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What factors are holding back the development of a strong Botswana film industry?

While many African nations have established strong, internationally-recognised film industries (e.g. Nigeria and Burkina Faso), Botswana has struggled to develop the infrastructure required to generate anything other than television and radio work. Nevertheless, in recent years the country has been gripped by debate concerning the need to establish a film industry, and the 2007 BBC television series 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency', which was partially filmed in the country, appears to have served as a springboard for renewed interest in using cinema to further the development of national identity. As Neil Parsons notes, "filming of 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' in under forty days... gave very valuable but temporary experience to a legion of film workers in Gaborone" (Parsons, 2008). Botswana contributed $5m (around 15%) of the production's overall budget, partly in the hope that the series would boost tourism in the country but also because of a desire to gain technical experience.

Like many countries with under-developed or non-existent indigenous film industries, Botswana's ambitions are town between attracting international productions to film in the country on the one hand, and encouraging home-grown work on the other. Many in the country believe that the growing television industry - spearheaded by SABIDO and Munhumutape Pay-TV - will ultimately provide the support and the funding required to establish a permanent film industry. There is recognition that the country's overall lack of film-making experience means that foreign employees will be required, at least in the beginning, but the hope is to ensure that these foreign employees pass on their skills to local workers, who will then be able to generated their own work. However, the MABC-TV project faces tough competition from the dominant players in the southern African media world, which is dominated by DSTV and the Kenyan satellite-based station GTV, which is becoming increasingly popular in Botswana.

Botswana has traditionally relied on wildlife films to showcase the country's landscape and environment, but there is clearly a growing desire to move beyond this and start to showcase Botswana's ability to create commercial drama and comedy. Many in the country have taken note of the massive success of Nigeria's Nollywood system, which releases thousands of low-budget films direct to DVD each year. Consequently, a number of Botswana film-makers have taken this route, and titles such as 'Rra Dijo' and 'Chobolo' have been reasonably successful, although Nollywood's products still dominate the industry. Even compared to Nollywood, Botswana's film productions are low budget, and they struggle to compete with other African productions. Nevertheless, the industry is still in its infancy in Botswana, and it's reasonable to assume that the country's film-makers will eventually produce a hit that can serve as a springboard for further production.

Nevertheless, if cinema is to become commercially viable and self-sufficient in Botswana it will need to be supported by existing media companies, at least for the next few years. Some have criticised Botswana Television (BTV) for failing to support the fledgling film industry, but BTV is itself still establishing itself and Botswana's films do not yet have the commercial weight required by the channel. Furthermore, the country's cinema owners don't believe they can make as much money from locally-produced films as they can from Nollywood and Hollywood releases. The country's problem, in terms of film-making, is not lack of talent but lack of money. Any nascent film industry needs to experiment, yet there is insufficient money in Botswana's industry to allow for the failures that are required during any learning process. Pascal Proctor notes that "film-makers in Botswana lack artistic freedom to follow their own initiatives. They spend their time chasing money-lenders and only making industrial films which slavishly follow the remit of industrial sponsors, or the endless HIV films made for NGO's" (UOB, 2005). However, it's likely to be only a matter of time before Botswana's film-makers are able to develop their own interests and attract the interest of local audiences.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Botswana Gazette (2009). 'Botswana Film Industry Ready To Go', in 'The Botswana Gazette', October 22nd 2009

Parsons, Neil (2008). What Chance of a Film Industry in Botswana?

UOB (2005). Film-Making in Botswana

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