English

Bamanakan

Home

About UCECAO

Beaune To Bamako

Newsletter

National Offices

Professionals contact book

Partners & links

Contact us

A propos de l'UCECAO :

Presentation

Goals and Objectives

Organisation & Structures

Charter of UCECAO

Rules of procedure

Presentation

Image is a medium, i.e a way of forwarding values and history, the key components of what Thomas Sankhara called "your most precious good": Culture

"Further its economic aspect, albeit it is an absolute necessaty for its vialbility, cinema and audiovisual are tools which make possible for mankind to communicate, to know, understand and love each others. Then cinema can bring together peoples, and then strengthen peace and stability"

The Union of West African Cinema and Audiovisual Designers and Entrepreneurs was created by the Constitutive General Assembly of january the 13th and 14th in Bamako. Representatives of 16 countries took part in this meeting: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap Vert, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea (Bissau), Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

UCECAO's president is the Malian film maker Souleymane Cissé

For ten years now the organisation gathers film makers, technicians, actors and economic stakeholder in order to develop every parts of the industry.

Such development needs a real political support, that is why UCECAO aims to lobby government and international organisations.

Such develoment needs skilled workers, that is why UCECAO supports training by organising internships and exchanges programs within the subregional space.

Such development needs to set structures all along the value chain, that is why UCECAO supports improvement of existing theatres, re-opening of the closed ones, and creation of new ones. UCECAO is also acting toward economic investors.

Goals and Objectives:

At the time when the world has just celebrated the hundreth anniversary of the invention of cinematograph, the current status of african cinema inspires many interrogations.

In addition, no period can be more doom than the one we are living currently, which is characterised by a vacuum both at the level of production and distribution and exploitation. That is why UCECAO goals and objectives are:

Regading Production :

Establishment of a national structure with an authority in charge of the management of cinema and audiovisual production whose tasks will be the following :

. Redefinition of a true cinema policy.

. Adoption and application of a cinema and audiovisual production code.

. Management of a national cinema library for the safeguard of audiovisual archives.

. Participation in the setting-up of a national ticket management office.

. Control and management of this ticket management office.

Setting-up conditions promoting the birth of a national cinematograph among which :

. Insciption of the cinema component in the investment code so as to benefit from land tax exemptions conditions.

. Suppression of taxes on african films.

Establisment of a support fund to cinematographic industry to be supplied among other sources by :

. A tax on the films projected as a whole (it should be noted that african films are exempted from this tax).

. A levy from the price of each cinema entrance ticket.

. A tax on the turnover of the video sector (rent and sale of video casettes, video-clubs and video-projections).

Considering cinema as a cultural industry.

Inscription of cinema in the programme of the 8th European Development Fund as part of the priorities of national indicative programmes and the regional programme.

Signature of inter-states coproduction protocols of agreements within the sub-region.

More participation of states in cinematographic production.

Greater and judicious use of technical and human potentialities available in our countries.

Involvement of our states in the search for flexible conditions for the use of foreign fundings.

A recommendation to our governments to incite the bank sector to support cinema and audiovisual production through the establisment of a guaranty fund.

Need for collaboration between television and cinema in film co-production and promotion. A financial intervention in favour of cinema and audiovisual production by foreign rebroadcasting companies is advisable.

Search for higher study scholarships for cinema and audiovisual production.

Organisation of training and refreshing sessions at sub-regional level.

Establisment of a regional distribution and exploitation structure with a national unit the capital of which will be opened to all professions of cinematographic and audiovisual industry (finding a private alternative to the late CIDC which will be an associate member of ECOWAS).

Each state should schedule the production of audiovisual documents accompanying the execution of its great actions.

It would be also advisable to prepare a document, " an identity card " reflecting the economic and cultural potentialities of the country. The production of these documents will be commissionned to national productors.

Regarding Distribution and Exploitation :

The Symposium recommends :

The setting-up and rational organisation of a regional distribution and exploitation structure including :

Distribution :

. A central film bying house with obtention of rights for a duration exceding at least 4 years.

