Idris Elba to move to Africa to help grow film industry
Idris Elba has announced his plans to move to Africa to help strengthen the film industry on the continent. The 52-year-old star of popular TV series such as The Wire and Luther stated his intentions while attending the Africa Cinema Summit in Accra, Ghana.
Elba won a Golden Globe for his role as the eponymous murder detective in the hit series Luther. Furthermore, he has been nominated for six Emmys and three Baftas, including one for his performance in the 2015 war drama Beasts of No Nation, in which he played a West African warlord who leads a battalion of child soldiers. His other roles include box office hits like Prometheus, Pacific Rim, and Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw.
Now, while speaking to the BBC, Elba discussed his decision to relocate, saying, “I think [I’ll move] in the next five, 10 years, God willing.”
His plan is to help Africans tell their own stories instead of having outsiders project colonial ideas onto the continent. “If you watch any film or anything that has got to do with Africa,” he said, “[A]ll you’re going to see is trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonised, how it’s just war and when you come to Africa, you will realise that it’s not true.”
“So, it’s really important that we own those stories of our tradition, of our culture, of our languages, of the differences between one language and another. The world doesn’t know that,” Elba continued.
Given how vast and diverse the continent is, Elba stressed that he wouldn’t be settling down in just one country. “I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown [Sierra Leone’s capital], I’m going to live in Zanzibar,” he said. “I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories – that’s really important.”
Earlier this year, Elba announced his plans to build a film studio in Tanzania, a counterpoint to Nigeria’s burgeoning Nollywood industry which produces hundreds of movies each year. Based on his comments this week, however, it seems that Elba has decided to throw more than his financial backing into the project.
“I’m here to bolster the film industry,” he said. “That is a 10-year process – I won’t be able to do that from overseas. I need to be in-country, on the continent.”
The move adds to the actor’s already packed agenda in the coming years. He’s set to direct and star in two upcoming films, an action thriller about a human rights activist and a sci-fi thriller set in space. He’s also slated to appear in an upcoming Kathryn Bigelow drama set in the White House as well as the third instalment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
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