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    Focus on Africa's film industry grows

    DISCOP Zanzibar will take place alongside the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) that will run from the 7-15 July 2018, for its 21st edition. The inaugural DISCOP Zanzibar event will run from 11-13 July at the Verde Hotel outside Stone Town, Zanzibar.
    Zanzibar's famous Stone Town. © mirco1 via
    Zanzibar's famous Stone Town. © mirco1 via 123RF

    The partnership between ZIFF and DISCOP market organisers will see a larger focus on film within DISCOP Zanzibar, and also coincides with the announcement of two new categories of awards from ZIFF, Best TV Series and Best Web Series, reflecting the ever-increasing convergence of content across multiple platforms.

    The launch of DISCOP Zanzibar is part of a regionalisation process that will see the number of DISCOP markets aimed at sub-Saharan Africa’s booming entertainment content marketplace rise from currently two events a year, in Abidjan and Johannesburg, to four markets with the addition of Zanzibar and then Lagos as new DISCOP destinations.

    “Noticeable business trends already point to how massive home-grown content consumption, intra-African trade and regional cooperation will be the dominant forces in shaping the Continent’s entertainment marketplace,” says Patrick Zuchowicki, DISCOP founder and general manager.

    He added: “Holding a DISCOP market specifically targeting the East African media industry is key to the development of our brand.”   

    Major distributors as well as independents will be welcome with equal attention and participations options priced to make them as accessible as possible. DISCOP Zanzibar will also include a market component driven by pre-arranged meetings between key players driving Eastern Africa’s entertainment content development, production and distribution ecosystems.

    Noticeable business trends already point to how massive home-grown content consumption, intra-African trade and regional cooperation will be the dominant forces in shaping the continent’s entertainment marketplace.

    DISCOP Zanzibar will also host the sidebar NEXT GEN program, a permanent fixture of all DISCOP markets, featuring three stand-alone knowledge-transfer and pitching tracks: DISCOPRO, centred on regional and international coproduction opportunities; DISCORE, focused on the importance of music and sync deals within the content space; and DISCOMICS targeting the animation, special effects, comic books and video gaming sectors.

    Ethiopia will be honoured as DISCOP Zanzibar’s inaugural edition’s guest country in 2019. With a population of 100 million-plus and a booming economy, Ethiopia is now one of the promising newcomers in Africa’s film, television and online industries.

    An Early Bird 50% discount applied to all market badges will be available online via discop.com until 10 May 2018. Founded in 1991, DISCOP markets facilitate the growth of entertainment content business in fast-growing marketplaces where entertainment and media business is fueled by young demographics, fast adoption of new technologies, rising disposable income and the popularity and abundance of content from different cultural backgrounds. The first DISCOP in Africa was held in 2008 with 324 delegates involved in a nascent industry generating less than $1 BIL in consumer and advertising revenues.

    Since 2015 two permanent markets are held each year: DISCOP Abidjan taking place in May and targeting Francophone Africa, a vast region making up 57% of African states and positioning itself as the continent’s next growth frontiers. DISCOP Johannesburg took place in November and is already billed as the world’s biggest supermarket for entertainment content Made in Africa.

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