[ad_1]
Standing at the edge of a dusty road in central Senegal, in a barren schoolyard surrounded by baobab trees, Leila Sy looks around and smiles.
“Light makes all the difference,” she says. “Colors, people, energy, everything is beautiful”
The director is filming the sequel to the 2019 French hit Banlieusard 2, starring French rapper Kelly James.
The film will be released on Netflix later this year.
The US streaming giant has made a name for itself in French-speaking West Africa. This is part of a broader surge in audiovisual production in the region following years of stagnation.
Outside Nollywood in English-speaking Nigeria, production is growing rapidly, led by Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
It’s the last day of filming on the set of “Banleuser 2”. The cast and crew are exhausted and ready for a hearty lunch of yassa chicken, a traditional Senegalese dish.
“The team is there, the skills are there. Senegal is in the process of repositioning itself within this ecosystem, with the potential for international producers to come and develop their projects without worry. ‘, said Usman Fall, co-producer of the photo.
– Melodrama –
In a small room in a clinic in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, a small but equally ambitious team is busy finishing an episode of the TV series Karma, which will be broadcast locally on the TFM channel. .
The whole team learned the trade on the job.
The series’ actor, 29-year-old Suleiman Kamala, works for Marodi, a leading production company in the region.
Founded in 2015, the company produced the hit series “Mistress of a Married Man,” which claims to have more than 4.8 million YouTube subscribers and more than 20 million monthly views. increase.
Its business model is based on local content and ad spots that generate millions of views.
56% of our viewers are female and 70% are between the ages of 18 and 34.
Marodi’s partnerships with Senegalese TV channels and international distributors such as Canal+ and Amazon Prime have increased its visibility.
“Marodi’s ambition is to become a content producer for all of Africa and the Diaspora,” sales and marketing director Julia Cabrita-Diatta told AFP.
Today, 60% of its consumers are in Senegal, 20% in the rest of Africa and 8% in France, she said.
“French-speaking Africa is seeing a mass production take-off, led by Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, with a significant increase in budgets,” says Pierre, audiovisual program manager at the International Organization for La Francophonie (OIF). Mr Barrow said. .
According to the OIF, between 1992 and 2017 there were only 12 52-minute episodes of a TV series produced in French-speaking Africa.
But that has skyrocketed to around 100 episodes between 2018 and 2022. This was primarily driven by Canal+ and TV5 Monde, which distribute programming locally.
Still, the 52-minute format remains less popular than the classic 26-minute format. The 26-minute formats tend to fall into the category of police comedies or family-related themed situation comedies, often polygamy/adultery-inheritance-witchcraft trilogies, Barrott said. said.
– New Wave –
Unlike Nigeria, French-speaking Africa makes very few feature films for television, and very few films for public release.
Last year, “Les Trois Lascars” (The Three Lascars) by Burkinanese director Boubacar Diallo became the most successful film release from French-speaking Africa so far this century.
Recorded 56,652 paying visitors in 12 countries. It’s a promising tally, but it’s overshadowed his 1990s, when he drew half a million moviegoers to record the highest-grossing films in the region.
That was before cinemas across French-speaking Africa went head-on, with most of them shutting down.
Today, however, movie theaters are making a comeback, which could lead to more local comedy production, Barrot said.
A new generation of audiovisual manufacturers is also emerging to meet the demand.
In 2022, the French school Kourtrajme will open in Dakar to train screenwriters and directors.
The student should appear confident about the future and be versatile and adaptable.
Kenza Madeira, 23, who wants to be both an actor and a director, said: “I’ve never done so many series.
“Personally, I’m very positive. A lot of opportunities are coming.”
[ad_2]
Source link
