Newsletter #31
Profiles of the Week at Pavillon Afriques'
Jon Gosier: an investor, a film fund owner, an innovator and a change-maker
Welcome Rwanda: 25 years ago today
Jacqueline Nsiah: from Ghana with Love via Germany
Alhaji Sani Magori: from agricultural engineering to filmmaking in Niger
Chawezi Thorne: a world out there for blogger and brand specialist
Profiles & Videos of the Week
Southbox: Film Funding Partner
Glitz Africa: glamour on print and Glam Media Partner
Winston G. Williams: the art of changing the narrative in Austin, Texas
Dan Diallo: grapes of happiness and a champagne made in Guinea
Tassilo Dubois: his sports' films and documentary selection
Welcome to the Pavillon Afriques, Festival de Cannes 2019 2 minutes read or scroll down for the profiles & videos
This week we are all about sports at Pavillon Afriques. It has kicked off with a basketball challenge thrown at Pavillon Afriques' team. We had to do a thorough SWOT analysis of our roster before responding.
Tassilo Dubois, our film intern, loves golf and shepherding (he lives on a farm) and is fascinated by Kenyan marathon runners.
Johanna Makabi, our marcom manager, is an avid dancer and an accomplished yoga practitioner. Stretching is key here.
Karine Barclais, our president, loves hiking around Paris and rowing in Martinique. Fashion for hikers is fundamental for Karine.
Prudence Kolong, yours truly, appreciates a healthy basketball game with a great dose of trash-talking and loves screaming "In your face" after a victory dunk or a mean block.
Well, despite our best intentions, it seems that, we lack in key skills needed to defeat the team of filmmakers who have challenged us to a morning basketball game during the Pavillon Afriques run at Cannes Film Festival. That said, we can still organize an Eco-Walk (include cleaning the beach), Afrobics (involves an instructor and leotard) or a Flash Run (500 meters at 6 AM) or a ZenGa (silent Yoga for neophytes) near the beach during one of those mornings. Let us know... ; ))
In keeping with our sports theme, Tassilo has compiled an interesting list of sports-related movies and TV content that you can check here.
Since Magic Johnson, there have been countless of sports greats who have gotten involved in the business of film. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Didier Drogba, to name a few, have gotten so far as receiving prestigious awards, becoming high flying producers, actors and directors.
Our very own panelist, George Guise, CEO of Visionary Pictures, a Nigerian filmmaker based in London who has worked with Jay Z's Roc Nation, Tinie Tempah and many other prominent entertainment names, is currently working on a feature focused on Dambe athletes. Dambe is an ancient traditional wrestling sport, practiced mostly in Nigeria and many coastal countries in West Africa (Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, Togo, Niger, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali & Burkina Faso). It is called Dambe in Nigeria, or Laamb, Evara, Boreh, Kokowa in other countries. Dambe has its own league and some moves that will remind you of the Brazilian's Capoeira.
Now, how does Dambe affect the business of Film & Content at Pavillon Afriques? Dambe is a folks sport with millions of fans in West Africa, similar to NBA or NCAA is followed by millions of basketball aficionados. We have a Meet the Creatives focused on how to monetize sports content at Pavillon Afriques.
It will be interesting to see how creatives, financiers, SVoD & TVoD service providers think about creating /selling/funding content similar to Hit the Floor, Ballers, The Longest Yard, Ali or other sports-focused original content.
We have seen in our previous newsletter that most coastal countries are 4G-fitted, thus allowing easier access to content at lower cost. Now, the challenge lies in creating and providing content that meets people's expectations.
African filmmakers and content programmers need to up the ante in terms of generating content that address the needs of their sports' fans...
At Pavillon Afriques, the Marathon continues.
Visit www.copa-fdc.com/vip for the VIP list or download it here Register for Pavillon Afriques here Scroll down to check this week's profiles and videos.