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Voice of Africa
Convergence
Africa
READ ABOUT
Camila Estico
Miss Seychelles 2014
Media
Talk Of The Town
Jason Njoku's
Founder
iRoko TV
Monthly e-Newsletter
March 2015
NEWS Maker
Kunle Afolayan
Nollywood Director
Global Platform
Upcoming film
Releases
Grzegorz Wieczorek
President & General
Director
NEOTION
Shoki Mogkapa
South African Actress
Amazing
Tech
Amazing Tech
Rahul Nehra
Jt. Managing Director
Africa Film Factory
Camila Estico
Miss Seychelles 2014
C
amilaEstico, Miss World Seychelles 2014,
is a 23 year old artist born and raised in the
island of Seychelles. She has been living in
the USA for the past 9 years.
She enjoys a variety of disciplines, ranging from
painting to song writing. Currently pursuing her
academic learning before continuing to grow in
the field of performing arts, she excels & is a
skilled dancer in ballet, modern hip hop and few
classical forms.
Camila has represented her beautiful country in
Miss World Pageant 2014 in London. She had a
memorable experience, "As it was challenging at
times, but I learnt much and I had the chance to
make worldwide friends...."
She always aspired of becoming an Actor, "Yes I
have thought of it and many people have seen my
potential and encouraged me to do so. Having my
background in performing Arts as a dancer, I
believe acting can be a career I can pursue."
Being a part of the film "A Love Like This," Camila
had a fantastic supporting role and learnt much
about the film making industry and what it takes
to make a movie and to be an Actor.
She adds "I strive to always be a positive person
by living the values and morals that my family
have taught me. Being an energetic person, I like
experiencing new challenges in life."
TALK OF THE TOWN
Some of Nollywood biggest stars made cinema history at the BFI IMAX London, as they
attended the star- studded world premier on “Thy Will Be Done”, a ROK Studios, film directed by
the award winning Obi Emelonye. This is the first time an independent movie has premiered at
the 500 seat BFI IMAX and Nollywood fans turned out in hundreds to catch a glimpse of their
favorite stars and to watch the very first screening, which was sold out.
ROK Studios isa leading African television studio
and production house based in Lagos, Nigeria;
specializing in content creation for global
markets.
While discussing their online platform iROKO TV
and market growth, they lay emphasis on
Internet TV in Africa as being one of the primary
platforms for content viewing. The cost of PayTV
subscription is too expensive, hence people are
going online (bandwidth allowing) to watch their
favorite TV shows and movies. With the growth
of mobile as well as internet becoming more
accessible, iROKO sees at least double, if not
triple digit, Y-O-Y growth for the market.
Which are the key markets and which areas
you expect to grow in the coming years?
We are completely focused on building our
African audience in the coming years & believe
Lagos & rest of Nigeria will be an amazing start.
Last year, we brought international content onto
the platform for English Speaking Africa to
broaden our appeal to a wide audience for not
only Nollywood, but also access to Hollywood /
Bollywood / Telenovelas etc.
What are the key challenges you face in your
growth story?
Unlike our counterparts in the West building
Internet TV platforms, a majority of the audience
isn’t necessarily that internet savvy and they
don’t have access to reliable or affordable
internet, so we’re trying to build products for a
bandwidth- light audience. Issue of online
payment is something relatively new in Nigeria
and there exists general mistrust about using
credit cards online. Another challenge that we
constantly battle is online piracy.
What do you think can be done, to expand the
quality of content beyond West Africa and
South Africa?
iROKO TV and its Nollywood content is already
popular throughout Africa and around the world.
Our investments into Nollywood has allowed
filmmakers to finally invest properly in the
creation of content.- whether it’s in scripting,
sourcing better locations, buying better technical
equipments etc. which, in turn, we hope has
resulted in improved quality of content and
programming.
Producer’s Quote
Camila has the qualities of a superstar, her skill
sets are being nurtured, the stage presence
she carries is very appealing. Am glad she got
the opportunity in working with talented artists
from a pan-African diaspora in the saga
"A Love Like This."
Jason Njokuu of Rok Studios says ‘Rok Studios has huge ambitions in terms of re-energizing
Nollywood and producing international standard cinema from Nigeria. “Thy Will Be Done”, for us,
is the blueprint, the gold standard, in terms of quality and awesome storytelling that we hope will
now define Nollywood.’
www.africafilmfactory.com | Convergence Africa Media 2015
Buzz Unlimited
NEWS Makers
N
igeria cinema, widely known as
Nollywood, has evolved as the third most
valuable Film Industry across the Globe
with revenues spiraling above USD 1 Billion in
2014.
Since the early 1960's, the industry that was
facing issues of high production cost & gaps in
technology, has embarked upon systematic
growth in the past few decades.
The number of films produced in Nollywood& its
peer Ghana are over 1,200 each year. Though a
large number of films are shot on hand-held
cameras with budgets of USD 20,000 to 35,000,
a select few have reinvented film making and
made blockbuster productions with an
international outlook and global reach. Stories yet
remain African in nature, the elements of
locations, sets, technology and post production
works have transformed in this region .
