Like the rest of the world, the Ivorian film industry wants to aim to become globally recognised and they understand this would require a deep understanding of both the business and technical parts of film-making.
So they reached out to internationally acclaimed Nigerian filmmaker, Adekunle Adejuyigbe, who is, perhaps, the only Filmmaker with the right combination of technical and business expertise who also has over a decade of experience creating premium content across Africa.
Adekunle was invited alongside Oscar award winning French Filmmaker, Alain Rocca, to conduct instructive masterclasses for Ivorian film industry experts in Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire.
During his Masterclass, Adekunle, who is an expert at producing, directing and lensing numerous films, TV commercials and documentaries gave a lecture on “the globalization of African- Cinema using the Nollywood model”.
He said; “Globalization must first start with localization” This was one of my main messages to the Ivorian film industry. This is what the Nigeria film industry did right. We produced films that Nigerians could relate to and this acceptance in the local market is what carved a niche for us within the global film industry.
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‘‘I think filmmakers in other parts of the continent should consider using the same model. Your local audience is your currency. Cultivate that audience so that when anyone wants access to that demographic , they will have to go through you”.
‘‘This is how industries are built. And it’s what I think we need to do across Africa.’’ Nodash noted.
He also opened up on his experience speaking with other filmmakers at the just concluded Carte Blanche film festival staged in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
‘‘It won’t be my first time interacting with the francophone film industry, if you’ll remember, I was a jury member at the FESPACO film festival in Burkina Faso last year and I was also invited to participate in the Carthage film festival in Tunisia a couple of years ago so, in some ways, it felt familiar. But the Ivorian film industry definitely has its peculiarities which made this visit quite different from the others.
‘‘What stood out the most was how you could literally feel the determination of the Ivorians to make a mark in the African film industry. They are strong people from a relatively small country but they are ready to do whatever it takes to fully break into the global market.’’
