A new Pan-African film distribution company, Bigger Motion, officially launched during this year’s Nairobi (NBO) Film Festival, marking a major step toward improving how African stories reach audiences across the continent and internationally.
Formed through collaboration between filmmakers from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Sudan, Bigger Motion seeks to address one of African cinema’s enduring challenges, ensuring that locally produced films are accessible to African audiences as well as international ones.
The company plans to build a comprehensive distribution network that connects regional film festivals, theatrical releases, streaming platforms, broadcast television, and in-flight entertainment. Its goal is to bridge the gap between global visibility and local access for African films.
“Visibility without access isn’t enough,” Chloe Genga, Head of Distribution and Impact at Bigger Motion, told KBC Digital. “We’re building a distribution ecosystem that brings African cinema home, into cinemas, festivals, living rooms, classrooms, and community spaces, so these stories can spark connection, pride, and change where they matter most.”
The company launches just as Kenya’s creative sector tries to grapple with the issue of distribution.
According to a UNESCO report on the African film industry, the continent produces an estimated 5 million hours of audiovisual content annually, yet much of it fails to reach audiences due to weak distribution networks.
The report notes that Africa has only one cinema screen for every 787,000 people, compared to one for every 11,000 in Europe. This shortage of infrastructure, combined with widespread piracy and uneven access to streaming services, limits how African audiences experience their own stories. The result is a thriving creative sector constrained by logistical and economic barriers that prevent films from circulating widely within the continent.
Earlier this year, the Kenya Film Classification Board unveiled the cine-mobile truck in a move aimed at combating the problem of distribution. By physically bringing the big screen to rural areas, the project bridges the gap between creatives and audiences who have traditionally been separated by geography and infrastructure.
The distribution company has launched with a lineup of four films that all screened at the NBO Film Festival, including Shadow Scholars (U.K.) directed by Eloise King; Khartoum (Sudan) by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, and Timeea Mohamed Ahmed; How to Build a Library (Kenya) by Maia Lekow and Christopher King; and Matabeleland (Zimbabwe/Kenya/Canada) by Nyasha Kadandara.
Bigger Motion has evolved from the distribution arm of LBx Africa, the award-winning Kenyan production company behind “Softie” and “Free Money”. The transition establishes Bigger Motion as an independent entity dedicated solely to the acquisition and distribution of African films.
Following its launch, the company plans to expand its Pan-African partnerships and introduce more titles to audiences across the continent through diverse and accessible channels.