. A coherent channel for the dispatching and material circulation of films, taking into consideration of the geographic position of states on the one hand, and the return cost of operations on the other hand.

. A reliable system of centralisation of global receipts will be instructed to the structure in charge of procedind to the distribution of quotas.

Setting-up as soon as possible, a control of receipts essentially based on the effective functioning of a ticket management office in each state in close collaboration with cinema professionals.

Exploitation :

Complete renovation of existing cinama halls, re-opening of closed halls, extension of national parks of halls througn the establishment of new ones, especially Art halls and cine-clubs.

Modernisation of projection cabins and replacement of obsolete ones by new cabins or rehabilited cabins.

Sensitisation of concerned authorities for the revival of african cinema, mainly through the setting-up and adequate functioning of professional structures, notably by involving our states in the search for facilitation of the use of foreign fundings.

Establishment, during this meeting, of an inter-african regional structure to be in charge of defending the political and moral interests of professionals for the distribution and exploitation of cinema and audiovisual production.

Finding study, training or refreshing scholarships for cinema halls managers, maintenance technicians and projectioners.

To allow for a rapid finalisation of this projet, it is essential to proceed to faisability, reliability and profitability studies.

Organisation & Structures :

ORGANISATION

Ucecao's organisation is based on the followings structures and institutions.

STRUCTURES

Au niveau de chaque état membre de l'UCECAO la structure retenue est le regroupement des professionnels du cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel du Pays concernées ce regroupement a pour tache de

Regrouper les professionnels du cinéma du Pays,
Faire l'état des lieux du cinéma du pays et dégager des propositions de solutions valables pour l'ensemble de la sous région
animer la structure du pays et veiller à la mise en œuvre des politiques sectoriels les retenues par l'UCECAO.

INSTITUTIONS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

It is the UCECAO supreme institution

It is composed by representatives of every countries were UCECAO is present. Its missions are :

To define UCECAO orientation

To modify if needed the charter and rules of procedure

To vote the budget

THE COUNCIL

The council regroups the central office's members and one representative for each country. The council gathers once a year. His missions are:

To control the good application of the GA decisions

To decide on the important topics between two GA

CENTRAL OFFICE AND NATIONAL OFFICES

The central office is composed by 5 members (cf charter, art. 24) elected by the GA. The central is responsible for the good application of the GA decisions. It is also in charge of coordinate the national offices.

The national offices are in charge of the local Ucecao actions

CONTROL & EVALUATION

The General Assembly, the Council and the central office have to control and evaluate the Ucecao's actions.

HUMAN RESSOURCES

Ucecao's activties are supported by executives from various specialities: Filmmakers, economist, journalist, marketing, lawyers.

Efforts of the Mali government helped to improve the central office management and performance.

Ucecao has many partnerships with various international organisations. These are:

African Union, European Union, UNESCO, PNUD, UEMOA, CEDEAO, African Bank for Development

UCECAO CHARTER

PREAMBLE

- Considering the relevant provisions of the Charter of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity).
- Considering the REVISED TREATY of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) especially in its article 62, paragraph b stipulating : " The Member-States committ themselves to promote, develop and if necessary promote the production, dissemination and exploitation of structures and mechanisms of cultural industries.".
- Considering the Statutes of FEPACI adopted at the Vth Congress of FEPACI on February 21-27 1993 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
- Considering that governments should not withdraw themselves totally from the cinema and audio visual production sector.
- Considering the current status of african cinema :
* closing of cinema halls,
* low profitability of african films,
* low production,
* lack of collaboration between television and cinema in african countries,
* lack of regulation and code for cinematography and audio-visual production in countries,
* gradual desinvolvement of Member-States from the production, distribution and dissemination of picture productions,
* lack of collaboration between the various economic activity sectors of cinema (producers, distributors, managers and disseminators) in order to set up cinematographic cultural industry in the countries.
Aware of the need to set up some structures that can contribute to the emergence of cinematographic and audio-visual cultural industries.
The professionals of cinema and audio-visual production of ECOWAS member countries( film makers, producers, distributors, cinema hall managers, T.V. broadcasters, art loving people) meeting in a symposium in March 1996 in Bamako, Mali, have decided the following.

