Why M-NET’s Africa film monopoly is causing discomfort

Movie lovershave had a chance to watch foreign dramas several months before they hit the screens through these pirated material.

“M-Net’s strategy is to bring the channel into the homes of new audiences. These used to be elite audiences but once you reach a ceiling with them, you need to think about how to drive things to new customers. And this is where the thinking is.”

Though considered a friendly investment by many African filmmakers at a time when many broadcasters had ignored African content, M-Net’s library is now provoking serious debate around the world.

In 2007, filmmakers from around the world met to discuss the issue during the Cannes film festival.

“These deals are effectively removing these films from circulation —monopolising their distribution,” said South Africa’s National Film & Video Foundation in response to M-NET’s acquisition of rights of African films.

NFVF is a statutory body mandated by South African parliament to spearhead the development of the film and video industry in the country.

“Many of the top African classics such as films by the late Djibril Diop Mambety are inaccessible because of this arrangement.’

Olivier Barlet, a French critic and a specialist in African cinema says: “Most of the filmmakers, including Sembene Ousman, sold the rights: it was direct money for films which did not bring anything anymore! They did not realise the value of them in the next years.”

This means that the continent risks putting her heritage in the hands of a monopoly.

“The general feeling is that all the institutions that help African cinema did not grasp the issue in time,” said Eddie Mbalo of NFVF in an interview with Sudplanet an online publication on African cultures and arts.

He added: “A lot of filmmakers sold their rights without really knowing what the implications were.”

Besides heritage, critics of the M-NET library argue that the continent will not be able to develop a fully functional industry with monopoly tendencies.

This is because the circuit which included distribution will have been shortchanged hence killing sustainability of whatever kind of growth.

For decades, players in the African film industry did not give any attention to film distribution.

This is because most of their films were either funded by NGOs or other international organisations which owned the rights to the films but still allowed them opportunity to screen in festivals and other non-commercial venues.