First Canal Olympia cinema in Cameroon opens

The Cameroonian Prime Minister, Philémon Yang, is commissioning today June 14, 2016, on the campus of the Yaoundé I University, in the capital of the country, the first Canal Olympia cinema and performance hall built on the African continent.

This cultural space is the work of the Vivendi group, owned by French industrialist Vincent Bolloré, who arrived in the Cameroonian capita on June 13, 2016 with members of the Vivendi Supervisory Board.

The Canal Olympia performance hall of Yaoundé, which should be duplicated in the city of Douala before the end of this year, as we were able to learn from credible sources, will help in among things projecting films, organising concerts by local and international artists and serving as a stage for stand-up comedians.

In addition to ensuring the outreach of young Cameroonian talents through the international network of the Vivendi group, the Canal Olympia hall, which has a capacity of 300 seats indoors and over 4,000 seats outdoors; first and foremost puts an end to 7 years of no cinema halls in Cameroon, after the closure of the cinemas Abbia (Yaoundé) and Wouri (Douala) in January 2009.

Built in two months by the Cameroonian company Kalfrelec, this cinema and performance hall in which the Vivendi group invested approximately FCFA 2.5 billion, according to our sources, is fully powered by solar energy.

This energy is captured through 720 m2 of solar panels, then stocked through Lithium Metal Polymer (LMP) batteries developed as part of the Bolloré Blue Solutions programme; which already enabled three electric buses to transport students on the campus of the Yaoundé I University since May 2014.