FILM
STAKEHOLDERS ARE TAKING STEPS TOWARDS HELPING THE GOVERNMENT PRODUCE AN
UP-TO-DATE POLICY FOR THE SECTOR.
From
funds given by the Masaki-based BESTAC Company the Tanzania Film Federation
(TAFF) has employed the expertise of a South Africa-based film consultant,
Martin Cuff.
The specialist in economic development using film had the task
of spearheading the research into establishing a national film policy.
Local stakeholders within the creative industry gathered on
Monday and Tuesday this week to compile suggested inputs to the new policy,
which will be handed over to the government.
“Hopefully the government will want to take into consideration
what members of the industry have prepared to be cooperated into the new
policy,” TAFF’s President Simon Mwakifwamba told the ‘Daily News’ after
Tuesday’s session.
He further explained that before the two-day session with
stakeholders, Cuff had spent 15 days in the country visiting more than seven
ministries to research on the issue. By the end of the workshops stakeholders
were asked to present their suggestions for the new policy.
Cuff
told the stakeholders’ one of the main things, which had come to light during
the course of the research, is the existing gap between the current cultural
policy, which highlights how local culture is managed through film and the “new
knowledge economy” of film as a business.
He maintains that allows the film industry to move from a “small
cottage industry” into something that can dramatically contribute to the
economy. “At the moment Tanzania is not going to move forward unless there is a
film policy that allows it to override the pure cultural elements and move
towards dramatic, economic business-based policy for films,” said Cuff.
“All over the world governments have been looking at how films
can create jobs and boost more businesses together, contributing towards the
county’s branding.”
Another thing he noticed that came up repeatedly is the failure
of the existing government processes to create an enabling environment for
film. He found out that most of the existing policy around film is about
managing culture, almost from a censorship perspective without any guidelines
from the government on culture.
The problem becomes graver when it is taken into affect that the
world has changed very quickly. “When the government first started to write a
film policy in 2004, we weren’t even using websites and now distribution is on
line, production studios are on line,” Cuff said.
By IMAN MANI, Tanzania Daily News
