
Dr Alasambom Nyingchuo
British Council Decolonising Digital Fellow, January - October 2022
Home Institution: University of Bamenda
Dr. Alasambom Nyingchuo is an Assistant lecturer of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon; and a Cultural Sustainability consultant. He obtained his PhD in May 2020 at the University of Maiduguri, through a joint post-graduate School dubbed “Performing sustainability, Cultures and Development in West Africa”, between the universities of Maiduguri (Nigeria), Cape Coast (Ghana) and Hildesheim (Germany), funded by the German Academic Exchange Service, the DAAD.
He is an actor, writer, filmmaker; and the current Secretary General of the Cameroon Film Industry (CFI) organization. His research interests include Theatre and filmmaking practices in Cameroon and Africa, Popular Culture, Applied Drama, Cultural Policy, Cultural Diplomacy, Cultural Sustainability, Community Development, Facilitative Leadership, Cultural Political Economy, Digital Technologies and the Arts. He is a member of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA) and the Cameroon Society of Theatre and Film Scholars (CAMSOTHEF).
He has published a series of journal articles. The most recent (July 2021) is titled Digitalization and the Democratization of Filmmaking in Cameroon, and chronicles the effects of new digital technologies on filmmaking processes in Cameroon, from knowledge acquisition, sourcing for funding, production processes, marketing and distribution.
Project Title: Decolonising and democratising digital space
This project is a further step from Alasambom’s July publication, and building from the observation that the advent of digitalization and NTICs have opened up avenues for young enthusiastic filmmakers in West Africa to acquire knowledge in almost every discipline of film production, also providing new avenues for funding, commercialization, distribution, and exploitation. However, this also comes with challenges for African artists and cultural entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to access to western controlled online marketing and distribution platforms. Standards and requirements set by western-controlled digital platforms like Netflix and others, pose multidimensional challenges to African filmmakers. Given that arts and culture do not seem to be part of priority development areas in most West African countries, public and private initiatives have not paid attention to digital distribution of cultural content in Africa, such that these western-based platforms still remain the most effective for the marketing and distribution of African cultural content both at the national and global levels. Using participant observation, Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions, this research will find out the present obstacles to global availability of African cultural content online, what it takes to set up viable and world-wide online promotion and distribution platforms for African cultural content, as well as possible collaboration mechanisms between national industries in Africa and the British council network and funding partners to set up and manage effective online promotion and distribution platforms for African cultural content.