Idris Elba has said he is planning to move to Africa as part of his plans to bolster the sub-Saharan film industry, saying âitâs going to happenâ.
Elba, star of hit TV shows Luther and The Wire as well as films including Beasts of No Nation and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, spoke to the BBC while attending the Africa Cinema Summit in Accra, Ghana.
Having previously announced plans to build a film studio in Tanzania, Elba said that his ambitions for developing African film-making would require him to relocate. âItâs going to happen. I think [Iâll move] in the next five, 10 years, God willing. Iâm here to bolster the film industry â that is a 10-year process â I wonât be able to do that from overseas. I need to be in-country, on the continent.â
He added: âIâm going to live in Accra, Iâm going to live in [Sierra Leone capital] Freetown, Iâm going to live in Zanzibar. Iâm going to try and go where theyâre telling stories â thatâs really important.â
The London-born Elba, whose father was from Sierra Leone and mother from Ghana, is enthusiastic about the possibilities for film-making on the African continent. He told the BBC: âIf you watch any film or anything that has got to do with Africa, all youâre going to see is trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonised, how itâs just war and when you come to Africa, you will realise that itâs not true.
âSo, itâs 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 doesnât know that.â
Elba is also part of a consortium developing an âeco cityâ on Sherbro Island in Sierra Leone.
