The Rwanda Film Federation (RFF) has warned local filmmakers to stop using young children in their films without permission from their parents or guardians or else legal action will be taken against them.
The move comes after the film watchdog discovered that a number of filmmakers were giving children underage inappropriate roles which eventually affects their behavior and their surrounding communities.
"No one is allowed to use minors, boys or girls, in their films without the permission of their parents or guardians. Anyone found to be in breach of these regulations will be referred to the competent authorities for prosecution of their misconduct,” reads part of the statement released by Rwanda Film Federation last week.
The federation released the press statement after discovering various films featuring children in certain roles that don’t suit a child aged under 18 years which they could risk applying in their normal lives.
"As a regulator, we released this statement to ensure this issue does not get worse as time goes by because after we realised that there are underage children being given roles in films that may ruin their future. There are so far very few cases but we want to take advantage of this to ensure no similar cases arise,” said RFF President, Willy Ndahiro.
Ndahiro clarified that filmmakers are still allowed to act in some important roles but also reminded filmmakers to first approach their parents and sign contract agreements before casting their children in a certain film because children are not allowed to make decisions until they are aged 18.
He said the federation will always be there to protect children and make sure that they are not used in films whose roles are for adults.
Complying with cultural values
The federation also warned that it won’t tolerate filmmakers creating and sharing film content that doesn’t comply with the national cultural values that every Rwandan should stick to.
The federation said that there are instances where producers who care less about producing such content and upload them on YouTube to target viewership and are not bothered by the negative impact they can bring to their audience as well as the image of the country.
The federation urged people who make films, videos, movies, or sketches for YouTube for the purpose of delivering their art to Rwandans, to think, study and analyse their art in order to see how it benefits Rwandans in building their cultural values, on humanity, patriotism and the cultural differences that characterise Rwandans on the international level.
"The content they produce is pretty loved by today’s online consumers but such content does not represent our country’s cultural image. There are cultural behaviors that don’t belong to Rwandans and we need films that educate and entertain but which also don’t promote western behaviors but provide a platform to promote our culture to the international scene,” Ndahiro said.
Producers who make inappropriate content were advised to stop producing them with immediate effect or else they will face sanctions as per the film federation’s internal regulations because it does not allow members of the Cinema Association to use cinema in ruining the national image.