Matam, Jan 21 (APS) – The director of the regional cultural center of Matam (north), Samba Kandé, pleaded, Tuesday, for the construction of a cultural complex and a cinema hall in the region, to help actors and directors to broadcast their productions.
“We call on the authorities, in particular the supervisory authority, to help the region have a cultural complex and local cultural infrastructure. A large cinema hall, for example, would help actors and directors broadcast their productions,” he said.
Speaking in an interview with APS, Mr. Kandé pointed out that the Matam region is full of young people who are active in film production.
He said many of them produce short and feature films in different locations in the region.
“Alongside these productions, films like +Demba+ and +Bamoum Nafi+ by Mamadou Dia have meant that the region is today experiencing growth in the field of cinema. Some just need support in material and financial means,” argued Samba Kandé.
He thus invited local authorities to support the regional cultural sector by investing in it, adding that cinema has “become the showcase of the region, an excellent lever which can boost local economic production”.
According to him, the seventh art allows us to better understand the regional cultural heritage.
The director of the Matam Regional Cultural Center emphasizes that he is working with director Baba Dia to set up a film club in all departments to broadcast Senegalese and African films.
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Samba Kandé did not fail to salute the various awards recently won by the film “Demba” by director Mamadou Dia.
This work won the Bronze Tanit at the Carthage Cinematographic Days (JCC), in Tunisia, and the Grand Prix du Nile at the 14th edition of the African Cinema Festival in Luxor, in Egypt.
The film has just been selected for the Gold Standard at the next Ouagadougou Pan-African Cinema and Television Festival (FESPACO) which will be held from February 22 to March 1, 2025.
“Demba”, filmed entirely in the commune of Matam, with local actors, will also be the only Senegalese production in the running for the Yennega Stallion, the supreme award.
“It is an honor for the entire Matam region. However, there is a paradox because alongside these performances, Matam does not even have cinemas. This constitutes an obstacle to the distribution of this film, as well as those produced by Senegalese and other African directors,” he lamented.
AT/SKS/MK/SBS/ABB