Arusha . A new legislation for the film industry is in the offing, the minister for
Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye, has announced.
The new law would be enacted after the formulation of a policy for the sector
slated for the forthcoming 2016/2017 financial year.
The planned reforms aim to, among other things, protect copyrights of artistic
works by local artistes, including film makers and musicians.
The minister, who was speaking during an event organised here by Tanzanite
International Film Festival (TIFF), said the National Film Board also ought to be
overhauled.
His first task in reforming the sector would be finding out how local film
producers could benefit from opyrights of their artistic works, he said, as he
admitted that piracy of copyrights for the local film makers and musicians was
high and that that was the main concern for his ministry.
“Our artistes are simply exploited by syndicates of crooks”, he pointed out
during an event held at Mount Meru Hotel and attended by top artistes from
various regions.
He cited the case of the late Stephen Kanumba, a local film actor, who died
some four years ago, saying his family had not benefited anything from the
late actor’s performances now carried by various television stations and
documentary producers.
