British actor Idris Elba has revealed plans to settle in Africa in the next decade to aid the African movie industry to excel by creating contents that could positively sell African tales.
He also declared intentions to build a film studio in Accra, the Capital of Ghana and on the Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar.
The 52-year-old star of the hit series “The Wire” stated in a media interview that it was time for him to honor his African heritage.
“I would certainly consider settling down here; not even consider, it’s going to happen. I think [I’ll move] in the next five, 10 years, God willing.
I’m here to bolster the film industry – 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,” he said.
Born in London to a Ghanaian mother and a Sierra Leonean father, Elba explained that he would not just be based in one country but hopes to live in Zanzibar, Accra and Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
“I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories – that’s really important,” he said.
Elba, who played South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Long Walk to Freedom, drummed home the need for Africans to be centre-stage in the entire film-making process.
He therefore expressed commitment to turning around the negative African stories portrayed in the Western media for Africans to tell their own narrative.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
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