As part of efforts at offering African filmmakers opportunity to improve on their productions and to share their stories to a global audience, Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), a leader in imaging solutions, has unveiled its compact and versatile 5.9K CCNA next generation professional Cinema EOS System cameras.
Regarded as the future of filmmaking, the new camera has attracted the attention of some African filmmakers. Impressed by the latest offering, Kunle Afolayan, Merzak Allouache, among other leading African film directors, have applauded the EOS C500 Mark II for elevating their latest productions.
Kunle Afolayan, award winning director, said, “I first saw the Canon EOS C500 Mark II at IBC 2019 and I was amazed at its capabilities. Normally it is not a director’s place to tell a director of photography what kit to use, but I always wanted to shoot in 4K full-frame, and I knew that this camera would make it to the Netflix approved list”.
“Thankfully Jonathan Kovel, the DOP working on my new film, loved the camera, therefore, we were able to shoot Citation with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, which gave us another level of authenticity and creative freedom.”
As well, Merzak Allouache, an Algerian film director, is also using the new camera for his latest film, as part of a technical partnership with Baya Productions. Following a glittering 40year career with 22 films to his credit, 86- year- old
Allouache marks his come back with UNE FAMILLE, a new cinematographic masterpiece.
“The film benefited from the technology provided by Canon. The production team was provided with a Canon EOS C500 Mark II camera and a range of Cine Lenses and accessories so that the film could be shot entirely in 5.9K at 24 fps,” said Hamoudi Laggoune, Algerian cinematographer chosen to work alongside Allouache on the new film. “The camera provides complete flexibility and freedom to choose the image formats, effects and lenses that are best suited to the filming conditions,” he added.
Also speaking on the new camera, Amine Djouhara, sales and marketing director, Canon Central and North Africa disclosed that Canon’s continuous relationship with empowering the African creative market via innovative technology has supported the rise of Africa’s content.
“Our focus is on offering leading industry know-how and award-winning cameras and lenses built for enthusiast and professional level creatives,” he said. “The Cinema EOS range is the perfect expression of form and function, exceptionally adaptable to virtually any production with its modular design, and we are excited to see what Africa’s talented filmmakers create.”
The new camera is offering Canon opportunity to collaborate with Africa.
According to Afolayan, the Canon collaboration is a good development, and with it, independent filmmakers can be empowered by technology to share their stories with a global audience.
Earlier, Djouhara unveiled the features and technology that make the camera truly the future of filmmaking. According to the sales and marketing director, the latest model in Canon’s Cinema EOS Camera range features Canon’s newly developed Super 35mm 4K CMOS sensor and comes with 16+ stops of dynamic range, professional codecs in a compact, modular body. For him, expertise and technical knowledge are at the heart of Canon’s innovative products, hence the latest in the EOS range offers a customisable full-frame cinema camera experience that is built for creative freedom.
To help support all aspiring and established filmmakers during these challenging times, Canon will begin a three- month knowledge-sharing initiative with over 42 pro-video webinars called Canon Tech Talk Series for the film market in Africa. On August 11, the first webinar featured Canon’s Djouhara, alongside African film legends; Laggoune and Afolayan.
After the first webinar, the CCNA team will continue with a series of Canon Tech Talk webinars on changing the face of filmmaking, covering vlogging, streaming, colour science, postproduction, and a range of other film-making classes. The remaining 18 webinars on beginner and professional courses would be in three languages ( English, French and Arabic).
“During these challenging times, these series of webinars offer a virtual developmental tool to maintain the evolution of critical skills for continued and sustainable growth of the film industry”, Djouhara concluded.