TITLE 1 : ESTABLISHMENT
Article 1 :
It is established between the film makers and professionals of cinema and audio-visual ptoduction of ECOWAS a union called UCECAO "Union of creators and entrepreneurs of cinema and audio-visual production.
UCECAO is established for economic, scientific and cultural goals.
Article 2 :
UCECAO is a legal entity.
Article 3 :
The headquarters of UCECAO is located in Bamako in the Republic of Mali.
It can be transferred to any other member country of ECOWAS.

TITLE II : GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Chapter I : GOALS

Article 4 :
The goals of UCECAO are defined as follows :
A) To bring together professionals of cinema and audio-visual production of ECOWAS : creators, film makers, producers, promoters, distributors, cinema hall managers,
broadcasters on hertz waves and any other current and future broadcasting device, specialised journalists.
B) To devote itself to the development of cultural industry, cinema and audio-visual production and more specifically of african cinema.
C) To initiate and strengten partnership between film makers, producers, distributors and managers of cinema and audio-visual production of ECOWAS, notably:

1) As regards setting-up the cinema and audiovisual production industry :
- establishment of a national structure charged with the management of cinema and audio-visual production in each country with among other tasks, the preparation of a code for cinematographic and audio-visual industry and its effective application and harmonisation.
- harmonisation of cinematographic legislations in member countries
- establishment of a support fund
- incitation of the bank sector to imply itself in the funding of the cinema and audio-visual industry
- incitation of countries inscribe cinema and audio-visual production in their investment codes and the priotities of national indicative programmes with international institutions.

2) As regards production :

- Signature of a co-production protocol of agreement between ECOWAS Member-States so that producers can have access to regional funds provided by international donors.

3) As regards distribution, management and broadcasting :

- set up a centralised national ticket issueing center in each country with related measures beneficial for all activity sectors of cinema.
- collaboration between television and cinema for the promotion and dissemination of african films.
- establishment of an agency for the sale of african films to television offices. Each country has a representation, in pursuance of the revised TREATY of ECOWAS in its article 65, paragraph b which specifies : " encourage at regional level, the establishment of programme exchange centres or strengthen those existing. ".

4) As regards training

- promote the training of youth in the various professions of audio-visual production
- organise refresher training sessions and seminars for professionals

Chapter 2 : OBJECTIVES

Article 5
The objectives of UCECAO are defined as follows :
- Total renovation of existing cinema halls, re-opening of halls closed, and the creation of new halls.
- Organisation of inter-african cinematographic events.
- De-taxation and free circulation of african films in ECOWAS countries.
- Incitation of economic operators to invest in the development of the cinema and audio-visual industry.
- Emergence of a new generation of agents for the cinema and audio-visual industry.
- Establisment of a cinema and audio-visual production house in each member-state.

TITLE III : ADHESION

Article 6
Adhesion to UCECAO is free. It concerns professionals of cinema, audio-visual production and economic operators of the picture professions.

Article 7
UCECAO is composed by active members, associate members and honour members.

Article 8
Are active members :
the professionals, entrepreneurs and creators of cinema and audio-visual industries, the economic operators of the picture professions who endorse the present charters.

Article 9
Are associate members :
cinema, audio-visual and television national organisations, african national or international cultural organisations which are sponsored by an active member of UCECAO.

Article 10
Are honour members:
all Member-States of ECOWAS and personalities who bring a moral or material contribution to african cinema and audio-visual production.

TITLE IV : UCECAO BODIES

Article 11
UCECAO includes bodies and structures

Chapter 1 : THE BODIES

Article 12
UCECAO bodies are:
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
THE COUNCIL

Section 1 : THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY (GA)

Article 13
The General Assembly is the highest body of UCECAO.

Article 14
The General Assembly is made up of representatives of each member country of ECOWAS.
The number of representatives is fixed to five by country. Each corporation of cinema and audio-visual is represented therein.

Article 15
The General Assembly meets once every two years upon convocation of the central bureau.
However an extraordinary assembly can be held upon convocation of the Council.

Article 16
The General Assembly :
- defines the orientations of UCECAO
- adopts and modifies, if necessary the charter and rules of procedure
- proceeds to the set up of structures
- adopts the functioning budget.

Section 2 : THE COUNCIL

Article 17
The Council is the intermediate body between two General Assemblies. (GA).

Article 18
The Council is charged with:

a) ensuring the application and execution of decisions made by the G.A.

b) settling all emergency matters related to the normal fuctioning between two meetings of the G.A.

c) taking the great disciplinary decisions (warning-suspension).

Article 19
The Council is membered by :
- one delegate by country
- members of the central bureau
However, members of the central bureau do not participate in the polls of the Council. The Council elects its chairmanamong its members.

Article 20
The Council meets once a year upon convocation of its chairman. However the Council may meet in extra ordinary session at the request of 2/3 of its members.

Chapter 2 : THE STRUCTURES

Article 21
- The structures of UCECAO are:
- the CENTRAL BUREAU
- the NATIONAL BUREAUX

Section 1 : THE CENTRAL BUREAU

Article 22
The CENTRAL BUREAU is the executive body of UCECAO bodies

Article 23
The C.B. is charged with facilitating and co-ordinating activities of national bureaux.

Article 24
The Central Bureau is composed of :
- the Chairman
- the Executive Secretary,in charge of information, communication and training
- the Executive Secretary, in charge of distribution, exploitation and dissemination
- the General Treasurer.
- It is elected for 2 years by the GA.

Section 2 : THE NATIONAL BUREAUX

Article 25
UCECAO is represented in each member country of ECOWAS by a national bureau.

Article 26
The National Bureau ensures the facilitation, follow-up and implementation of all the sector policies developed by UCECAO bodies.

Article 27
The composition of the national bureau is left to the appreciation of national active members.

TITLE V : RIGHTS AND DUTIES

Article 28
Adhesion to UCECAO bestows some rights to its members and submits them to some duties

Chapter 1 : RIGHTS

Article 29
Any active member of the Union has the right to :
- Be elector and eligible to all responsibility positions in bodies and structures of the Union
- Express freely his/her ideas
- Issue constructive criticisisms to the Union
- Have himself/herself informed on the life of the Union
- Benefit from the Union support for the efficient assuming of his/her professional activities.

Chapter 2 : RIGHTS

Article 30
Any member of the Union has the duty to :
- Pay regularly his/her contributions
- Participate in all meetings of the Union
- Struggle actively to safeguard the achievements of the Union
- Respect and make respect the Charter and Rules of procedure of the Union
- Ensure that the objectives of the Union are achieved
- Work to strengthen the moral, economic and political authority of the Union
- Know and make known the progammes of the Union
- Work in his/her country for the promotion of regulations on cinema and audio-visual industry
- Promote the support of his/her government for subventions to professionals, creators and entrepreneurs of cinematographic and audio-visual industry
- Work for the strengthening of relationships between professionals of cinema and audio-visual production within ECOWAS.
- Promote the circulation of information inside and outside the Member-States.

Article 31
Any active member who is duly reported for being guilty of serious default subject to the sanctions provided by the rules of procedure of the Union.

TITLE VI : RESSOURCES

Article 32
The resources of the Union are constituted by :
- contributions of its active members
- contributions of associate members
- subscriptions
- gifts, subventions, donations and aids
- resources generated by its services.

Article 33
The payment of contributions can be demanded at the beginning of the official year.

Article 34
The budget and accounts of the Union are prepared in the currency of the country hosting UCECAO. The Union can keep bank accounts in any currency the use of which would be judged necessary by the central bureau.

Article 35
Members' contributions and various contributions are payed to the account of the Union in banks retained by the General treasurer in agreement with the Central Bureau.

Article 36
UCECAO is responsible for its committments to third parties in the limits of its total ,assets.

Article 37
The financial year begins on january 1st and ends on december 31st of the same year.

TITLE VII : DISSOLUTION

Article 38
The dissolution entails the immediate and final discontinuation of all activities of the Union.

Article 39
The dissolution is pronounced by the General Assembly of its active members. It can be effective only if the majority of 3/4 of its members express their votes.

Article 40
The General Assembly is convened for the dissolution of the Union by the bureau of the Council of the Union or by the 3/4 of national bureaux.

Article 41
The modalities for the liquidation of the Union are defined by the rules of procedure.

RULES OF PROCEDURE

CHAPTER I : GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 1 :

The object of the present RULES OF PROCEDURE is to specify and complement the CHARTER of the Union of Creators and Entrepreneurs of Cinema and Audio-Visual Production of West Africa (UCECAO).

Article 2

UCECAWA is an economic, social and cultural organisation.
It gathers professionals of cinema, audio-visual and economic operators of the pictures industry.
Each adherent should act with a view to achieving the goals and objectives of UCECAO.

CHAPTER II : MEMBERSHIP

Article 3

The membership of a professional or entrepreneur as active member is obtained directly by himself. He sends an application to the Chairman of his National Bureau who aknowledges receipt and immediately informs the Central Bureau of UCECAO.

Article 4

Can be admitted as an active member of UCECAO any professional or entrepreneur officially recognised as such by the National Bureau of his country.

Article 5

The Union can admit as associate member any audio-visual organisation, any national or international cultural organisation whose objectives are in conformity with UCECAO objectives.
The membership of an associate member must be recommended by a National Bureau and submitted to the General Assembly for appreciation.

The decision of the General Assembly in this respect is obtained through the majority of votes expressed.

Article 6

Can be co-opted as an honour member of UCECAO any legal or moral entity who has brought to african cinema and audio-visual production a moral or material contribution duly recognised by the General Assembly.

The ECOWAS States are automatically recognised as honour members.

CHAPTER III : RESOURCES

Article 7

The resources of the Union are constituded by :

* contributions of its active members;
* contributions of associate members;
* subscriptions;
* donations, subventions, gifts and aids;
* resources generated by its activities.

Article 8

The regulatory contribution of active members is stated to five thousands ( 5000) CFA francs a month, or 60 000 (60 000) CFA francs a year to be however paid either on a quarterly or a halfyearly basis.

Article 9

40% of the resources of the National Bureau are transfered to the Central Bureau.

CHAPTER IV : DISCIPLINE AND SANCTIONS

The disciplinary principles of the Union are :

SECTION I : Discipline

Article 10 :

Anylegal entity , any organisation having adhered to UCECAO must comply by the discipline of the Union and apply the decisions taken by the higher bodies.
SECTION II : SANCTIONS

Article 11

According to the failures, sanctions may be :
Depending on infractions, the sanctions may be as follows :

a) regarding the structures :

- warning
- blame
-destitution and replacement by a provisional structure

b) regarding a member :

- warning
- blame
- suspension
- exclusion

Article 12

The destitution, replacement of a structure and the suspension of an active member are in the responsibility of the Union council.

Article 13

Warning, blame both for a structure and a member are pronounced by the structure directly superior.

Article 14

The exclusion of an active member of the Union is pronounced by the General Assembly following directions given by the Council.

CHAPTER V :

ATTRIBUTIONS OF THE UCECAO STRUCTURES

SECTION I : CENTRAL BUREAU

Article 15

The Chairman has moral and legal responsibility for the Union. He fulfills on its behalf any act that can committ it.

He is the custodian of all texts concerning the organisation and functioning of the Union.

He looks at the application of decisions and recommendations made by the bodies of the Union.

He co-ordinates and supervises the overall activities of the Central Bureau.

He prepares the meetings of the General Assembly and the council.

He facilitates and co-ordinates the work of national bureaux.

He can confide specific tasks to a National Bureau, a competent association or to an active member of the Union.

He is assisted by an administrative staff agreed by the Central Bureau and placed
under his responsibility.

He passes account for payment for the Union up to an amount of Five millions
(5 000 000) CFA francs beyond which joint signature with the general treasurer is demanded.

Article 16

The Executive Secretary, in charge of production, information and broadcast proceeds with :

- the collection and identification of all information relative to the organisation of the production which is likely to help cinema and audio-visual professionals;

- the dispatching, follow-up and execution of programmes aiming at the promotion of cinema and audio-visual production;
- the promotion and management of relationships between all cultural events in the world in order to strengthen the presence of african films;

- the dissemination of any information useful for the secretariats of national associations, film makers, professionals, entrepreneurs and creators of cinema and audio- visual production;

- the preparation and broadcast of documents, bulletins and other information periodics issued by the Central Bureau.

- the setting-up of training and refreshing mechanisms for professionals, technicians and operators of cinema and audiovisual production.

Article 17

The Executive Secretary, in charge of distribution and exploitation :

1o) distribution

- contributes to the setting-up of a film buying central point with acquisition of rights for a duration of four years at least;

- assists for the establishment of a coherent channel for the material circulation of films taking into consideration, on the one hand, the geographic position of countries, and on the other hand, the return cost of operations;

- participates in the setting-up of a reliable system centralising global income provided to the structure in charge of proceeding to the distribution of contributions;

- controls income essentially based on the effective functioning of a ticket issueing system in each country;

2o) exploitation :

- contributes to the renovation of existing cinema halls, the re-opening of closed halls, the creation of new halls.

- contributes to modernisation of projection cabins and replacement of obsolete ones;

- contributes to the sensitisation of the concerned authorities for the revival of african cinematography, mainly through the setting-up of professionnal structures and their adequate functioning especially by involving the countries in the search for facilitating the use of foreign fundings.

3o) dissemination

- participates in the establisment of the cinema and audiovisual production in each member state.

- initiates and facilitates cine-clubs and art and experimental halls.

Article 18 :

The Executive Secretary is in charge of production and relationships between cinema, television, video and should ensure

- the setting -up of mechanisms of film co-production between film-makers, entrepreneurs, art lovers and institutions in member countries.

- promote the production and making of tv films, series through partnership between national tv channels and film-makers.

- promote and strengthen cooperation between ECOWAS countries through the dissemination of national productions, tv films, documentaries, series, creation programmes and others.

- the setting-up of an agency for the purchase and sale of african films to television offices of ECOWAS member countries.

- obtaining a quota of films broadcast on national television offices.

- regulation of video support exploitation.

- protection of copyrights.

Article 19

The General Treasurer is responsible for keeping the accounts of the Union.

He follows the execution of all the accounting operations instructed by the Chairman.

He follows and checks the execution of the budgets of national bureaux.

He signs in second documents pledging expenditures for the Union.

He follows and controls the execution of projects initiated by the Union.

He prepares financial reports and statements.

SECTION II : NATIONAL BUREAU

Article 20

The attributions of the Chairman of the National Bureau are defined as follows :

a) he represents the Chairman of the Union in the member country;
b) he executes the decisions of the Central Bureau in the country;
c) he transmits to national creators and entrepreneurs the documents and information bulletins issued from the Central Bureau;
d) he collects the documents, information of national creators and entrepreneurs and transmits them to the Chairman of the Union;
e) he establishes and co-ordinates with national creators and entrepreneurs an activity programme for the development of cinema and audio-visual production;

Article 21

The National Bureau is set up in each country by the Central Bureau, its composition and functioning are those of the Central Bureau. The National Bureau operates under the umbrella of the Central Bureau.

CHAPTER VI : LIQUIDATION

Article 22 :

In the event of dissolution of the Union, the General Assembly appoints a liquidation committee.

The committee is assisted by at least three active members of the Union acting in capacity of advisers.

The net assets achieved following the liquidation is allocated, after deliberation of the General Assembly to some sub-regional institutions of ECOWAS pursueing the same objectives as UCECAO.

CHAPTER VII : FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 23 :

All matters not addressed by the CHARTER AND RULES OF PROCEDURE of the UNION are settled by the Council.

Article 24 :

The working languages of UCECAO are : English, French and Portuguese.

Article 25 :

As from its establishment, the Central Bureau of UCECAO receives a mandate to sign a headquarter agreement with the concerned authorities of the host country.

Adopted in Bamako on January 13 1997

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Newsletter :

Join our mailing list