Denis Opudo
Kwelitv is on the verge of becoming the go-to streaming media platform for Africans filmmakers globally to share their continent and earn income by distributing their film.Discovery shows that the global filmmaker world was not utilized well in the past. The world has been unable to tap the great filmmakers it the best use as expected. Kwelitv comes in to fill the gap. The kwelitv does the handpicking of the all of its content by itself. Around 98% of the continent is from the official selections at film festivals globally.
According to KweliTV founder DeShuna Spencer, the platform is giving an avenue for filmmakers of colour make money from their effort and earn praise for the work they engage in. KweliTv wants to major in giving stories about the blacks globally. The study conducted recently shows that the media don’t always give the right view of the black people with their families. According to Color Change, the black families sums up to 59% of the poor in the media despite the fact that they make 27% of the poor. On the other hand, the mainstream media sites that the white families represent 17% of low-income earners and 66% of the country’s population.
From the Swahili language, Kweli means truth, and that’s what the tv aims to drive its operations on. For content to qualify to be aired in the KweliTV, the main character must be an African and not a friend of the white. Something Necessary as a good example of the content run on the KweliTV. Written by a Kenyan filmmaker Judy Kibinge, the movie gives a look at the life after the 2007 post-election with a black woman named Ann acting as the witness. The film got attention after it was nominated for audience choice award at the Chicago International Film Festival and aired at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013.
The platform has 200 titles currently with KweliTv responsible for adding around three titles every week in the documentary, full-length features, and shorts category. Subscribers are in a position to watch KweliTv through the internet or Google Play, Apple Tv or Roku. KweliTv is planning to operate differently compared to Netflix by having more than 500 titles at a time. The tv that launched out of beta sometimes back has received 2,000 paying subscribers. The platform is targeting a total of 30,000 paid subscribers before the end of 2018. For membership one is required to pay $49.99 annually and $5.99 monthly subscription.
KweliTv has collaborated with some black-owned businesses to give discounts to its subscribers. Subscribers are in a position to access discounts in various companies like African Ancestry, Heritage Box and Black Card Revoked among others.
