Idris Elba: ‘I want to build the African Odeon’

Speaking at an SXSW London event, the actor outlined his desire to ignite the cinema experience for a new generation across the continent

Idris Elba has spoken of his ambition to create the “African Odeon” – a chain of cinemas to ignite the cinemagoing experience across the continent.

Elba was speaking at an event at SXSW London in which he spoke to host Clara Amfo in a session called Creativity as Capital for Change. In remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter and Screen, Elba said: “There’s a crazy number across the entire continent – less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas that you and I have grown up with. I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation. I don’t think it should all be on a phone.”

Elba added: “How do I do that? Building a model of data that shows that actually people do want to watch films, that they will enjoy the experience of theatre. I’m not going to try and boil the ocean, but it’s going to happen one bit at a time … Yeah man, I want to build the African Odeon.”

Elba, who was born in London to a Sierra Leonean father and a Ghanaian mother, has spoken previously about his ambitions to support the film industry in sub-Saharan Africa, saying in October: “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.” He is also part of a consortium developing an “eco city” on Sherbro Island in Sierra Leone.

In London, Elba mentioned an AI-powered app called Talking Scripts that turns written material into audio, aiming to help people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia, as well as a digital wallet he had co-founded, called Akuna Wallet, designed to help creatives send money across borders more easily than before.

He added: “Any film or piece of music that was made in the 80s was made on equipment less superior than your phone is now. These kids know that. They are making films, they are making songs on these devices. Ultimately, there is a wall when it comes to getting it out there and monetising it, [but] I think the confidence that Afrobeats, Nollywood, has given African creators, young creators, is huge.”

Cover photo:  Idris Elba at the Creativity as Capital for Change session at SXSW London. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images for SXSW London