Francophonie: Cultural diversity in digital age, challenges and opportunities

“It is a priority for the OIF,” said Nivine Khaled, Director of the French Language and the Diversity of Francophone Cultures at the OIF, host of the day. She was speaking when the institution opened its doors to the public to mark the traditional International Day of La Francophonie on March 20. This date refers to the birth, on March 20, 1970 in Niamey, Niger, of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT), which became the Intergovernmental Agency of La Francophonie (AIF) in 1998 and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) in 2005. In order to combat the monopoly of thought, the OIF is committed to promoting diversity, at least within its own territory.

“The common thread of the day will be the promotion and enhancement of cultural diversity, which is at the heart of our organization’s priorities”

That space, let us remember, counts “321 million French speakers, billions of cultural contents”, the theme of the 2023 International Day of the Francophonie. An invitation “not only to celebrate creativity, but also to increase its visibility on the web, through a Canadian concept that the organization intends to promote, that of “discoverability”.

“The common thread of this day will be the promotion and enhancement of cultural diversity, which is at the heart of our organization’s priorities,” said Nivine Khaled, introducing the first panel of the day, “Challenges of creativity and dissemination in the digital age”.

“The digital revolution, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leads us to rethink advocacy for cultural diversity in the digital age, with new tools, including the discoverability of cultural content”

That is the whole point of this panel discussion,” she said. We are also very attentive to the fact that CCIs are a source of wealth and creativity in the countries of the South, levers for the creation of economic wealth and jobs, particularly among young people. This is what we want to work on. By adapting to the upheavals underway, particularly those brought about by the advent of digital technology. “The digital revolution, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is leading us to rethink advocacy for cultural diversity in the digital age, with new tools, including the discoverability of cultural content,” Nivine Khaled further says.

This principle is now part of the IOF’s roadmap, notably in its digital strategy adopted in 2021, as well as in the declaration on the French language adopted in November 2022 at the Djerba summit.

“The Internet and digital technology are not magic. It’s a wild world where you have to develop strategies to be visible”

One of its tools is the TV5+ Francophonie Fund. “Launched in 2021, it supports film and audiovisual productions from the South so that they can be shown exclusively on the TV5+ platform,” explains Hélène Zemmour, Digital Director at TV5 Monde. The fact is that the advent of digital technology has not led to the democratization of cultural diversity. “Digital technology is currently concentrated on the market giants, on a very Anglophone market consisting mainly of American blockbusters, and on pay TV, which will concentrate a large part of the content and visibility on the Internet. Once this observation is made, how to diversify is what we are working on. This concept of discoverability is an opportunity,” says Hélène Zemmour. She urges producers to innovate, including in terms of format, and recommends “bringing back the human element and editing content to reach new audiences”. Before reminding: “The Internet and digital technology are not magic. It’s a wild world where we have to develop strategies to be visible. This is what TV5 Monde, with its forty years of experience and the resources available to it, is proposing with the TV5+ platform, among others.

“How can a Cameroonian viewer see a Vietnamese film? It’s almost impossible. And the reverse is even more true”

“It’s a big challenge to compete with the giants that have cornered a large part of the market, Amazon, Netflix,” confirms Sylvain Garel, historian and film critic in charge of promoting French-speaking cinema at the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF). One way of responding to this is to invite the public back to the cinema. “There is a lot of work to be done to bring the public back to the cinema. This is beginning to happen in France and Canada. But it is obviously more difficult in countries where there are few cinemas. In African cities, Canal+ and others are developing cinemas, but they mainly show American blockbusters. How can a Cameroonian audience see a Vietnamese film? It is almost impossible. And the reverse is even more true,” he adds.

As an alternative, film festivals “do not respond to a commercial approach”. Sylvain Garel also points out that “it is not a problem of production (the French-speaking world produces almost 500 feature films a year), but a problem of distribution. He adds: “The francophone countries must unite and resist. This is a very important issue for the 21st century.

“This requires a political and public effort,” argues Saïd Hamich, a Franco-Moroccan director and producer. He also refers to image building: “Netflix is not interested in sub-Saharan Africa, apart from Nigeria, because it is a small market.”

“Digital technology offers, especially for the countries of the South, the advantage of being able to make new proposals”

“If the debate on quotas, subsidies and other policies continues to divide the sector, the arrival of streaming platforms has changed the situation in the music industry,” explains Alain Bidjeck, founder of Mocca. The event is both a festival and a convention dedicated to African cultures, in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture, to promote new African cultural productions. “The emergence of Spotify has imposed a model of partnership with record companies. Today, streaming represents 60% of the music industry and no one complains about piracy anymore,” says Alain Bidjeck. The fact remains that “for the time being, Africa only accounts for 70 million in streaming revenues. That is nothing, but it is a market of the future,” he further said. He added: “Digital technology offers the advantage, especially for countries in the South, of being able to make new offers. He cites the example of “Deedo, a young streaming platform in Senegal that allows us to diversify and offer catalogues that are less exposed to the mainstream, such as local music.”

Source: Africa News Agency