Forget Africa: the response

Here is the response from the man
whats disturbing about this whole thingie
is that these are the self elect people who claim to be championing Africa's cause
and this is a common thread here in Europe
its irritating to say the least
but eh go so
...
ofcourse i responded, but will let it go
an move on to other tings n times
in ya dis ya time y'all

Thanks for your interest in the Rotterdam project and your effort of writing this long e-mail on it.

I might be as sad as you are about the weak position African Cinema
has on a global scale, if it has a position at all. Turning the slogan
around, Forget Europe, will not help you to realize this or let
others be aware of this.
Of course there is no decent film industry in Africa. Even the blind
can see that. Pretending it is there will also be of little help.
I guess Nollywood should be taken more seriously than Fespaco, which
is a patriotic and chaotic joke. Nollywood will however (like Hollywood and Bollywood)
be of little help for independent filmmakers with an artistic ambition.

You write And More when you list the African film festivals and the
prestigious names of a number of filmmakers, but I guess there is not much more after your
lists. This is almost it. You will have a hard time to make those lists much longer
as you suggest.

By the way, almost all the filmmakers you mention have been shown in
past editions of my festival or got funding from our Hubert Bals Fund.
Yes, I brought foreign filmmakers to Africa, but not to tell your
story. I was interested in their view on a continent that is depicted
so graphically in our daily news. You are most welcome to tell your
own story (as it was also part of our program) and also welcome to
give your view on the world outside Africa. In fact that would be my
next logic step: to ask African fimmakers to give an image of a place
in another continent.

The funding of this one film you asked for has already been done and
shown. Soul Boy by Hawa Essuman got substantially more from our Hubert
Bals Fund than our foreign filmmakers (that were by the way funded by
other means). And over the years the Hubert Bals Fund supported many more African films.

The real difference between you and me is that I can not share your
optimism. However despite my pessimism I would like to work with those African filmmakers that are talented and ambitious and that deserves support just because the African cinema industry can not be called an industry at all.






Warmest,