Africa: M-Net Buys 450 African Movies

M-Net Electronic Media Network has quietly invested in buying all rights for 450 plus African films which it sees as bringing the rights back to Africa. It will be the distributor for this unique library on its own channels, through other TV stations, in film festivals and on a new VOD streaming service it will launch. Even more radically, it is exploring the feasibility of launching a film channel in francophone Africa. Russell Southwood spoke last week to M-Net's Head of Sales and African Film Library Acquisition, Mike Dearham. DStv pioneered local content with the (largely Nollywood) Africa Magic Channel and more recently added the non-Nigerian content channel Africa Magic Plus. But the African Film Library takes this ambition up yet another notch. For M-Net has spent US$30-40,000 a film to buy all rights for 25 years and is still adding to the library.

Most recently, it was at this year's FESPACO where it bought 8 more films, including the winning entry and was the sponsor for the film market:"We're buying rights back from Europe." Dearham reckons that the library covers 80% of the top African films ever made:"There are two to three (key) fim-makers missing. Some don't own their own rights and they are scattered across 8 co-production companies and others don't believe in going for 25 years. People told us it would be impossible but it has turned out not to be."

The African Film Library turns M-Net into a film distributor as the strategy is to sell beyond its Pay-TV channels. Following DISCOP in February this year, Mike Dearham reckons that he now has relationships with 80-90% of the continent's Free-To-Air channels: films sell at US$1,000 each and it has not only all the global rights but has them in all languages so it will do different language sub-titling including initially French and Arabic. FTA TV channels in Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Seychelles now all have a late night African cinema screening slot.

For DVD, it has a strong relationship with South African distributor Nu-Metro and distributes a South African Cinema brand which in due course will be followed by an African Cinema brand to be distributed globally by Nu-Metro.