With changing times, Nollywood offerings have
matured, a prime example is 'October 1' directed
by Nigerian poster boy KunleAfolayan. His film
won critical acclaim and traveled beyond Africa
to International territories; the breakthrough
being the tie-up & distribution of the film on the
largest online media streaming portal Netflix.
Nollywood has an exciting future ahead.
Globalization will add a new dimension to scripts
and the time is not far when Africa will tell its
stories outside the world through Nollywood and
its peers.
Global Platform - Awelewa (Most Beautiful)
Awelewa (Most Beautiful)
usic by Gabriel Afolayan and video
directed by international award
winning director Kunle Afolayan was
shot in Seychelles produced by Africa Film
Factory & Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation,
Co-Produced by Golden Effects. The music video
was inspired by the movie “A Love Like This”
releasing in 2015.
The movie features Actor and Singer from Nigeria
Gabriel Afolayan, South African actress Shoki
Mokgapa, Miss Seychelles 2014 Camila Estico
and other well knows actors from Kenya &
M
Tanzania.
The music video is the first collaboration
between Golden Effects - Seychelles
broadcasting corporation & Africa Film Factory to
aims to promote film and spread the work across
boundaries.
Awelewa show case Yurni Noshika Sri Lankan
actress active in teledrama and movies.
Awelewa is choreographed by Indian award
winning choreographer Shaily Sancheti and
dancing crew from Seychelles school of dance.
Awelewa is now available on YouTube.
Upcoming Film Releases
Blackhat: Action movie directed by Michael
Mann, A furloughed convict and his American
and Chinese partners hunt a high-level
cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles
to Hong Kong to Jakarta.
Run All Night: An aging hitman is forced to take
on his brutal former boss to protect his estranged
son and his family. The Film is directed by Jaume
Collet- Serra.
Birdman: A washed-up actor who once played
an iconic superhero must overcome his ego and
family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a
bid to reclaim his past glory.
Wild: Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée; starring
Reese Witherspoon is next intrepid explorer to
make a long journey with big backpack in Wild,
an adaption of the memoir by Cherly Strayed, is
set to open around the world!
www.africafilmfactory.com | Convergence Africa Media 2015
Satellite (+62M) with a Cable is a minority
(<1M), and a growing broadcast space (500 TV
channels in 2008 expected to grow to 3000 TV
channels in 2023). Satellite accounts for the main
pay-TV revenues (92% in 2014) where DTT is
taking-off with new competition and the
multiplication of cheaper DTT packages.
Neotion’s leadership and European unparalleled
experience in this space fits well in the Africa’s
digital growth story.
As a Global Leader in the broadcast
technology space are there any specific
solutions that you have for the African Digital
Media space.
The NEOTION CI Plus Conditional Access Module
(CAM) range is specifically developed to work
Gregory Wieczorek across
medium: satellite, terrestrial or cable. Our
President & General Director
in-house
secure chipset ensures the latest
NEOTION
high-level security requirements implementation
frica has been and continues to be one of from the Conditional Access (CA) vendors where
the top regional markets for Neotion .The anti-piracy is a constant fight - even more in
move toward full digitization in 2015, a emerging markets - for any pay-TV operator
digital penetration which will exceed 50% of the delivering premium content.
TV households in 2015 and will reach 95.5% in Neotion CAM is used extremely by MulitChoice
2020 (with a total of 49 million of digital TV HH), Africa and “GOtv” across nine African countries.
Pay-TV revenues reaching $ 6.22 billion in 2020 This is complied with the CI Plus 1.3 Operator
up from $ 3.54 billion in 2014 makes Africa a Resource for seamless and easy implementation
special focus area for us
Classically Africa has been a key STB market
This is complimented with DTT (+ 100M) and with a deep China penetration, how does
Neotion plan to fit in this landscape.
NEOTION is largely aware of STB competition
within digital TV landscape - mainly the battle of
the lowest price - but the NEOTION CAM has its
place as a secure, cost-effective and ergonomic
alternative solution to set-top-boxes. A CAM is
able to work in a set-top-box too! And the main
benefits of the CAM - small, smart and green remain key values in Africa region: no additional
cable, lower consumption, easy to install and
easy to use.
Africa keeps growing and NEOTION is quite sure
that the region will follow the European
technological model. Indeed we trust the
success of DVB-CI TV-sets arrival in Africa looking at the data:
More than 2.6 million DVB-CI and CI Plus TV-set
will be shipped in Africa in 2015 - with an
installed base of 10.2 million units. The shipment
of CI Plus TV will almost double between 2015
and 2017, The installed base will grow by 50%.
NEOTION has always worked closely with TV
makers and targets to reinforce its well
established partnership beyond Europe in Africa.
Key factor for main success stories across
Europe passed by the bundle of a CI Plus iDTV and
a CAM, ensuring pay-Tv operators to keep control
over content usage and deployment with labeled
TV platform.
therefore the telling of this story was a
collaborative effort”.
