So, you enjoyed the 3 Conti-nents Film Festival, you almost bought a house in Victoria West in your elation at the Apollo Film Festival and now that the Durban International Film Festival has ended you are vexed by nostalgia and wanderlust. For you there is something remaining — pack your bags because we are less than seven days away from Sithengi, Africa’s biggest film and television marketplace.
This year’s event will be opened on November 13 by Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe Cassaburi; Sithengi begins unofficially on November 8. Headline events include a gala awards night, a short-film festival and a Hall of Fame ceremony, the second annual Sithengi/CBFA Children’s Festival, the South African Communications for Development Forum, an Italian-film festival (including a retrospective of the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini) and cooperation signing, selections from the Berlin and the Indonesian film festivals as well as the Resfest Global Digital Festival.
Also on the menu is the African Eye Animation Festival. In attendance will be two “gurus”, to quote the organisers. Italian Silvia Bazzoli recently conceived and directed African Cartoons: Il Cinema d’Animazione in Africa for the 13th Festival Cinema Africano Milano, and Canadian producer Firdaus J Kharas has made a series of 20 animated public service announcements on HIV/Aids for SABC1 and other stations in countries affected by the pandemic. Firdaus will hold a workshop two days before the festival begins.
For the public the highlight of this year’s event is definitely the Cape Town World Cinema Festival. The festival, previously called the Sithengi Film Festival, will subsume competitions where awards will be given for the Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actor/Actress and the Signis Jury Prize. Works at the festival come from Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Palestine and South Africa.
On the business side, the Vertical Strategies AVEA workshop has been set up to build a network among Southern African producers and deal with production, finance and distribution. The workshop hopes to teach professional Southern African film and television producers how to market themselves in Europe.
Other workshops will include the Digital Video (DV) Filmmaking Practical Workshop and the launch of an intitiative by top independent producers, filmmakers, actors and trainees involved in shooting ultra-low-budget feature films on digital video.
Forums are available for African filmmakers to improve their work and pitch for a co-production deal at an international panel of producers, distributors and broadcasters. Writers will also get a chance to work with producers and pitch story ideas.
Conferences at Sithengi include ones in which local industry players will be informed about financing. Masterclasses will be offered by the likes of John Boorman, while the product market concentrates on buying and selling. SABC1 will host an event to “provide a platform for the creation of projects that identify, and transfer skills to, South Africa’s young and upcoming talent”.
For more information visit www.sithengi.co.za or call (021) 430 8160