Dr Alasambom Nyingchuo: "Decolonizing the Digital Space: Examining West African Filmmakers’ Ease of Access to Online Platforms for Film Distribution"

In a context where classical film distribution circuits like theatre halls and DVD sales are sparse, the advent of digitalization and online film distribution constitutes the principal alternative for filmmakers in West Africa to reach national and international audiences, subsequently breaking even. However, standards and requirements set by western-controlled digital platforms for film distribution like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others pose multidimensional challenges to African filmmakers. Other African-based platforms like irokotv and ROK TV seem to be more accessible, but with a limited audience and consequently, immitted sales. Using a mixed methods approach, this research seeks answers to the following questions: What are the present obstacles to global availability of African films on international online distribution platforms? What is the rationale behind the rejection of African films on these platforms? And how do limited distribution opportunities affect local film industries in west Africa and the livelihoods of these filmmakers? Early findings suggest that at least 80% of filmmakers in west Africa have attempted to distribute their films through online platforms and only 20% have succeeded to get at least one film admitted, usually after several attempts with different films. Reasons advanced for such rejections include poor quality (mostly inconsistent colour grading), absence of “marketable” or popular faces, and too many films scrambling to be accepted on the platforms - excuses most filmmakers under study find to be rather weak.

This seminar will be online-only. Please click the link below to join the webinar: