Canon revolutionises African film industry, unveils knowledge-sharing programme

Canon Central and North Africa, a leader in imaging solutions, has unveiled its 5.9K CCNA next-generation professional Cinema EOS System cameras.

Leading African directors including Kunle Afolayan and Merzak Allouache have hailed the EOS C500 Mark II for elevating their latest productions.

Alongside the inauguration, Canon unveiled a knowledge-sharing initiative for the African filmmaking community.

The latest model in Canon’s Cinema EOS Camera range features Canon’s newly developed Super 35mm 4K CMOS sensor and comes with 16+ stops of dynamic range, professional codecs in a compact, modular body.
“Created with the expertise and technical knowledge at the heart of Canon’s innovative products, the latest in the EOS range offers a customisable full-frame cinema camera experience that is built for creative freedom.

“Canon’s Cinema EOS Camera range new features include a full-frame sensor powered by Canon’s new DIGIC DV 7 processor. The sensor’s expansive native cinema gamut goes beyond current standards to help the Cameras in the EOS range achieve more natural tones, which allow for greater colour-grading freedom in both SDR and HDR productions,” a statement by the company said.

At the pinnacle of the offering, according to the Canon, is the first camera in the range with the ability to record 5.9K Cinema RAW Light onto new, faster storage media – CF express cards.

“Canon’s continuous relationship with empowering the African creative market via innovative technology has supported the rise of Africa’s content. Our focus is on offering leading industry know-how and award-winning cameras and lenses built for enthusiast and professional level creatives,” said Amine Djouhara, Sales and Marketing Director at Canon Central and North Africa.

“The Cinema EOS range is the perfect expression of form and function, exceptionally adaptable to virtually any production with its modular design, and we are excited to see what Africa’s talented filmmakers create.”

The award-winning actor, producer and director, Afolayan’s films are part of a growing number of African contributions to the global online platform, Netflix.

His latest creation, ‘Citation,’ explores the important issue of sexual exploitation of young female Nigerian students by their professors.

For this gritty, hard-hitting movie, Afolayan chose the new EOS C500 Mark II from Canon, the statement added.

“I first saw the Canon EOS C500 Mark II at IBC 2019 and I was amazed at its capabilities.  Normally it’s not a director’s place to tell a director of photography (DOP) what kit to use, but I always wanted to shoot in 4K full-frame, and I knew that this camera would make it to the Netflix approved list, which was vital for this production,” said Afolayan.

“Thankfully Jonathan Kovel, the DOP working on my new film, loved the camera, therefore, we were able to shoot Citation with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, which gave us another level of authenticity and creative freedom.”
Similarly, Algerian Allouache also selected the Canon EOS C500 Mark II for his latest film, as part of a technical partnership with Baya Productions. Following a glittering 40-year, 22 film career, which included 1994 Cannes Film Festival award-winning production, ‘Le Repenti.’

“The film benefited from the technology provided by Canon. The production team was provided with a Canon EOS C500 Mark II camera and a range of Cine Lenses and accessories so that the film could be shot entirely in 5.9K at 24 fps. The EOS 5D Mark IV and EOSR were also used throughout, to shoot the film and to photograph the behind-the-scenes footage,” said Hamoudi Laggoune, the gifted Algerian cinematographer chosen to work alongside Allouache on the new film.

“The camera provides complete flexibility and freedom to choose the image formats, bokeh effects and lenses that are best suited to the filming conditions.”

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