Africa News

West African country on growth path

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:15

Gambia, the smallest country on mainland Africa, is internationally known as the setting for African-American Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Roots (Kunta Kinte). The book was adapted into a seminal television mini-series of the same name which broke audience records in 1977 when it aired on ABC in the US, generating 130 million viewers in eight days. Despite the series’ popularity it has taken a long time to inspire real growth in the local film industry. Martin Chemhere talks to two local filmmakers and a government minister to determine the status quo.

“As a young Gambian production company there are numerous challenges that face us, the main one being finance. However, we have the talent, determination and creativity to produce good quality films,” says Kingsley Eze Ngadi, who founded Gam-Super Top Movies in 2000. The company mainly produces for television and is based in Banjul.

“Despite the slow growth of the industry, most production houses today have quite modern facilities equipped with gear ranging from HDV video to XD video.”

Gam-Super Top Movies has been involved in co-productions for national broadcaster Gambia Television (GRTS) on titles that include Bitterness, Living in Dreams and Evil Communication.

From 2001 to 2003, Gam-Super Top Movies’ popular breakfast show, Faburama, which aired every Saturday, positioned the company well in its formative years. The company also trains actors for television productions.

Industry body perspective

Film and music industry organsation State of Mic is located in Churchill’s Town and has produced several feature films.

The organisation offers studios with modern digital facilities but there are several hindrances to the general growth of film production, according to Alhagie Manka, director of State of Mic.

“Notable challenges include the lack of a good market for local feature films, a factor that tends to discourage producers as they won’t take the risk of investing in long form productions.

“In addition, the country’s small population still prefers to consume Nollywood films. This has caused an unsustainable local market. However, we actively encourage making home grown movies. GRTS still carries a lot of foreign content as this segment tends to attract sponsorship from private institutions,” says Manka.

Created in 2005, State of Mic brings together young filmmakers and other artists in Gambia. It has all necessary audio and video equipment and is also involved in film training. At the time of going to press 15 trainees were undergoing training in recording and editing in audio and video.

Since 2006 the company has produced feature films Orr / Betrayal, Jainaba Ak Naffie and Silent Chapter. Other titles include the drama series Ramadan co-produced with Africell plus feature film Time and Chance in the Gambia that was produced this year.

One of State of Mic’s biggest productions is the documentary The Smiling Coast that screens at the Shoot-me Film and Music festival in The Hague (Netherlands) in October this year.

Its longest running television programme is the QCell Skits that has aired since 2009 and will complete its run in 2012.

Government view

Minister of Tourism and Culture Fatou Mass Jobe Njie says her government assists in the growth of the film industry by maintaining an open door policy for foreign film companies wanting to use the country as a location for their films.

She cites The Mirror Boy as a good example of the many Nigerian films that have been shot in Gambia recently with the support of the government. Several of the film’s actors are Gambians and the film recently premiered in London.

“The national television operator GRTS was established in 1995 and this has improved the showcasing of local films. Moreover, the Gambia Copyright Act of 2004 specifically protects films and cinematographic works,” she says.

Njie notes that despite having no film commission in place, plans are afoot to establish a regulatory film body. This body will assist in developing local films and will handle requests for use of Gambian cast and locations by foreign film companies.

Gambia has a cultural policy document dating back to 1988, which addresses many artistic and cultural issues such as theatre and film development. But, as Njie points out, it needs revision to accommodate film production appropriately.

Although she is optimistic about the potential of her country’s film industry, Njie believes that the lack of capacity falls far short of inspiring the small number of film professionals in the country.

“This means that even the handful of locally produced films need more technical expertise. Our filmmakers still lack capital to invest in full length feature films. Furthermore, there are no cinemas in Gambia.

“Yet there is a new vigour and interest in film which, if harnessed correctly by government and the private sector, could produce great results,” concludes Njie.
SCREENAFRICA Print Magazine – October 2011 (view here)
By Martin Chemhere

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