From Cairo To Cape Town - A Brief History Of African Cinema

Or, how Hollywood learned to love the 'Dark Continent' and what that might mean for the future of African film.

Dense jungles, man-eating animals, spear-waving natives — if all you knew about Africa was what you’d seen in Hollywood films, you’d think the place was as inhospitable as it was interesting. The home of Tarzan and his apes, the ‘Dark Continent’ seems a place best enjoyed while clutching a box of popcorn from the comfort of seat 2K.

Of course, the hardships of African life meant that many an old American movie made do with the studio backlot and stock footage. And on the rare occasions productions did venture overseas, the experiences of the lily-livered cast and crew members simply confirmed what Hollywood’s movies had long suggested about the dangers of Africa.

Take Katharine Hepburn, who like virtually everyone else involved in making The African Queen, went down with dysentery when she ignored warnings about the local water. If only she’d followed co-star Humphrey Bogart’s example and drunk nothing but whiskey the entire length of the shoot.

Come the 21st century, and American studios were a bit braver about shooting on African soil. Take Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond — a thriller about a frighteningly real problem, this Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle was filmed almost entirely in South Africa and Mozambique. For the most part, though, Africa remains a no-go zone for major Hollywood productions. Which is no bad thing, for in the absence of American investment, an African film industry has sprung up that is as vibrant as it is diverse.

From Cairo to Cape Town, Africa’s film industry encompasses the entire continent. Of course, some nations are more prolific than others, what with the need to make ends meet often eclipsing the desire for entertainment. However, it would be wrong to think that African cinema is solely the province of ‘Westernised’ nations such as South Africa.