end up tolerating them and closing their eyes on their existence. There is also a deeper question regarding the issue of taxation, the relationship between the informal economy and the state as some critics argue that the video pirates and the industry have put little back into the public purse. Yet, some States start to realize that the existence of this alternative film distribution model can also perform social services.
In Uganda, the government is leading researches on videos-clubs and recognizes their potential as “a quality information and education venues” and is even planning to develop them. Uganda’s history of cinema is complex; first, Asians used to control the film industry, in the 70’s, Uganda’s president, Idi Amin Dada, accused the Asians of economic sabotage and ordered to expel them, which was known as the death of the cinema sector in Uganda. In 1986, Yoweri Museveni succeeded to State House, since then, a new cinema-going culture started in Kampala thanks to some entrepreneurs who established videos halls for the first time in the Country. Nowadays, the Bibandas attracts more then 120,000 viewers each single day, Kampala on itself counts more then 800 of Uganda’s estimated 3000 Bibandas, while there is only two commercial cinemas in the city whose tickets cost US$7, Kampala’s people have the favorable option to pay US$0,07 to see a film in a Bibandas.
Targeting audiences
Unlike in other countries across the continent where pirated Nollywood films have also represented a serious threat to local culture industries, the Tanzanian film industry has completely taken over this market niche once filled by Nigerian films. “Bongo Movies” is a Tanzanian concept that stands for films that are locally produced for commercial purposes. They are mainly Swahili-language movies, produced on low budgets, released on DVD and targeted at local audiences. The film industry of Tanzania was born out of the intersection and convergence of the global and the local. As the demand for films from Nigeria kept increasing, filmmakers and entrepreneurs in Tanzania took the opportunity to produce films and videos to answer the demand. They made films for televisions and then sold them to the public an also, they produced film that went straight to the market. There are nearly ten thousands exhibition halls and around twenty-five thousand video rental libraries across the country. Interestingly, the distributor and producers take advantage of local conditions such as the « Wamachinga » or street vendors. With the emergence of film audience who find interest in the locally produced films, they have created a domestic market that supports the production of feature films by Tanzania film industry. Film audiences represent one of the important changing dynamics in this film industry.
Moreover, the Bibanda concept is also used by the civil society to bring social change via education and entertainment. Interestingly, several NGOs adapted their strategies to this unparalleled distribution network, partnering with local associations to target isolated communities. For example, Peripheral Vision International, based in New York, now rely on Bibandas to reach a wider audience in a powerful and more cost-effective way than traditional methods can offer in this context. Indeed, this kind of public spectatorship is a central feature of the African film landscape where the level of video penetration in everyday life can be very high. Informality is still an integral part of the video scene across Africa; especially in distribution, not only because this informality is consistent with the political economy but also because it facilitates a cheap and fast circulation of videos in a way that a formal distribution system would not be able to do.
African Cinema splits into two categories: the “videastes”, key figures of the Nollywood model and local video-halls and the “cineastes” who are celebrated at major international festivals. Each of those categories has their own film distribution circuit. Whereas videastes are linked to piracy networks and a wide local audience, the cineastes rely on foreign funding and international distribution except in Africa. In this configuration, video halls represent a new tangible mean of distribution, yet cineastes, videastes and video-hall owners need to dress new connections in order to promote the African films within the African audiences. Gabriel Teshome’s analysis about the cognitive characteristics of the African social organization might be a pulsation, if the African “Man is defined as ‘unchangeable’ alone, change emanates from the community”, therefore, the African Cinema antagonists might find an answer alongside video-halls and international funding. Several actions, trainings, film-Caravans and festivals are happening right now trying to reach the farthest African audiences. Cinetoile is a European-funded project that follows the same logic and has been developed during the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) with several local partners in Burkina Faso, Mali, Kenya, DRC, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. If the majority of funding is coming from the European continent, the Nigerian model and its derivatives have the potential to come to supplement and disrupt foreign artistic, legal and commercial diktats in order to cultivate a new distribution network, from Africa to African.
Uganda/Tanzania/US – Peripheral Vision International
PVI is a New York-based NGO that uses media, technology and culture for social change across East Africa with a target on hard-to-reach and marginalized populations. The association is specialized in bridging the communication gap between non-profits organizations and their targeted audiences. PVI, partnering with local NGOs, notably rely on video halls distribution to expand media access in Uganda and Tanzania.
In 1988, Congolese animator Jean-Michel Kibushi Ndjate Wooto (also know as Jean-Michel Kibushi) created Studio Malembe Maa, Lingala for « Slowly but surely », the first local mobile studio for animation aiming to moderate creative and mobile workshops to learn African culture through animated films and craft toys.
Red Flag agency is company spanning over communication, content production and strategic consulting services. Red Flag works as part of the core-team of the Zanzibar International Film Festival. In partnership with a Nigerian organization, the company founded the Ladima Foundation to promote women working in the film, television and content production industries across Africa. Besides training and education support, the foundation partners with DISCOP markets, Africa’s largest TV and content markets.
Uganda – Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation
Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation was created with the idea to create new level of interaction from both local and international perspectives through cinema. To foster a new type of cultural dialogue, the foundation founded the annual Anakula International Film Festival, complemented by training workshops and a mobile cinema. The film festival aims to showcase films from around the world not distributed in the country while stimulating local film production and offering an international network to Ugandan filmmakers and presenting local films at international films festivals.
Film4change is an international foundation based in Uganda that encourage marginalized communities to tell their stories through filmmaking and other art forms to promote social change. The foundation explores local distribution networks, offers training in photography, film and other art forms, takes part in screenings and film festivals as well as conduct innovative researches on the ground including a thoughtful report on Video Halls in Uganda.
Burkina Faso – Cinéma Numérique Ambulant (CNA)
‘Cinéma Numérique Ambulant Burkina Faso’ is a Burkinabe Non-governmental organization created in 2006 in Ouagadougou. It aims to bring African films to the disadvantaged population. CNA Burkina has two mobile projection units and deploys them in the rural zones as well as the cities of Burkina Faso.
Mali – Cinéma Numérique Ambulant (CNA)
Cinéma Numérique Ambulant is a Malian Non-governmental organization created in 2004 in Bamako. It focuses on bringing African films into the disadvantaged population of Mali. CNA Mali has 4 mobile projection units and organizes screening in the rural zones as well as the cities of Mali.
Lola Kenya Screen is a film festival based in Nairobi; created in 2005, it’s a platform focusing on children and youth in eastern Africa. It aims to establish a culture of making high quality, low budget, and culture-sensitive films in order to distribute them widely among viewers. Lola Kenya Screen organizes also mobile cinema to communities in and around Nairobi.
Tanzania – Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF)
Known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, ZIFF is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar. It’s the largest cultural event in East Africa. Created in 1997, ZIFF runs 15 programs over the 10 days of the festival including: film competition, workshops, Film outreach projections, Women, Children and village panoramas etc.…
Zimbabwe – International Video Fair (IVF)
aiasvf@mango.zw – Charity Maruta
IVF is a non-profit trust, founded and based in Zimbabwe. It uses film as a medium to disseminate development-oriented information to its target audiences. Under its edutainment/social marketing project, the organization conducts film screenings to mass audiences who have limited access to television and other forms of media.