KIGALI IS SET TO HOST the 25th edition of DISCOP Africa, the Sub-Saharan leading market for film, television, and digital content distribution and co-production business. The three-day movie exhibition will take place from December 12-14, 2021 at Kigali Convention Center. Showcasing the digital finished content comes in-person following the two virtual editions that took place in 2020. The past in-person exhibitions were held in Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. Patrick Zuchowicki, the CEO of DISCOP Africa believes that Rwanda will augment the event’s attractiveness internationally. “We have selected Rwanda as the venue because we believe that it will increase the event’s attractiveness to global and regional companies driving Africa’s entertainment and media sectors,” he said. “Kigali is a world-class venue that will play a central role in the success of the upcoming three-day exhibition,” he added. The international exhibition is expected to be attended by more than 75 global and regional content distributors, more than 100 independent producers, and 100 up and coming film TV series, animation, documentary, and gaming content creators. DISCOP Africa will be partnering with Kigali-based Mashariki Africa Film Festival to match the local content creation projects with global appeal to key international audio-visual stakeholders. “Right after the Covid-19 outbreak, most of the entertainment content creation industry is turning a new page in Africa,” commented Tresor Senga, founder and president of Mashariki Africa Film Festival. “Plenty of creators are leveraging the continent’s rich culture to create authentic content that can better travel the whole world,” he added. On his part, Jérémie Karege, the coordinator of the Rwanda Film Office, asserted that this will be an opportunity to showcase why Rwanda is one of the strategic filming destinations and call on the industry stakeholders to embrace the field. “We intend to capitalize on Rwanda’s diverse landscapes, its booming cultural and creative sector, as well as the country’s accessibility and security, to become a hassle-free destination for global audio-visual productions. A line-up of live sessions centered on the movie industry and sports broadcasting between Francophone and Anglophone Africa will complement the exhibition’s agenda. Rwanda Film Office will also unveil the country’s ambitious plan to bring to light the country’s locations, incentives, talent pool, facilities and services to attract industry stakeholders to invest here. It is visible that Rwanda has promoted the creative industry sector to become a leading destination for international film productions. This is justified by the country launching the Rwanda Film Office (RFO) in 2019. Moreover, Kigali International Audio-visual Forum, an annual event which brings together different players in the film industry from around the world was also opened. It aimed at making Rwanda a major platform for exchanges on international best practices to attract foreign audiovisual productions, but also to increase new opportunities for international audiovisual productions, and co-productions in Rwanda.
