The African Audio Visual & Cinema Commission (AACC)

The African Audio Visual and Cinema Commission (AACC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union established by a Statute approved by the 32nd African Union Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 2019.

This African Union specialised agency was established upon the request of the continent’s cinema and audio visual experts to the 3rd African Union Assembly held in Maputo, Mozambique in July 2003 in order to coordinate the film and audio visual industry sector and ensure that it contributes fully to the continent’s creative economy. The establishment of the AACC was spearheaded by the Government of the Republic of Kenya, the AU Commission and the Pan-African Federation of Film Makers (FEPACI).

The Republic of Kenya has offered to host the Temporary Secretariat of the AACC which will oversee the process of ratification of the instrument as well as the operationalisation of this important continental institution that will promote the development and growth of the creative economy

The Statute of the AACC shall enter into force upon the receipt by the AU Commission of the 15th instrument of ratification. To date no Member State has yet signed or ratified the AACC Statute.

Mandate of the AACC

The AACC shall be responsible for the promotion of rapid development and strengthening of the African audio-visual and cinema industry, and shall encourage the establishment of appropriate structures at the national, regional and continental levels to strengthen cooperation between African states in the area of audio-visual and cinema.

The AACC shall also, through the use of audio-visual and cinematic expressions, promote job creation, integration, solidarity, respect of values and mutual understanding in order to foster peace and promote a positive image of Africa.

Functions of AACC

Archiving and Research
1. Promote research on the African Audio-visual and Cinema industry in close collaboration with various research institutions;

2. Collate, disseminate and archive the results of audio-visual cinematic research;

3. Promote and encourage State Parties to take all measures for protecting and archiving programmes for national film and audio-visual materials, and retrieving those held in foreign lands;

4. Facilitate the establishment and where appropriate the exchange of information relating to African audio-visual and cinematographic works held in data banks, archives, directories of national and international audio visual products, films and filmmakers, film training institutions and financers;

5. Promote collection, archiving and dissemination of documentation of oral African literature and knowledge using audio-visual and cinematic expressions, television and moving images;

Financing
6. Ensure and fast track the establishment of the African Audio-visual and Cinema Fund for sustainable financing of the audio-visual and cinema value chain;

Pan-Africanism, Integration, and Positive Image
7. Recommend such agreements as necessary to enhance the capacity of AU Member States to collaborate in developing, streamlining and promoting audio-visual and cinema industry policies;

8. Encourage the signing of cooperation treaties that would enhance the movement of filmmakers across African borders and exchange of programmes;

9. Strengthen regional African structures to appreciate the role of film in economic and social development;

10. Work to enhance African centeredness in film, promote the positive image of the continent, re-define relations between African audio-visual and cinema and other expression from the rest of the world;

11. Elaborate a cinematic atlas of Africa; exposing, reawakening, and repositioning, the different milieu of African film;

12. Contribute to the popularization of the cinema culture particularly among African youth;

Training, Technical Assistance & Policy Dialogue
13. Facilitate harmonisation of training curricula to reflect high quality film production and seek its adaptation by training institutions across Africa; and encourage establishment of regional film schools.

14. Promote the use of African audio visual and cinema as a medium of instruction and as a subject of study in educational institutions;

15. Foster capacity and talent development, training and certification in African Film industry in order to ensure higher quality of film productions.

16. Assist and offer advisory services to Member States on auditing national film support structures, including ensuring that national licensed broadcasters carry African content;

17. Provide technical support and advisory services to Member States for the formulation and implementation of audio-visual and cinema policy, particularly in the establishment and/or development of national structures for the promotion of African audio-visual and cinematic expressions;

Jobs, Incomes and Statistics
18. Encourage Member States to capture and store social and economic data on film and audio-visual industry showing jobs created, capital formation, and contribution to sustainable and inclusive economic growth;

Distribution
19. Encourage the creation of Pan African television, digital, and other networks to promote African perspectives;

20. Promote distribution of African films throughout the continent and internationally;

21. Support national institutions responsible for broadcasting and content distribution to ensure that African Broadcasters (Public and Private) and other content distributors invest resources into researching African stories and commissioning film makers to produce films and ensure effective and profitable distribution of the films;

22. Encourage all Member States’ broadcasters, cinema and movie theatres, and all other content delivery channels including mobile phones, video on demand and online streaming services to carry a minimum of seventy percent (70%) African content in all their programming with special emphasis on prime time.

Intellectual Property Protection, Rights of Authors, and Fight against Piracy
23. Promote the protection of indigenous knowledge and of existing African oral and written folklore both at the national and continental levels; promote the protection of the rights of authors

24. Support the protection of intellectual property rights with due regard to existing frameworks on the harmonisation of standards and legislation;

25. Perform such other functions as are consistent with the promotion of African cinematic expressions and products