Challenges and opportunities for African film distributors were a key focus at the European Work in Progress (EWIP) sessions and International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS) in Cologne, Germany last week. Mike Strano, co-founder and COO of Kenyan distributor Yakwetu, highlighted the difficulties facing local filmmakers in Kenya, where cinema attendance is low. “You’re looking at an audience of 200,000 out of a total population of 56 million,” Strano said, noting that Hollywood and Bollywood films dominate the screens due to the lack of demand for local content.

Strano also pointed out the massive impact of piracy in Africa, especially in Kenya, where the penetration of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services remains below 1%. “We estimate that, in Kenya alone, the country is losing $2.2 million a day to piracy,” he revealed, emphasizing that piracy affects multiple sectors, including cinema, TV, music, and book publishing. With 54,000 informal “movie shops” offering pirated content, Strano called for stronger efforts to combat this issue and support local film distribution.

Julien Razafindranaly of Berlin-based Films Boutique discussed the benefits of structuring films as European co-productions when distributing European films in Africa. He cited “The Blue Caftan,” a Morocco-set film, which benefited from EUR €600,000 in European subsidies to aid its release. However, Razafindranaly acknowledged that selling European films in Africa remains challenging due to the continent’s limited exhibition landscape, despite some new developments in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt.