The National Film Authority of Ghana and GM Group have announced the launch of Africa’s first-ever cinema industry event.

The event dubbed the META Africa Cinema Forum is dedicated to the development of cinema infrastructure in Africa. It is scheduled to take place on November 21 and 22, 2022, in Accra, Ghana.

The Forum is set to explore the significant growth opportunities for cinema exhibition and the film industry in Ghana and across the continent, which remains a largely under-screened region with less than 1.700 screens for a population of 1.3 billion inhabitants (representing one screen per 787.402 people).

Yet the wider African film industry is currently attracting unprecedented levels of inward investment. A recent UNESCO report on the potential of the African film sector valued the currently $ 5 billion industry to be worth $ 20 billion.

The META Cinema Africa Forum aims to bring together cinema operators from across Africa and abroad, national film bodies and regulators, film distributors, producers, investors, vendors and equipment integrators – as well as the creative community – to develop strategies for a thriving cinema exhibition landscape in Africa.

CEO of the National Film Authority, Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante, said “We invite the African and international cinema community to join us in Accra in November for this much-needed convention. Ghana is proud to position itself as the cinema gateway opening the doors to the continent in its strategic bid to the World of cinema investors, exhibitors and builders."

She added that a vibrant cinema infrastructure will ease the distribution headache of the continent and encourage more investments into high-quality content.

Managing Partner of GM Group, Leila Masinaei, noted that "we are thrilled about our partnership with the National Film Authority of Ghana and extremely excited about the development potential of cinemas in Ghana and the continent."

"Our experience of running the META Cinema Forum in Dubai as well as having executed numerous events in Ghana in the past years positions us well to create a unique industry event with NFA, one that is taking into account local circumstances and trends as well as open to industry collaboration with cinema colleagues from around the World.”

The Forum will also include a content market – the ‘African Film Market’ – of which more details will be made available in due course.