on the occasion of the seminar on African Cinema and Public Policy in Africa at the 23 rd edition of the FESPACO, Ouagadougou, 26 February 2013

Transcription

1 Address by Ms Danielle Cliche, Chief of the Section on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, Public policies for the cultural and creative industries in developing countries: An approach based on the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, on the occasion of the seminar on African Cinema and Public Policy in Africa at the 23 rd edition of the FESPACO, Ouagadougou, 26 February 2013 It is a great pleasure to be with you on the occasion of the 23rd edition of the FESPACO one of the oldest film festivals in Africa - and in this seminar on "African Cinema and Public Policy in Africa". The selection of films, the composition of juries, the marketplace for film and television, here at the FESPACO, confirms the vitality, the reputation and legitimacy of the cinema industries in Africa. Talent, innovation, ingenuity are abound. For the first time, women figure prominently not only at the head of the numerous prize juries but also figure among a quarter of the directors in competition. 1 The theme of this seminar is precisely the "link" which is crucial for creating an enabling environment for the continued production, distribution and enjoyment of African films, building market places and cinema platforms. As we heard this morning, creativity is a powerful force for development. The creative industries have proven more resilient to shocks of the global economic crisis than traditional industries. 1 For the first time, one of the top prizes was awarded to a female director (from Algeria) at the closing ceremony of the FESPACO. GEN/CLT/2013/01 Original: English

2 We also heard that while there may not be the economic conditions to support the film industries in Africa in the conventional or concentrated sense of those found in Asia, Europe or North America, films still get made. In fact, there continues to be an explosion of film productions, film festivals are taking place throughout the continent and the film industry marketplaces both formal and informal are developing, in part due to the growing use of digital technologies that are transforming the scene with digital video industries emerging from Ghana to Tanzania, Cote d Ivoire and Gabon. Alessandro Jedlowski refers to such developments as a continental phenomenon that is for the first time creating a commercial space for the development of local film industries and whose transformations might have unexpected consequences for the future of African cinema in general and the emergence of a new generations of film makers and their stories in particular. He cites Ethiopia where video producers have revitalised cinema-going culture, pushing directors toward the sophistication of film aesthetics and contents ; warning, however, of the terrible scourge of piracy that is capable of killing a nascent industry that could rather become a driving force for African cinema. There are however important challenges that may prevent countries and their professionals and audiences from reaping the full benefits of such developments. This industry or diverse film industries throughout Africa remain fragmented and isolated. They depend mainly on external funding sources or co-production investments that are in fact decreasing. Pricing policies for distribution and lack of television network support to distribute local productions, lack of access to regional and/or international markets and lack of solidarity among professionals, their associations and networks, often leads to a creative brain drain of African directors and producers elsewhere. Cinemas are closing down and being turned into churches or shopping centres. Viewings take place in alternative screening venues as the norm. Purchasing power of citizens is limited and consumption patterns of local content that would generate social impact is low. Over the past years, statistics have shown that locally produced films apart from in Egypt and Nigeria struggle across the continent for the public s attention. GEN/CLT/2013/01- Page 2

3 During this seminar, you have been discussing and sharing experiences, exploring ways of how to address these and other obstacles to the full development of African cinema industries, particularly through public policies and measures at the national level. Clear voices called for locally (nationally) produced films to be identified as priority. To set as a target the production of a hand full of quality feature films per year (3-4) and use this as a base to incrementally build up strong cinema sectors across the continent. Remembering that there is no one African cinema industry, there is no one set of country strategies that are relevant for all countries and circumstances, which makes such gatherings extremely important. The question you may be asking is what can UNESCO contribute to African cinema, to help overcome these challenges and provide support to its creators, directors, producers and to develop new markets and audiences? Today, I would like to share with you the work that UNESCO is doing under the auspicious of an international law, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in The 2005 Convention is a legally-binding international instrument whose objective is to ensure that artists, cultural professionals, practitioners and citizens worldwide can create, produce, distribute and enjoy a broad range of cultural goods, services and activities, including their own. The Convention was not an invention of UNESCO by itself. It is a text that was negotiated between public authorities and civil society groups around the world. Today, there are 126 Parties to the Convention, the majority coming from Africa; with over 70% of African countries having ratified the Convention. Through this Convention, the Parties agreed to uphold principles of equitable access, openness and balance at the international level while affirming their right and responsibility to develop policies and measures at the country level that are required to develop viable and dynamic cultural sectors. This is to be achieved through the introduction of legal, financial and policy frameworks, the strengthening of professional capacities of entrepreneurs working GEN/CLT/2013/01 - Page 3

