It is a permanent scandal. All the movie theaters of our countries are the property of two French monopolies: the COMACICO and the SECMA. The first holds eighty-four of them and the second fifty-six. The few African cinema owners are forced to bypass the COMACICO or the SECMA to supply themselves. Those two companies establish the programming to their liking, notwithstanding local censures. What I criticize, among other things, about these two companies (as do the majority of my colleagues) is that they do not contribute to the development of the African cinema. They have never financed even one African film. To distribute Mandabi, the COMACICO initially proposed a ridiculously tiny sum to me. Recently I managed a little more serious agreement, but for multiple reasons this is far from giving me complete satisfaction. I am a convinced advocate of pure and simple nationalization of the distribution and circulation as it is the case in Algeria for example. This is the only way to change things. If we don’t assume ownership of our own distribution, we can hardly work safely…

[From Les Lettres Françaises no. 1404 (1971). Translated from the French by Julien Enoka Ayemba.]