Anything Goes : The Future of African Movie Industry by Vayan Joseph

There is not many story tellers that make the effort towards pushing that notion forward. People are discourage because they feel like they do not matter. It is also a money thing, no one cares about the different elements of film anymore; it is all a money thing or who will make more. I look to be part of the future that looks to bring change to that because I refuse to accept the way things are now. Thank you for mentioning that Vayan.

I think a good story trumps all, regardless of origination. I don't think it is African storytelling vs. western tradition, etc. I think the best stories have in them a universal truth that any audience could get behind. A father in Uganda may have different day to day problems from one in Germany, but they certainly share commonalities as well.

District 9 was an African film that did really well. I think that you need to watch your production values to be taken seriously in any country. Good African stories are an untapped source of interesting subject matter, and I'd certainly be interested.

I am getting more enlightened as an African Filmmaker...tanks all for your contributions

A great story is the formula of a great film. It has nothing to do with race. Good luck!

why i am inquisitive is because ive seen great Indian,Chinese, African and even South American Stories movies like House of Flying Daggers, City of God, 3 Idiots etc but were not really box office hits in the United States;their sales were just average...i dont think ive come across any movie with black storyline that have sold over a 100 million in the U.S box office....im open to corretion

a great story line, high quality production, good marketing plan and lots of publicity and exposure and our films will sell like hot cake all over the world. What is holding back the African movie industry is the fact that almost all movies are financed by individuals and they can do only so much. We do not have studios that can finance our movies from scratch and market it to a worldwide audience.

We African only 2 things to tell our amazing story, only the Technics / physics and to work together , that is all...We have fantastic story !

this is a great question which I heartily support and hope some of us can work together. I think Africans have huge experience and great things to say

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in Austin, TX the few times I went to see a film where it was mostly about African-Americans, there were few African-Americans in the audience... And vice versa, were the stars were mostly of other ethnicities there are very few African-Americans in the audience.... For me, being half Spanish and half Mexican, I could write a bunch of stories about the Hispanic culture, but I know my audience is limited... Robert Rodriquez has been successful at it though. And screenwriter David Ayer's has been successful with his Los Angeles and Hispanic based stories that he writes.. My two pennies...

check my The Fattest Yam which I wrote with a friend from Cameroun

I will say that one of the greatest African American talents so far in the industry has got to be Antoine Fuqua. He broke the preconceptions that someone of African descent can direct a movie with a nonAfrican or all-white cast when he made King Arthur, starring Keira Knightley. It is set in a not fully-Medieval, still somewhat tribal British Isles. It's very stellar cinematographically too and I like the choice of Guinevere(?) as a woad(blue marks)-painted warrior at times, too. Definitely breaks from the usual medieval romanticism. I'm a big history nerd as you can tell. In the movie I am writing 'Demonized', my characters will be African American. I hope to be able to capitalize on general audiences love of horror in order to stay true to the story I want to tell. I think it will break new ground as far as the sort of storytelling and vision that can come from people of African descent. As for African continental movies, I don't know much about them but if you can harness the power of African storytelling in a way that can translate to world audiences, you'll be on your way. Think what makes certain international films Hot. Like Norways's Dead Snow (Zombie Craze), India's Slumdog Millionaire (Basic human drama). What makes Africa unique? And how can you tell that story to make it relatable to world audiences?