The second edition of the African Cinema Summit was launched on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at the Accra Tourist Information Centre.

The date for this year’s event is 7th to 10th October 2024. 

The first edition of the summit which took place last year drew various film makers from 20 African countries to Ghana for varied conversations on growing cinema on the continent.

This year’s edition aims to further consolidate the progress made in the African cinema industry, fostering collaboration, innovation and sustainable growth. The 2024 summit will focus on ‘Growth in quality of local content production and consumption driving the case for increased cinema investment. 

In his address the Board Chairman of the National Film Authority, David Dontoh, highlighted the impact of the summit and its prospects. 

“African Cinema Summit is something that has come to document our history, our culture KD everything about us so that when we are not around, the seed we are sowing today will germinate for succeeding generations to come to know and understand that there lived in this country some people who took particular interest in the development of the industry. 

This is why the Board of the National Film Authority is so proud of this activity that we know that in the coming years this summit will grow into a very big one that will really tell the world that Africa has the newest thing to come,” he said.

Touching on lack of cinemas in the country, the Executive Secretary of the National Film Authority, Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante urged people in the film industry to go into cinema operation too.

“For me whenever I see a gap, I see opportunity. And so this is a big gap and sometimes even when I speak to my fellow film makers I say if you are in one side of the business it doesn’t mean you cannot go to the other side. If doesn’t mean that if you are an actor you cannot put up a screen and start something,” she said. 

While lauding the Africa Cinema Summit initiative, the Deputy Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku Mantey also announced that the government has started a process of initiating tax waivers for film makers in Ghana.

“Juliet Asante and her team forwarded a document to us that they wanted a tax waiver for the film industry. It’s gone to cabinet, it’s gone to the Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General has replied, asking some questions. I am just coming from Parliament, so we are discussing,” he noted. 

This development is in tandem with the recent promise made by the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party to provide tax incentives for the creative sector if he wins power in the next election. 

The Africa Cinema Summit is organised by the National Film Authority under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.