Mozambique: Government provides 5 million to support cinema and audiovisual productions

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Mozambique: Government provides 5 million to support cinema and audiovisual productions

2:20 CAT | 04 Nov 2020

Photo: Ministério da Cultura e Turismo

The government on Tuesday announced 5 million meticais [around US$68,496] in funding for the competition to finance and support audio-visual and cinema in Mozambique. Film directors Sol de Carvalho and Gabriel Mondlane hailed the government move as an encouragement for Mozambican filmmakers.

“I don’t argue on whether the money is too much or too little, the constitution of the jury or the rules. Just knowing that filmmakers can appeal, every year, for support for film production is very good,” filmmaker Sol de Carvalho said at the competition launch ceremony.

First time since independence

The director of award-winning film Mabata Bata noted that this was the first such initiative in Mozambique’s 45 years of independence, insisting that the government must not back-track. “I welcome the government’s decision. We filmmakers have always insisted on this. Cinema is an expensive art, there is little money. This is a fight that we will continue from now on, but it is a very decisive step,” he said.

Another filmmaker satisfied with the government’s initiative is Gabriel Mondlane. At the ceremony in the Maputo Port Gallery , the director of “The Silence of the Women” agreed that the support was very welcome, as helping people express themselves and do what they know and like.

“The Government of Mozambique’s gesture is a great victory for filmmakers. It is a moment many of us fought to achieve,” Mondlane said.

Without financial support, Mondlane added, most people would not even manage to produce their first film. They quickly realize that cinema is expensive and they can no longer move on.

“Cinema is an area which, because of its nature, works with more complex funds, which entails many costs. It was necessary to have a cinema fund with concrete objectives, so that the country looks at this art differently. The country has already been recognised as a reference in cinema,” he pointed out.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Eldevina Materula formally announced the 5 million meticais fund on behalf of the government, emphasising that it would cover the whole country.

“We intend to encourage and promote new talent annually, as well as consolidating the filmmaking sector generally. We are aware that the amount made available is far from meeting the needs of the whole sector, but at a time when the country faces multiple challenges, this support must be seen as a clear and unequivocal sign that the government is not oblivious to [the needs of] this sector,” she said.

Source: O País