Botswana’s television and film industry is definitely making meaningful strides towards a brighter future.
A month ago on the 22nd of September 2012 we saw the launch of the Botswana Independent Film Festival, which was held at Grand Palm were Botswana films, music videos, television adverts and television shows were showcased.
Our television and film industry is still very young compared to that of our neighbouring countries but we all understand that everything that is big now used to be small at some point, so we need to start small now so that we may be big and impactful tomorrow.
It always takes somebody to make the first move that will get the ball rolling and when looking at developed and well established film and television industries, such as those of countries like the USA and South Africa just to mention two, it becomes hard to imagine that some time back a small group of people or even one person started something that is now so huge and beneficial to the economies of these countries.
That is why I have so much respect for those individuals who use their time and efforts to bring to us events such as the Botswana Independent Film Festival as they are pioneering something that will benefit all of us in the long run.
Even more recently on the 20th of October 2012 we experienced the launch of a ground breaking television show at the New Capitol cinema in Riverwalk, Signed International. This show will be of a reality television style where we will see actors and actresses from across the country competing to be named and crowned the best actor/actress in the country.
The winner will then be signed to a very good and reputable artist management and creative talent agency in South Africa called Talent Etc, which manages celebrities such as Chris Beasley who plays Len Cooper in Isidingo, Marisa Drummond who plays Kimberly in Isidingo and many other celebrities, some of whom are presenters and recording artists.
So because of this television show, we should be looking forward to seeing one of our own having a professional acting career in South Africa and gaining enough experience and boldness in the television and film industry to join forces with people back here at home in fighting for a change in our own local industry, such that in the near future we can have professional actors/actresses getting jobs right here at home.
The growth of this industry will contribute a lot in reducing the levels of unemployment, especially among the youth of this nation. Currently, there are a lot of young people with university qualifications who are struggling to find employment; there are also those who were not able to make it into tertiary institutions and who are finding it difficult to get jobs and this makes the number of unemployed youth very high.
This gives me even more respect for individuals who take it upon themselves to invest their time and efforts into growing such industries of the arts because they contribute a lot to diversifying the economy and creating employment for those people who were not cut to follow corporate careers.
The Signed International show has a very exciting twist to it; it does not just search for the best of Botswana’s acting talent but it will also teach people a thing or two about fashion and style. It is the first television show in the country that will have a stylist dedicated to the looks of each and every person who will appear on their screen, ensuring that the entire show has a trendy and fashionable look.
So this show will not only appeal to people with a heart for acting but it will definitely appeal to fashion lovers as well, in a big way. This shows that the fashion industry can also benefit in a big way from the growth of the film and television industry.
So as the television and film industry grows, it offers a good platform from which our local fashion can be showcased and better appreciated. We have extremely talented fashion and accessory designers on our land, many of whom are not known and their talent does not bear much fruit financially due to lack of exposure and support, but by the look of things, all this will start to change for the better as people will start to appreciate our local designs better as they see them worn by their favourite presenters and actors.
I am very excited about the future of the arts in this country, a change for the better is definitely ongoing and it would be even sweeter to see more policies and initiatives taken up by our Government to support and grow the arts industries.
