African Film Industry: The New Global Sensation

The African film industry has piqued global interest in recent times with movies like Alter Ego, Lion Heart, Beast of No Nation, Shanty Town, Blood and Water, King of Boys, Blood Sisters and others becoming the most-watched movies on popular streaming platforms.

According to UNESCO data, the film and audiovisual industries provide an estimated $5 billion in revenue for Africa and employ about 5 million people. Nevertheless, the economic potential of these industries is still substantially unrealized across the majority of the continent.

The African film industry has advanced to the point where its movies can now be seen on large screens across the western world and are nominated for awards at the Oscars and other recognized international film festivals.

Africa has steadily appreciated its own home productions instead of only watching foreign films. The new generation of African filmmakers is committed to telling genuine African stories that the Western world can appreciate. Contemporary African movies have evolved into a means of providing both quality entertainment and also celebrating the continent’s unique culture.

A Statista analysis done from November 2020 to May 2021 found that Africa generated 5,500 movies annually on average with most of these films produced in West Africa and East Africa.

Today, Nollywood, Africa’s most well-known film business, is worth more than $800 million. It has expanded incredibly quickly over the past two decades, passing Hollywood (USA) and trailing only Bollywood (India) in terms of the number of films released worldwide.

Apart from producing movies on a large scale, there has also been a more noticeable shift in recent years toward top-notch productions that receive praise on a global scale and are even accepted for inclusion on worldwide movie streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. This is not to argue that there weren’t some excellent productions prior to that.

African nations like Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Egypt, and Mozambique have dominated the continent’s movie industry and are stepping up their efforts in movie production. It won’t be long before African films gain worldwide popularity and acceptance given their acceptance on several major distribution and streaming platforms.

ALSO READ: Meet Iddris Sandu, Ghana’s Tech Genius Making Global Impact