Idris Elba says he plans to move to Africa to “strengthen the film industry.”
In a recent interview with the BBC, Elba revealed his plans to move to Africa within the next five to 10 years. Elba, the son of a Ghanaian mother and a Sierra Leone-born father, has already built film studios in Tanzania’s Zanzibar Islands and Accra, Ghana.
“It’s going to happen. God willing, I think I’ll be moving within the next five or 10 years. I’m here to strengthen the film industry, which is a 10-year process. But you can’t do that from abroad,” Elba said. “I need to be on the domestic continent.”
“I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown, I’m going to live in Zanzibar,” he continued.
“This sector is the soft power not just for all of Ghana but for all of Africa,” the actor added.
Elba, who played Nelson Mandela in the 2013 film “Long Walk to Freedom”, said he wanted to change the way Africa was portrayed on film.
“If you watch a movie or anything that has to do with Africa, all you see is trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonized, how it was just a war. , and if you come to Africa, you’ll be like this. Understand that’s not true,” Elba said.
“So it’s very important that we own the stories about our heritage, our culture, our language, the differences between one language and another,” he continued. “The world doesn’t know that.”
Black Information Network is your source for Black news. Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click here to join us live.
