MATTHEW KROUSE, Johannesburg | Friday
IT has been a week of frustration and fury in the film industry. Influential and experienced filmmakers have been left out in the cold in a controversial set of grants totalling R6-million, awarded by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) designated primarily for training and development of new filmmakers.
This is half of what has been allotted by government for film development this year. Questions have arisen as to how the remaining amount is to be spent in an industry that, many claim, is in decline. Now accusations ranging from the misappropriation of funds to nepotism in funding strategies have come flooding into the Mail & Guardian. Heavily questioned is the fact that the current NFVF funding cycle has ignored proposals submitted by the country’s top filmmakers and producers – including Moonyeen Lee, Teboho Mahlatsi, Shane Mohabier and Jeremy Nathan.
Mohabier, whose police drama series Behind the Badge was denied funding, wrote to Eddie Mbalo, former filmmaker and NFVF CEO: “We as black professionals have supported the transformation that you have attempted to implement at the NFVF but find that lobbying by a cabal in the industry indeed works at the foundation.”
There is speculation that the NFVF has ignored the recommendations of its own panellists – people connected to the industry who are paid a nominal fee for reading proposals and making submissions to the foundation, and bound by a secrecy clause.
This is not an easy time for Mbalo, taking the rap for decisions his office has made in the disbursement of public funds to an industry that is both intimate and, by reputation, back stabbing.
He is emphatic that the funding strategy of the NFVF has been to “nurture and mentor” a new generation of black filmmakers. He draws on his office’s entitlement, governed by the National Film and Video Foundation Act of 1997. The Act allows for the appointment of a council, at present made up of a smattering of film industry experts that include veteran director Lionel Ngakane and film historian Martin Botha.
“The Act says that the council must monitor the spending of money in operations and administration,” Mbalo says. “So you can start making your calculations there. About R4-million of that money is to run the office – pay rent, pay the telephone, pay salaries.
“Then what is left is R2-million. A million, or 1,2-million will go to [the annual national film market] Sithengi. Last year the major sponsors pulled out… It became the responsibility of the foundation to ensure that Sithengi happens. Council has approved and committed itself to funding Sithengi for at least the next three years.”
At the same time, the NFVF asserts a presence on behalf of the industry at prestigious international festivals and markets like the Cannes Film Festival. Accusations have also surfaced that Mbalo and company jet about the world, enjoying a lifestyle uncharacteristic of filmmakers from the developing world.
“When we go to Cannes we go to place South Africa as a filmmaking nation. We might not have the films but we position ourselves at that level so that when the time comes we will be at the right place, at the right time.
“When we went to Cairo, for instance, we were an advance team. What happens in those forums is that cooperation agreements are signed. In the past politicians went and film was not represented. Of course the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology would have preferred that we pay but we’ve said that it’s not in our budget.
“So, are we high flying? I say no. Doing business? I say yes.
“Our salaries are based on government scales. We don’t determine salaries, we go to [the department]. Salary scales have to be determined by the minister.”
Casting agent and film producer Moonyeen Lee submitted a proposal for the funding of her movie Promised Land, based on a novel by Karel Schoeman. Lee’s proposal was also turned down. She feels that the NFVF council “needs to be relooked at,” she says. “It is wrong to have people on the council who have their own production companies or have anything to do with the business. They also need someone from Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro on the panels, perhaps in the council even.”
Of the nine current councillors, seven are directly involved in the film industry and could potentially influence funding decisions to suit their pockets. This year councillor Mike Dearham of the Film Resource Unit (Fru) was awarded R 300 000. But given Fru’s long and credible history in grassroots film distribution, it is doubtful whether this amount will be questioned.
For all the millions of rands the NFVF has disbursed, few projects have reached fruition. Soon Mbalo will be instituting a full audit of the funds his office has given to filmmakers.
“In the past three or four years of our existence, 30% of the money that was given out cannot be accounted for,” he complains. “Filmmakers are equally guilty for not playing their part. Confidence in the industry just goes down. What we’re trying to do is to ensure that all the money will be accounted for. We’re putting a system in place to ensure that we monitor projects we’ve funded.”