Africa’s battered image… pains for documentary filmmakers

(Culled from The Guardian Thursday, 27 January
By Chuks Nwanne


Over the years, there has been a general outcry from different quarters of the continent on how the international media has done great harm to Africa in its coverage by casting Africa in negative light. African governments and scholars have viewed this kind of reportage as a deliberate project of alienating Africa and framing it as a hopeless continent. The issue was at the front burner during the just concludeda iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival in Lagos, where filmmakers from different parts of the world brainstormed on the possible use of documentary films to redeem the already battered image of Africa.

RESEARCH has shown that international media has low budgets for Africa as it believes that no good news can come out of the black continent. It has suddenly become a popular opinion that all news from Africa is bad news. Critical observation has shown that few international correspondents are usually sent to cover Africa on a long-term basis. Those who are sent to the continent are usually assigned only in moments and areas of crisis and for a very short period.


With the stroke of a journalist’s pen and cameras, the continent and her descendants are practically reduced to nothing but a bastion of disease, savagery, animism, pestilence, war, famine, despotism, primitivism, poverty, usually illustrated with ubiquitous images of children, flies in their food and faces, their stomachs distended.

Many governments across Africa have continued to slam African media, accusing them of being unpatriotic by focusing on negative reporting, thus feeding the international media with key angles to portray the continent in a bad light. In their opinion, sunshine journalism, which consists of only telling positive stories about Africa, will make Brand Africa go forward and give it a nice feel internationally.

In what seems like a deliberate move to champion a campaign towards redeeming the image of Africa, organisers of the maiden edition of the iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival held recently at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, staged a workshop with the topic, Redeeming The Africa Image: A Case For African Documentary Films.

Attended by renowned filmmakers from different parts of the world, including Professors Manthia Diawara and Awam Amkpa from the United States, the session provided a platform for documentary filmmakers to reflect on their works, especially as it affects the image of the continent, as well as see a possible way of using motion picture to tell the true African story different from the usual stereotyped ones by the international media.

Moderated by the DG, National Film & Video Censors Board (NFVCB) Emeka Mba, the panel had distinguished filmmakers and stakeholders in the industry such as Mahmood Ali-Balogun, jaye Ojo, Lydie Diakhate and Joke Silva, with the likes of Olu Jacobs, Kunle Afolayan, Manthia Diawara, Bisi Silva, Afolabi Adesanya, Sandra Obiago and others in the audience.

In his introduction that set the tone for the day, the moderator Emeka Mba provided an overview on the topic, refreshing memories on the perception of Africa in the international media and the effect on the continent and its inhabitants.
In her opinion, Lydie Diakhante, an African-US-based filmmaker observed that lack of a viable platform for African filmmakers abroad is complicating the issue, urging for partnership among Africans.

“It is crucial to have a platform to show African films from African descent; it is a big challenge to bring the Africa I know to the world. It is sad the kind of images you see in the international media to represent Africa.”

Though in agreement that documentary, especially from Africans, will play a vital role in redeeming the image of the continent, Diakhante, noted that meaningful result could only be possible through partnerships and collaborations among Africans.

“We don’t work together in Africa. The question is, ‘how can we work together to help the continent?’ this is why festivals like this are very important because it gives us a platform to brainstorm together as Africans; it is important to tell our stories. We have African filmmakers, who are working daily in an effort to tell the African story; this is an important step for the future. There’s a niche the world has created for Africa, which is always a ghetto and we need to get out of it.”

In his contribution, filmmaker Mahmood Ali-Balogun noted that, in an effort to redeem the continent’s image, three questions are very crucial.
“Do we as Africans have an Image? Are we redeeming it or leaving it? What tool(s) do we have to achieve that? It is very important to know what exactly we want to achieve considering the challenges and images presented of us. We’ve seen so much of negativity about Nigeria and Africa. As a filmmaker, do you want to enforce this or do something about it?”
Thought not totally against documentaries that expose society ills in the continent, Ali-Balogun charged documentary filmmakers not to make that a habit, narrating his personal experience with some international filmmakers, who desperately wanted negative clips about Nigeria with mouthwatering pay.

“As filmmakers, we have that option of believing that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Most of my documentaries are about issues in Nigeria, but you cannot get those films outside Nigeria; the idea is to get Nigerians thinking on how to re-build the country, not to kill the image. The most important thing in filmmaking is the perspective; it depends on what you have to say”
To Jaye Ojo of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), there is a future for documentary filmmakers.

“Though there are challenges, there’s a future for them because there’s a great need for their works in future.”
Ojo observed that the genre is not very important in Nigeria, thereby making it difficult to access fund and support from both corporate and government agencies.

“Most of us work in the entertainment sector, which seems to be more marketable. But despite the challenges, there are also opportunities; it’s not about wishing it, it’s about acquiring the skills needed for it. Any serious filmmaker will take this event very serious because it gives you contacts and opportunities that could be developed in future.”

While admitting that documentary films could serve as a viable tool for redeeming the image of the continent, Ojo noted that the genre also serve as a means of documenting history.

“Films can help in putting together our past so as to help in educating our people on how to move the continent forward. It is relatively virgin, but here lies the opportunity; we need a lot of filmmakers to tell our stories. Filmmaking provides a platform to send message; nobody can tell your story better than you. Anybody that wants to tell your story must have a perspective, not necessarily what you like.”

To Nollywood diva Joke Silva, redeeming the image of the continent through documentary films, is a possibility, but not without adequate capacity building among practitioners.

“I know that a lot is being done in the institutions in training young filmmakers, but the challenge is that we don’t have enough schools to build the capacity. When you talk about a country of 150 million people, you wonder the challenges.”
Silva, who runs a film school in Lagos, observed that most universities seem to focus more on theater arts with little attention to screen production.

“We need skills not necessarily academics; we do more theories than practical’s. Abroad, people do more of drama schools than the university training.”

She observed that, “the avenues for acquiring the skills are slowly but surely. I think we have over 100 TV stations, so, there’s the need for documentaries for programming. Can documentaries redeem our image, yes,” she said.

In a paper he presented in 1998, at the Sixth Annual African Studies Consortium Workshop, scholar Rod Chavis noted that “little is said about Africa’s strategic importance to so called industrialized nations; her indispensability and relevance to world development, global technology, and the wealth of nations, derived from involuntary African largesse, are not acclaimed in the media.
Chavis went further to argue that, “Without access to certain raw materials from Africa, Western industrial capacity would wither much like a ‘raisin in the sun’. Even less is communicated via the media or anywhere else about the incalculable volume of African art and crafts that end up in private collections and museums: books, calendars, and artistic publications, produce minimal income and royalties, if any, for Africans creating such works of art”.
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