AfricaFilms.tv goes Beta (June 2011)

Dakar-based ‘'VOD - 100% AFRICA'' portal brings 400 films to a worldwide audience
AfricaFilms.tv, the VOD (Video On Demand) platform with the best films from & about Africa goes online (private beta version), heading for a public opening next June.
A legal rent-or-download-for-money website (2 to 5 € per film) for a worldwide audience : a market of some 50m viewers today (diaspora & Northern Afro-lovers)... expected to burst by 2013-14 when most African populations will gain access to broadband (mobile) internet.
www.Africafilms.tv ‘s mission is to distribute films from Africa to the world, and grant fair revenue to African film rights owners, nowadays deprived of paying audience.
400 hours of programmes
AfricaFilms.tv, covers all genres and all African countries, with a mix of top titles and emerging talents :
- award-winning feature films including all the comedies by Ivory-Coast genius Henri Duparc, along with the best South-African arthouse titles ;
- "Africa new generation" movies, shot fast and/or shouting loud : action, politics, cartoon... from 19 countries of which : Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, plus the diaspora (Caribbean, North America, Europe) ;
- a hundred titles by the rising masters of African documentary : Rehad Desai (South Africa), Osvalde Lewat (Cameroon), Sani Magori (Niger), Philippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast), Eléonore Yameogo (Burkina Faso)... or shot in Africa by Europeans : France's Zaradoc and ICTV-Solferino, Belgium's Thierry Michel (MOBUTU KING OF ZAIRE) or Eklektik (KAFKA IN CONGO, KONGO...), etc.
- last but not least, soap operas, a true must for the diasporas : the best French speaking titles (including hilarious 2-minute ShortComs) and some world-standard TV-hits from Ghana and South Africa, such as MATING GAME, SECRETS, TAXI DRIVER or GAMES PEOPLE PLAY.
A co-operative philosophy
AfricaFilms.tv brings rights holders an unprecedented, service-oriented, fair approach, based on freedom (contracts are non-exclusive), transparency (sales statements are readable online), safety (film files are DRM encrypted, with the PlaySmart technology by OnlineLib, Germany). And ‘shared technology': producers will be able to set up their website that will embed their own VOD-store, so that they can market their titles directly to their fans community, keeping up to 65% of revenues. Online demo: www.Africafilms.tv.
Powerful and witty partnerships
Africafilms.tv was developed thanks to a strong funding (0,5 m€) from ACP Films, the ACP-EU co-operation programme for the support of the ACP (Africa Caribbean Pacific) film sector. It gained several other supporters (French Ministry of Culture & CNC, foundations Stichting Doen from The Netherlands and Lettera27 / WikiAfrica from Italy), sharp talent-scouts (African Film Festivals of Tarifa, Spain and Verona, Italy), and field correspondants in 12 African countries : Goethe Institute, Instituts français, Spanish Embassies...
Meet AfricaFilms.tv at Cannes Film Festival, May 11-21 - "Cinémas du Sud" Pavillion.
Village international - every day 10:12 - Presentation 16/05/2011
Contact / Béatrice Boursier catalogue@idmage.fr Tel +33(0) 6 60 66 55 10
Africafilms.tv is driven by IDMAGE Paris (Enrico Chiesa), fully implemented from Dakar by SOON SA (Vincent Lagoeyte), in partnership with Salif Traoré and Didier Awadi.
IDmage also develops mobiCINE : 14 cinemas-on-a-motorcycle screen movies for 0,50 € in partnership with the City of Dakar and the City of Bamako.