4 in the cultural and creative industries and the reinforcement of organizational structures that have a direct effect on the different stages of the value chain from creation to production, distribution and access to diverse sources of cultural expressions. The 2005 Convention text calls upon governments to introduce policies and measures encouraging creativity, providing opportunities for artists and creators to have access to markets while ensuring that their products are also available to a wide audience. The Convention also recognizes the contribution of cultural industries to economic and social development of a country and promotes the integration of culture in sustainable development policies and. Finally, the 2005 Convention encourages international cooperation to facilitate the mobility of artists and exchanges of cultural goods and services, especially from the Global South. The Convention acknowledges that this requires an integrated approach to cultural policy-making which includes the participation of various government ministries/departments, for example, education, social affairs, employment, tax, trade and competition, enterprise development, and so on through, for example, the creation of interdepartmental working groups. This does not imply a shifting of responsibility from one ministry to the next but rather the adoption of a culture centred approach to joined-up policy development to promote diversity. It also requires strategies aimed at promoting a diversity of cultural expressions that originate from within a specific territory as well as those which originate from a variety of world regions. In this context, multilateral, regional and bilateral treaties as well as international cooperation agreements and strategies combining trade and culture dimensions should focus not only on promoting cultural goods and services abroad through export-driven strategies, but also on enabling the distribution of diverse cultural expressions from different world regions within their respective markets through import-driven strategies. In short, the Convention calls for the implementation of a new system of governance to support the cultural and creative industries. A system of governance that is multifaceted and is based on principles that guide activities and measures GEN/CLT/2013/01- Page 4

5 that determine the environment in which the creative industries and its sub-sectors such as the cinema sector, can emerge and develop to their fullest potential. It is important to recall that the quality of the system of governance for culture is dependent on several factors such as: - political will and the level of priority given to the cultural sector by public authorities and society in general. We heard this morning from the Ministers that the political will is there, the question is how to turn this will into action with impact - the engagement of civil society and professional operators - availability of human and financial resources in the sector - the capacities and skills of the various public institutions and stakeholders in formulating relevant and effective action-orientated strategies and policy - availability of information and data that can contribute to facilitating informed and transparent governance. On the whole, the functioning of the system of governance for culture is adversely affected by the low political priority given to culture and by weak institutional capacity in this area. This is one of the main challenges we face as we go forward to implement this Convention worldwide. One of UNESCO s priorities is to foster cooperation and build capacities to implement the Convention that evolves around the needs of governments, civil society as well as professionals working in the cultural and creative industries. The approach is two-fold: To provide direct financial assistance through the International Fund for Cultural Diversity to implement specific projects and non-financial support through capacity building programmes and technical assistance in the form of expertise to public authorities to accompany them in the development and design of their policies for GEN/CLT/2013/01 - Page 5

6 the cultural and creative industries, including the development of indicators to demonstrate the role and value of culture for sustainable development. International Fund for Cultural Diversity Regarding the International Fund for Cultural Diversity, financial support is currently being provided to 61 projects in 40 developing countries the majority of them in Africa. They aim at transformative change through investments in policies, markets and capacities to achieve sustainable development. Beneficiaries of funding are both public authorities and civil society organisations. The next call for project applications will be launched in March 2013 with a special focus on capacity building and policy development. Let me mention a few examples of how the Fund supports the cinema industry. Here in Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently completed a national study on the cultural sector s role in social and economic development with support from the Fund (60,813 USD). This study provides important evidence and insights for future policy development and direction. To give you an example, the study revealed that: The culture sector contributes 2% to the national GDP and has a huge potential for growth; The Cinema and Audiovisual sector contributes 0,09% to the National GDP and that despite the lack of funding resources, the sector has experienced a significant growth in the last decade showing that there has been a 15% increase in the number of TV stations and 7% increase in the number of radio stations as well as an explosion of video projection halls, today numbering an estimated 800 halls in comparisons to some 12 cinema theatres. As we heard from Minister Hama, there are now theatre restoration projects underway; Public demand of local audiovisual productions is strong, in particular television series that are growing in popularity. GEN/CLT/2013/01- Page 6

7 Another example is funding (80,000 USD) that was provided to the Cameroonian Association to Promote Audiovisual and Live Performance (APPAS) to create BIMAC, a database of central African cinematographic and audiovisual productions and offering a channel for producers and broadcasters to distribute or access quality audiovisual works. Through the project, APPAS has collected and digitalized hundreds of hours of film and audiovisual productions. BIMAC contains 400 works of all categories and represents 350 viewing hours. With a repository of past, present, and future productions, BIMAC functions like a community film library on a commercial scale. This is nothing new to most of you who would have visited the Marche Interationale de la TV et du cinema Africains (MICA) as part of this festival where BIMAC is represented with its own stand. To give you an example from another region, I would like to mention the funding provided to a Cuban-based non-governmental organization Fundación del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano ( USD) that carried out research to understand how community cinema was produced, disseminated and to determine its impact, by documenting the experiences of 55 communities in 14 Latin American countries. The study revealed that community cinema invigorated communities identity and organization, often improving their sense of self-esteem and self-confidence. The study also concluded that public policies and laws promoting communities rights to communicate were urgently needed across the Region to reinforce and strengthen this development. The projects supported through the International Fund for Cultural Diversity and their achievements will feature prominently in a special edition of the Creative Economy Report 2013 that UNESCO and UNDP are co-producing on the creative economy at the local level in developing countries. In the absence of hard data, the results of these and other projects being implemented on the ground, provide evidence that the cultural and creative industries are important sources of employment and revenue generation and how they contribute to social inclusion. The conclusions of the Creative Economy Report 2013 will be designed to inform international debates on integrating culture in the post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. GEN/CLT/2013/01 - Page 7

