Cinema of Djibouti

The cinema of Djibouti refers to the film industry in Djibouti.

The earliest forms of public film display in Djibouti were French's and opened a movie theaters in Djibouti in the 1920s, at a time when the capital city was being developed. To some extent, the introduction of cinema influenced the way of life for the newly urbanized population. The theatres became a place where the colonizers and the colonized could observe each other in a relaxed atmosphere. With the development of the movie industry, more and more theatres were opened (Eden in 1934, Olympia in 1939, Le Paris in 1965, Al Hilal in 1975). In the 1970s, the capital city counted five movie theatres, and each district had its own. In that period, a few local attempts at filmmaking were carried out with the participation of local actors. One of these was Burta Djinka, a film in Somali that was made by G. Borg in 1972. Following independence in 1977, a growing number of government owned production and distribution companies as well as actual projection theaters sprang up. Storytelling is an ancient custom in Somali and Afar culture. Love of cinema in Djibouti is but a modern, visual incarnation and continuation of this well-established oral tradition.