One of Africa's leading film directors accused Hollywood yesterday of exploiting the continent as a film set and damaging the home-grown movie industry.
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Mahamat Saleh Haroun, whose film Abouna won critical praise in 2002, highlighted George Lucas's Star Wars series in a scathing critique of how the continent has been misrepresented on celluloid.
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Lucas has returned repeatedly to the desert in Tunisia and Morocco since 1977 to provide the setting for the mythical planet Tattooine. Haroun, who has previously complained about the financing and distribution problems of the indigenous industry, claimed the films prevented African directors from doing their own work.
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"Africa is just a location for Star Wars," Haroun told the BBC World Service's Africa Live programme. "Friends of mine, directors in Morocco and Tunisia, became just assistants to Hollywood. They came there and made their movies, and these guys stopped making movies. "If we see images from the outside, so we also need to see our images. That's the problem. You just try to make a good job and try to distribute it to where people colonise use by images."
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Alan Morrison, reviews editor of Empire magazine, said yesterday that big-budget Hollywood filming on locations outside the United States had provided a financial fillip to the local industry. "You can't say the entire continent's film industry is suffering because they have got a bit of work thrown their way by George Lucas," he said.
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Read the full story here
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Mahamat Saleh Haroun, whose film Abouna won critical praise in 2002, highlighted George Lucas's Star Wars series in a scathing critique of how the continent has been misrepresented on celluloid.
«
Lucas has returned repeatedly to the desert in Tunisia and Morocco since 1977 to provide the setting for the mythical planet Tattooine. Haroun, who has previously complained about the financing and distribution problems of the indigenous industry, claimed the films prevented African directors from doing their own work.
«
"Africa is just a location for Star Wars," Haroun told the BBC World Service's Africa Live programme. "Friends of mine, directors in Morocco and Tunisia, became just assistants to Hollywood. They came there and made their movies, and these guys stopped making movies. "If we see images from the outside, so we also need to see our images. That's the problem. You just try to make a good job and try to distribute it to where people colonise use by images."
«
Alan Morrison, reviews editor of Empire magazine, said yesterday that big-budget Hollywood filming on locations outside the United States had provided a financial fillip to the local industry. "You can't say the entire continent's film industry is suffering because they have got a bit of work thrown their way by George Lucas," he said.
«
Read the full story here