8 Technical Assistance UNESCO also provides non-financial support through capacity building and technical assistance. For example, the recently implemented Expert Facilty programme financed by the EU provided technical assistance to public authorities in 13 countries to accompany them in the development and design of their policies for the cultural and creative industries. Designed as a demand driven programme, governments outlined their needs and proposed activities, including the formation of a national team made up of public authorities, professional associations and non-governmental organisations. Members of this national team worked together to develop and implement the programme over a period of nine months. The goal of this approach was to ensure that the process and the results are nationally owned and led. The technical assistance programme has supported a number of African countries. For example to set up an integrated support mechanism for the cultural industries in Niger or a policy and action plan for the creation of a Creative Industry Agency in the Seychelles. The results achieved are positive but they are only first steps in a new movement or shift in the provision of assistance at the country level. Not only are partnerships necessary between public authorities, professional organisations, civil society, private sector. Partnerships are also required between the international organisations providing different types of assistance. As was mentioned by several speakers this morning, without commitment and action within countries, international institutions and their programmes or Funds may not be effective as they could be. UNESCO methodologies Underpinning this provision of expertise is a particular methodology that has been developed by UNESCO, based on the framework provided by the 2005 Convention. GEN/CLT/2013/01- Page 8

9 This methodology is outlined in the Policy Guide to support the cultural and creative industries. The French version was co-published in cooperation with the OIF and launched last year on the occasion of the International Day of Cultural Diversity, the 21 st May. The Guide promotes the development of an inclusive vision of the role of culture and in the development process as a sector of economic growth as well as an opportunity for dialogue and cohesion. It was produced on the basis of experiences in Latin America and Africa over the past 5-10 years. The Guide provides a step by step approach to launch and create continuity in public policy making including case studies, practical exercises, tables and graphs. A step by step approach means first taking stock of the sector by identifying human, material and financial resources, analyzing existing legal frameworks, understanding the various players involved and how they function. It means building the political legitimacy by engaging stakeholders in the development and communication of both strategic and operational objectives that, in addition, consider a variety of factors including: - Human resources and training - Infrastructure and investment - Legal frameworks - Access to financing - including direct and indirect support, fiscal instruments and alternative mechanisms such as investment funds, guarantee systems or crowd funding - Development of markets by identifying new audiences, promoting exports, identifying new means of distribution, for example through cellphones either for marketing purposes or hosting film channels GEN/CLT/2013/01 - Page 9

10 - Promoting competitiveness and innovation by adopting quality standards, ensuring transparency in the market, funding research and development Before concluding, I would like to mention a third form of support that UNESCO provides to the cinema industry through the implementation of the 2005 Convention by fostering international cooperation among key stakeholders in this field, in particular between film makers in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean through a new project being implemented by our office in Havana, namely, the ABCD Cameras of Diversity. Among the objectives is to strengthen the contribution of the film industries to local development through the reinforcement of distribution channels, institutional and professional capacities and to provide policy advice on translating the objectives and principles of the Convention into audiovisual policies. Several training initiatives are to be developed aimed at young film makers, particularly women and teachers working in film schools and training institutions from the different regions. Those participating in the project belong to the ABCD Cinema network, including the FESPACO, as well as distribution companies, public and private TV stations, film associations and diaspora communities. Conclusion In conclusion, in addition to the financial and non-financial assistance that UNESCO provides to developing public policies to support cinema in Africa and to promoting international cooperation, an essential component of our work is to promote transparency, to share information and identify good practices on a global level on public policies and measures that promote the diversity of cultural expressions. This seminar is certainly an important contribution to this work. One of the main mechanisms through which we undertake such activities is established through the Convention called periodic reporting whereby governments, working together with civil society representations, provide information and data to UNESCO every four years on what they are doing to implement the Convention, the challenges they face and the solutions found to overcome them. GEN/CLT/2013/01- Page 10

11 The first periodic reports were submitted last year and are available on the Convention website, along with an analysis of trends and a new database of innovative examples from around the world. Unfortunately, with only four reports received from Africa, few examples from the continent are included in this information sharing platform so far. As the deadline of 30 April approaches this year for the submission of reports, we look forward to receiving more from Africa, not only to learn more about public policy developments on the continent, but to showcase the innovations that are occurring and constantly evolving in this field of policy development. Thank you for your attention. GEN/CLT/2013/01 - Page 11