While the movie industry in Africa is seeing a surge of interest from viewers around the world and online streaming sites like Netflix have latched on to the opportunities, the continent still lacks proper databases to capture the titles being produced yearly.
To correct this situation, Auditions.ng, an online site that holds some of the largest listings of African movies, actors, and production jobs, has built an online repository of African movie titles and will unveil it on October 10.
According to a release from the company, the event will convene actors producers, exhibitors virtually to discuss how the database will function and the expected benefits to the industry.
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“Prior to this, the African movie industry has battled the major challenge of fragmented industries. The vision of Audition.ng is to unite the industry, showcase African film projects across the continent and project the African movie industry to a global audience,” according to the release from the organisers of the event.
Auditions.ng further said that the unveiled platform hosts a fast-growing database of indigenous actors, crew members, news, and resources.
To unveil the database, a virtual convening has been organised including speakers such as Moses Babatope, CEO and co-founder FilmHouse, Sarah Hassan and Nick Mutuma, Kenyan actors , Bimbo Ademoye and Kunle Remi, Nigerian actors as well as Chris Odeh, Nigerian producer and Mehret Mandefro, Ethiopian movie producer.
The speakers will share their exceptional experience in cementing the relationship across Africa, thereby creating more opportunities for growth and the inclusion of young talent, the organisers said.
With over 1,000 movie entries across Africa (and growing fast) and over 30,000 mailing list communities, Auditions.ng said it wants to become the largest database of African movies, actors, and resources.
“We are positioned to be the first destination and gateway into the African movie industry, just as IMDB serves the Hollywood market.
Formed 29 years ago, IMDb is an online database, owned by Amazon, which provides information related to films, television programs, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew, and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan, and critical reviews.
Apart from this effort by Auditions.ng, there are also efforts by other groups to set up databases for Nigerian firms, South African films, and on the continent. This could help drive up the volume of film titles sold by diversifying distribution and help to further improve the quality of movies.