Shoki made her television debut in ITV UK’s
drama. Her noted career high was being one of
the twelve actors selected by Moonyeenn Lee.
Since then she has gone on to appear in
numerous productions such as Mandela: Long
walk to Freedom & Nothing for Mahala in 2013.
Did you always want to be an actress?
"The passion for acting caught me late; but i
guess it was meant to happen. I was in business
school someone took me along to watch a play.
Back then I was clueless about what I wanted
from life. But when I saw this play unfold on
stage, something clicked. I felt this was
something I could do. Once you are on stage it’s
just you and the audience. You act well, people
will like you. You don't act well and people will not
like you. I found this connection between an actor
and the audience fascinating. I guess that was
my calling."
And she seems to have figured out her vocation.
She lays great emphasis on avoiding multitasking. She stresses that an actor should just
act, "My focus should be my performance. I
shouldn't be bothered about whether the film will
release or not. Releasing a film or promoting it is
the producer’s responsibility. As an actor my job
is to concentrate on the things I need to do in front
of the camera. A good actor doesn't distract
herself with several other chores of making a
film”.
Is it difficult to enter into character?
Her passion to give her character everything is
inspirational. With the simplest disposition she
adds "when i work on a scene, I have to do the
best with my art, I make sure I out my most
honest efforts in portraying this character. I can't
let that chance go to waste. I can't give a half
hearted attempt and let the character become
something she is not. I can't mislead my
performance. This is my limited world. I can't
think beyond this”.
What are the key challenges that Cinema
making faces and what do you think can be
done to drive Cinema and Cinema Making?
“Challenges that Cinema making faces in South
Africa is about distribution and getting as many
as people as possible to come see a film. A key
ingredient would be to make cinema accessible.
Movie goers in South Africa are not in the habit of
supporting local films and local content. This is a
heart & mind campaign which can only be won
over time.”
Africa Goes Digital
in 2015
A
"The passion of acting caught
me late”
Shoki Mokgapa
SOUTH AFRICAN ACTRESS
How many films have you done till date ?
Most recently I wrapped on the International
African Feature Film “A Love Like This”, in which I
played a lead role Nalidi Tau, the main male lead’s
wife. “I was fortunate to work with Director Mr.
Rutnam to whom I will always be indebted. He is
an actor’s director in the truest sense and
www.africafilmfactory.com | Convergence Africa Media 2015
Amazing Tech
Canary:
The smart home security device. Is a simple
device packed with smart sensor that empowers
users to keep their home safe and secure. It is
controlled through mobile device. It contains and
HD video camera & multiple sensors that track
everything from motion, temperature, air quality
to vibration, sound and activity to help you, your
family and your home safe.
Canary
Fitness Band:
Is a wrist based tracker that captures workout
data including heart rate, reps and sets, type and
speed of users workout. Its water proof ans track
users body in 3D.
FlirQ:
FlirQ is new way of people to connect in public
places, from coffee shops to airports, weddings
to conferences. There is no fear of rejection and
even shy people can initiate contact. You can talk
even when in the company of family, friends, or
business colleagues in a relaxed manner.
Fitness Band
Dawn of Digital Television
I
n the context of Digitization one single device
that marks its presence in the household and
has the potential of delivering to the
expectations in more ways than one is the TV
screen which is present in over ninety percent of
the houses. This translates in to a 100 million
screens across the geographic expanse.
With a mix of technology, skills, policies,
resources, capital, intellectual property,
governmental-intent, user inertia we have
identified a definitive way of lighting up the
millions of television screen in the context of the
Africa Digitization.
The challenge is to create a technology-servicecapital matrix which transforms specific
verticals and riding on the digitization process
that is underway across the African stretch.
The mandate of nations to go digital between
2012 and 2017 put forth an opportunity to
transform the 100 million screens into a new
economy and eventually transform lives,
societies, nations and finally the regions Beyond-Bridging the Digital Divide - A digital
Transformation. A new thought leadership had to
emerge to do the above and this posed a
challenge of a different kind.
This led to the development of a concept that
is local, revolutionary all-encompassing service
which includes technology at thecore,
surrounded by localized applications, supported
by business alliances delivering the objectives on
the TV screens using the lowest denominator - A
Set Top Box - in a non-internet and an internet
environment alike.
In line with the national objectives mentioned
above there were six key verticals which we feel
appropriate in the context of digital divide,
monetization and transformation. This resulted in
the TV screen lighting up to a collage of
‘Information House, Magazine Store, Home
Multiplex, Governance Portal, Shopping Portal’ translating TV into a unique transitional
experience for the consumer. This also fosters a
whole new set of business, revenue streams,
though-leadership in the digital television world.
- Rahul Nehra
Jt. Managing Director
Africa Film Factory
Entertainment
Digital
Transformation
through
Television
Knowledge Information Education
Television Commerce
Governance
www.africafilmfactory.com | Convergence Africa Media 2015
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