In a panel discussion provocatively entitled “Content Scramble for Africa,” guests at the Cannes Film Market’ssidebar were invited to interrogate the sustainability of current forms of collaboration between the African continent and the Global North in documentary filmmaking.
According to figures cited by Dawson, the number of SVOD users in Africa is expected to reach 5 million by the end of this year with Netflix in the lead, even though its market share is expected to decline as it competes with both international and domestic streamers. While there was consensus around the table that the streamers’ scramble for Africa reflects nothing more than a strategy to develop new markets, it is up to African producers and filmmakers to assert themselves when entering deals, said Diabang.
“We have to work on that and find a new way to co-create and co-produce,” said Huillard-Kann. “There are good producers in Africa, but there aren’t enough, and the countries don’t all have the same opportunities, nor do they all have films commissions. [This kind of] co-production is interesting for both Europeans and Africans, it allows us to share culture.”