Online distribution‘fails’ local movies

One of the country’s movie producers Jones Mbera says filmmakers are still apprehensive of sharing their content online as the distribution model does not offer income guarantees. The US-trained producer said this after Joyce Mhango-Chavula’s award-winning movieThe Gunless Soldierhas been released on YouTube, a year after its premiere. Mhango-Chavula is the latest filmmaker to upload her movie online, joining the likes of Charles Shemu Joya and Symon Kendall who also shared their movies on YouTube.

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Mbera, who was part of the production team for the USA produced Malawian movieThe Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,said lack of monetisation of local online space continues to haunt efforts to grow the film industry. He said: “Elsewhere film production is resource-intensive. Subsequently, when one produces a film, they expect to recoup their investment.

If there is no such guarantee, that is when you see producers hesitant to release their works online. “By and large, this has stifled the growth of the film industry in Malawi as producers cannot just be making films for fun considering what is involved in production.” Mbera said the few producers that have shared their content on YouTube have been pushed by passion rather than business interest. The producer said the industry should work on establishing its own distribution model where people can pay to watch a movie.

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“There has to be somewhere we can start from as an industry to set the wheels of growth rolling. The Nigerian movie industry started with content that was almost unpalatable, but now Nollywood is one of the biggest industries. When Netflix started there was resistance, but now it has been adopted universally.

In a separate interview, Mhango-Chavula said the lack of monetisation of Malawi’s YouTube is a challenge for filmmakers because it is not helping them apart from offering visibility. She said that is why producers only release the films after they have made money elsewhere. “Again we also intend to honour the late Ashukile Mwakisulu. This was his last feature film and people deserve to see his final bow.” Since its release,The Gunless Soldierhas scooped several awards both international and local

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