Idris Elba: Why I’m planning a move to Africa

“I would definitely think about settling here. But don’t even think about it, it will happen,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of a cinema industry meeting in Accra.

“I think I’ll move in the next five, 10 years, God willing. “I’m here to strengthen the film industry – it’s a 10-year process – I’m not going to do it from overseas. “I have to be in the country, on the continent.”

But in keeping with Pan-Africanism, he does not commit to living in a specific place.

“I will live in Accra, I will live in Freetown (the capital of Sierra Leone), I will live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try to go where stories are told – that’s really important.”

One goal is to one day make a film in his studio in Accra.

Elba, who played South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Long Walk to Freedom, believes it is vital for Africans to be at the center of all filmmaking. This applies both in front of the camera and behind the camera as well as in financing, sales, marketing and presentation of the end product.

He assumes that, just as movie audiences around the world know the differences between the U.S. cities of New York and Los Angeles without necessarily ever having visited them, they will one day have a more nuanced understanding of the continent.

“This sector is a soft power, not just across Ghana but across Africa.

“If you watch a movie or anything that has to do with Africa, you will only see trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonized, that it is just war, and when you come to Africa you will realize. “that it’s not true.

“That’s why it’s really important that we have these stories about our tradition, our culture, our languages ​​and the differences between one language and another. The world doesn’t know.”

With Nigeria’s Nollywood producing hundreds of films annually, films are arguably among the country’s most successful exports. There is also a tradition of making high quality films, particularly in parts of Francophone Africa.

Elba has previously recognized the talent in the African film industry but said the facilities were “poor”.

A UNESCO report from 2022, external supported the actor.

The United Nations cultural agency said that despite “significant production increases,” film production across the continent was hampered by problems such as piracy, inadequate training opportunities and a lack of official film institutions.

Elba believes that with the right momentum and commitment from governments willing to create an enabling environment, a virtuous circle can be created.

“We have to invest in our storytelling because when you see me, you see a little version of yourself, and that encourages us.”