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This article examines the film industry in Tanzania from the 1960s to 2012
and assesses how government policies, legislations and cultural
institutions have been used as mechanisms of cultural control and thus
shaped and impacted filmmaking. Through a critical political economy
theoretical framework, the article explores succeeding administrations,
from President Julius Kambarage Nyerere (1961–1985) to President Jakaya
Mrisho Kikwete (2005–present). It notes that despite the social, cultural,
economic, political, and ideological shifts that Tanzania has experienced in
moving from socialism to capitalism, each administration, using different
mechanisms, has retained a strong hold on the cultural (film) industry.
These administrations in advancing their power and legitimacy established
cultural institutions and film policies that saw to it that only government-
sanctioned images and cultural values were projected to its citizenry. Yet,
despite of the government’s strong hold on culture, a private commercial
film industry has emerged giving an alternative aspect to cultural
products. |
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