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Sebastian Betti

Lead Developer, Petrobras Energia SA

TEDCRED 500+
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Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood and beyond

Nowadays there’re three so-called “film nations”: the United States, India and Nigeria.

In my particular case I’m exposed to their filmmaking production in that exact order: Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood. Being the last two industries far behind Hollywood in availability/distribution.

So there are few spaces where I can watch other film narratives. This year I was particularly interested in Egypt because I was amazed at how such big issues happening there were hidden from global media for such a long time. So I came across a French film by Emmanuelle Demoris titled “Mafrouza, Oh la Nuit!” (Mafrouza, Oh Night!).

This year’s Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival review on this film says:

«Until recently, with Egypt taken headlines all over the world, these issues were a big unknown. What Mafrouza does better than just about any other documentary about Egypt –and there aren’t very many—is show us a place with an unfaltering potential of human spirit, grace and civility.»

Mafrouza is a shantytown build inside the antique necropolis of Alexandria, Egypt, and the referred film is Demoris’. «The plurality of views expressed in the Mafrouza cycle make it clear that there is more nuance to this place than may Western powers would like us to believe.» says the review. I’m interested not only in Western powers, but in mass-media and citizenship behaviour also.

Why don’t we have/claim for massive access to this kind of filmmaking? Is it a matter of distribution? Why are issues like these ‘big unknowns’ in vast regions of our planet? What do you think of fostering the production of filmmaking from other “film nations”? Do topics like these actually appeal your taste?

Related links:

Nollywood Babylon
http://films.nfb.ca/nollywood-babylon/
Welcome to Nollywood
http://welcometonollywood.com/home.html

Related topics:
“Mafrouza, Oh la Nuit!” a film by Emmanuelle Demoris (France, 2007)
“Peace Mission”, a film on Nollywood by Dorothee Wenner (Germany, 2008)

Related Talks:
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  • Nadia Guajardo

    • 0
    Apr 11 2011: I agree with Debra! I would be more than willing to pay a membership fee to Ted.com in order to have access to these remote films. I regularly use Netflix instant viewing because they have a fairly good selection of foreign films but it is, of course, still very limited in terms of acquiring movies from places with limited distribution. For example upon reading Sebastian's topic, I instantly searched on Netflix for the movie, Mafrouza, and nothing =(
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    Debra Smith 100+

    • +3
    Apr 7 2011: Sebastian, This is a wonderful foreward looking idea. I have access to some of the films that are recognized at the big film festival eventssomewhat later at the Shaw Festival Film Series in Niagara on the Lake Canada- otherwise I would not be able to view many great films from around the world. However, even these films are quite well known and limited in their source countries and distribution. I too would be enriched by being able to see films from countries like Egypt where they must surely be not only made but ready and waiting for an audience. I would need subttles of course but wouldn't it be great if TED became an online venue for such works of art. I would be willing to pay a membership fee to the film viewing service.
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    Sebastian Betti 500+

    • +1
    HostTED AttendeeTED TranslatorAssociateLanguage Coordinator
    Apr 4 2011: There were a few omisions in my post that I want to mend.

    The clips in Franco Sacchi's TED Talk were based on this film:

    www.thisisnollywood.com

    And, in that spirit, there's an interesting initiative named Nollywood Workshops aimed to spread Nollywood and African arts:

    http://nollywoodworkshops.org/
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