There has been a growing global demand and production of African-themed films in recent years. Hollywood- produced movies like the lion king and black panther based on African culture have witnessed huge success which has drawn global attention to the local African cultural industry and it's entertainment sector.

Black actors are also getting empowered and accepted by the global movie industry unlike in the past where whites and fair-skinned individuals were allegedly given better and more prestigious roles. This has given hope to the emerging local actors hoping to make it big in the industry. 

However, the local movie industry is facing a serious crisis of lack of funding for their movie projects as an African movie rarely exceeds a budget of 500k dollars unlike their Hollywood counterparts who are well funded with movie budgets at times spanning millons of dollars. This has led to production of low quality movies despite the brilliant and well crafted movie plots. So, if there's to be a serious development of the African cinema, it has to start by giving the local filmmakers more financial support especially from the government and other bodies. 

And then we're aware that a good movie is a movie with a well written plot. So, this means that currently, one of the goal should be to produce screenwriters who have the capacity to curate plots for a global film audience. Nowadays, with the interconnection brought about by social media platforms, it's much easier for a screen writer to pitch their works and interact with other experienced writers from other parts of the world in exchanging of knowledge. A few platforms that promote interaction of screenwriters worldwide include LinkedIn and Stage32.

Furthermore, emphasis should be put on promoting the study of drama and film both in high school and University level. Currently in Uganda, the film schools offering bachelor's in film or Masters are less than three and high schools having acting classes are countable with the majority being too expensive to be afforded by working class Ugandans. However, those few schools with film classes are really trying their best though we expect more from them so as to propel the African cinema to the global stage.

In Africa, theatres are only limited to capital cities and major towns. This is reducing the ways filmmakers are able to make money for supporting and improving the movie industry. The local African cinema is a house with a small screen with no ability to pay any tax or revenue to the government and filmmakers. So, the local filmmakers now have to rely on other ways to make money from the industry. However, a few theatres like Theatre L'abonita and the main theater in Kampala have been of great value to both filmmakers, actors and playwrights across Uganda and Africa. If more of such theatres continue to be constructed, then the African cinema is sure to thrive.

In addition, although I haven't sent my screenplays for production yet, I suggest we as filmmakers should know our true value and learn to market our work. African filmmakers too are capable of winning Oscars . I really loved a Nollywood movie called "perfect marriage" and I believe such movies deserve better so long as filmmakers learn to market and submit their projects for awards like Oscars and Academy awards(better if more are added to African category).

So long as we all Steve to promote our local film industry, the African cinema is sure to soar higher.