Namibian Movie Collection @ 50! Looking for Ilonga, Uno’s World & the NMC @ DISCOP Africa 2012

The Namibian Movie Collection (NMC), launched in November 2009, now consists of 50 films made by Namibian filmmakers and foreign films with relevance to the Namibian film landscape. For the purpose of promotion, filmmakers agreed to grant non-commercial rights of their films to be part of the collection and the FNCC granted space in its Multimedia Library for public access.nFor a broader dissemination and exposure, a catalog of the Namibian Movie Collection is published on the website of AfricAvenir, introducing Namibian films and filmmakers to an international audience. We believe this is necessary and crucial towards achieving the overall objective, the development of the Namibian film industry. See the complete NMC here: http://www.africavenir.org/projects-namibia/namibian-movie-collection.html nA French translation of the NMC is now available too: http://www.africavenir.org/fr/projets-namibie/namibian-movie-collection.html 
 
Since its creation, the NMC has been reproduced and donated to the Hon. Minister of Information and Communication Technologies and has been purchased by several libraries outside Namibia. The MYNSSC purchased two complete sets for educational purposes and in order to promote Namibian films within the work of the MYNSSC, Department for Arts and Culture.nIn 2012, the Namibian Movie Collection reached it’s target for 2012 and has now a superb number of 50 films in the collection. The last two films added are
Tim Huebschle’s "Looking for Ilonga" (2011) and Bridget Pickering’s "Uno’s World" (2002). The last agreement was signed recently and soon the film "Uno’s World" along with the other 49 films can be rented out at the FNCC library.
 
But there is more to come… and more that happened in 2012:
Two month ago, the director of AfricAvenir Namibia, Hans-Christian Mahnke, presented the Namibian Movie Collection to a broader international audience, at the biggest TV market fair in Africa, DISCOP Africa (www.discopafrica.com).
DISCOP Africa took place from 31 October to 02 November 2012, in Johannesburg.nWith financial assistance from the Namibian Ministry of Trade and Industry and upon invite by the organizers of DISCOP Africa 2012, Mr. Mahnke took part at the TV market and parallel conference activities.nAfricAvenir presented the Namibian Movie Collection in general and ten Namibian films in particular at the market fair.nThe organizers of DISCOP AFRICA announced record breaking attendance for the 7th annual edition of the television content market and co-production forum. A total of 1248 delegates representing 672 companies from 86 countries attended the 3-day event. This included 173 exhibiting distributors and 304 broadcasters, Pay-TV platforms, mobile operators, broadband-based TV services, closed-circuit networks and territorial distributors operating in Africa.nWith 195 independent production and distribution companies also in attendance, DISCOP AFRICA featured the largest selection of African created content ever available under one roof, as well as the inaugural edition of the FORMATS FROM AFRICA pitching competition, with Kenyan producers winning the top prizes. A conference program dedicated to regional and international partnerships provided efficient learning and networking opportunities.nIn the opening session of the conference, Mr. Mahnke was able to present the Namibian Movie Collection, its achievements and the challenges it faces to the delegates of the conference, in particular international TV content distributors and agents.
 
During DISCOP Africa several films of the NMC were sold to international buyers and are now commercially available on the international market. Currently negotiations with various other buyers, distributors and agents are ongoing. If all goes well, more content from the NMC will be purchased and hence create an income for local filmmakers. An outcome of the networking activities done by AfricAvenir at DISCOP Africa 2012.
 
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H.-C. Mahnke
MA of Political Science
Chairperson of the board Namibia section
AfricAvenir
(Douala/Berlin/Windhoek/Wien/Cotonou)
Contact Namibia:
Cell : +264 855630949,
Email: africavenir.whk(at)googlemail.com, c.mahnke(at)africavenir.org
Web: www.africavenir.org