Ghana’s Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) has started a distribution partnership with Majestic Cinemas, the Ivory Coast’s largest cinema chain, to expand the distribution of feature films between Francophone and Anglophone West Africa.

The deal also includes the cooperation of CINEKITA, one of the region’s top dubbing and subtitling houses, and the Nigerian studio Nile Group, led by Moses Babatope.

As part of the partnership, all three institutions will aid in the distribution of English-language African films to Francophone territories, while also reversing the flow by introducing French-language African films to English-speaking regions.

 The pact will work as a four-step process: The coalition of companies will be given a first look at all official selections of the Black Star International Film Festival. Selected films will be professionally dubbed and subtitled by CINEKITA. 

The Nile Group will handle distribution, while Majestic Cinemas will guarantee theatrical placement.

Lead representatives from the four companies have stated that they believe the distribution model could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue for the regional industry.

 The first film to be distributed under this model will be Son of the Soil, a collaboration between UK-Nigerian actor Raz Adoti and Hong Kong action director, Chee Keong Cheung. 

The English-language film is slated for a French-dubbed cinematic release across Francophone Africa in December.

The deal was announced during this year’s Black Star International Film Festival, which is held annually in September in Accra. This year’s edition marked the festival’s 10th anniversary.