After a career at Canal+ and then StudioCANAL, where she was in charge of programming and film release strategy in France, she joined the CanalOlympia network as Marketing and Programming Director for the network of 18 theaters in 12 African countries. After the Covid-19 pandemic brought cinema operators to a standstill, she decided to leave the Vivendi group to embark on a new adventure: supporting projects to structure and develop the cinema and audiovisual economy on the African continent and promoting the professionalization of the sector. Wearing many hats, she is a member of the CNC's world cinema support commission and a member of the OIF's "Images de la Francophonie" commission, allowing her to be at the forefront of the emergence of African cinema and its diversity.
Today we meet her for the Série Séries Africa festival, where she is the director of development.
What is your role in organizing the Série Series Africa festival?
Following a meeting, actor Issaka Sawadogo asked me to assist him with the structuring of the Série Series Africa festival. I immediately accepted because behind the organization of this festival, there is also a real challenge of supporting professionals in the sector at the local level. It was also necessary to define a festival model adapted to the African context without simply copying and pasting the edition that takes place in France. I wanted to promote African creativity in all its diversity by giving the festival a traveling dimension. Initially based in Ouagadougou, the next edition will be held in Dakar because the challenges of structuring the sector are everywhere! Through the festival, we must create the conditions for accelerating change in the industry and promoting African creativity.
What are the outlines of this next edition?
This next edition will feature many highlights, including:
10 African series in competition
- Series of the Year
- Best Performance
- Best Director
- Best Production
- Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Out of Competition
- 6 international French-language series
- 10 international series out of competition in "Around the World in Series"
- 5 African and international series in "Avant-Première"
- 3 Senegalese series in "100% Senegal"
- 4 outdoor screenings in "La nuit des series"
But also…
- 6 workshops for professionals
- 4 school sessions followed by a case study
- 1 pitch session for projects in development
- 3 masterclasses
We will also be working with the Kourtrajmé school and the Yennenga Center on training workshops and school programs.
What will be the main topics covered in the workshops?
The topics have been defined based on the major challenges facing the sector:
- Copyright
- Screenwriting
- Acting at the heart of creation
- Financing a series project (with a section dedicated to piracy)
- Journalistic criticism
- Audiovisual creation
- The challenges of co-production
Finally, we will also have content pitching sessions and masterclasses. Each professional will also be able to come and promote their upcoming projects and meet other professionals in the sector. The event will be held from October 24 to 28, 2022.
Will there be a section dedicated to digital?
We also want to represent the VOD platforms that are arriving on the continent and which we place in the "broadcasters" category. We will not be focusing on them, but we must represent them because these players are increasingly gaining ground on the continent and accelerating their production of local content. They have a say in this emerging economy, but we mustn't give the impression that the market is segmented. There aren't enough players on the market for that yet.
Why did you choose Dakar?
Many places in the French-speaking world are experiencing real momentum in terms of audiovisual creation. We chose Senegal because many industry development initiatives have been launched there. Many bridges can be built from this country, and it is interesting to shine a spotlight on Senegalese and, more broadly, African creativity.
The aim of this meeting is also to compare models in order to draw inspiration from them. We want to represent the creativity of the entire African continent, both French-speaking and English-speaking models, in order to compare and understand them. We must learn from each other, and we hope that these discussions will lead to the emergence of viable models adapted to the realities of each country.
We noted in a recent report that series production projects have multiplied in recent years. What is your view on this?
It is very encouraging to see that there are more and more dynamic producers and directors who are creating quality content and gaining recognition. But I think we can go even further. The idea behind our event is to promote the careers of professionals who stand out on the continent. There are still too many disparities in the volume of content produced depending on the region and local cultural policies. There is still a long way to go. I think we need to increase collaboration and bring professionals together in networks. The more projects there are, the more productions there will be and the more structured the market will become. Let's look at the English-speaking world, for example, where we have a self-financing industry.
We want to establish the Série Series Africa festival as a long-term fixture on the continent, and to do so, we invite you to join us from October 24 to 28, 2022, in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.