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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Andrew Pulver

Idris Elba: ‘I want to build the African Odeon’

Idris Elba at the Creativity as Capital for Change session at SXSW London.
Idris Elba at the Creativity as Capital for Change session at SXSW London. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images for SXSW London

Idris Elba has spoken of his ambition to create the “African Odeon” – a chain of cinemas to ignite the cinemagoing experience across the continent.

Elba was speaking at an event at SXSW London in which he spoke to host Clara Amfo in a session called Creativity as Capital for Change. In remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter and Screen, Elba said: “There’s a crazy number across the entire continent – less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas that you and I have grown up with. I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation. I don’t think it should all be on a phone.”

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