Joyah set for film distribution experiment
The growing demand to have his film productions on the market has forced filmmaker Charles Shemu Joyah to come up with an ‘experimental’ selling mechanism.
The filmmaker has since disclosed that he will soon bring his productions on the market by selling online links using the vimeol platform.
“I want to call this an experiment for now. It is something that I have been contemplating on for a while, but the need has been heightened by the pressure that I am getting from people. The price will not be as exorbitant because I look at it as an opportunity for Malawians to make their contribution to the industry,” said Joyah.
He also said he will deploy a number of security features such as disabling the download facility and changing the password every week to prevent people from sharing the content with their friends.
Joyah said the first movie to be accessed through this method will be Seasons of a Life since two of his other productions The Road To Sunrise and The Last Fishing Boat are under contract with a French distribution company, Trace Global.
He said: “I have written the company to check the possibility of allowing us to sell the two productions as well given our contract agreement. If it does not work now, then the films will be on the market by the end of July when the contract winds up.”
Joyah is one of the film producers whose productions are not accessible on the local market or any online platforms.
His plan comes against the background of a recent revelation by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) that they are engaging Google to have the Malawian YouTube channel monetised as is the case in other countries.
In an interview yesterday, Macra director general Daud Suleman said they are hopeful that google will act upon their request soon.
“It is not just about having the channel monetised. There are several issues on the platform that we need to be looked at. There are issues such as accessing the premium services and the YouTube children channel which is not accessible now. We are having another meeting with them soon,” he said.
Recently, a number of filmmakers have departed from the long-standing tradition of keeping their productions under key and they have shared them on YouTube most notable the now trending movie School Days, All We Have Is Us and Sowing Seeds.
