Another Sithengi and suddenly it’s my sixth at the helm of this juggernaut that brings together Africa’s film and TV industry annually. This is the biggest shindig for the industry on the African continent, and it puts those involved in touch with public and international counterparts. This year we have an awesome line-up, including films from greats such as Pedro Almódovar, Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola and Ridley Scott. But we also herald Africa’s greatest sons with films from Abderrahmane Sissako and Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, as well as new blood such as Teboho Mahlatsi. The films span the breadth of entertainment, from political intrigue to films on sex and urban life to an ode to Zinedine Zidane.
There have been many highlights on this immensely pleasurable but often politically fraught journey. The Cape Town World Cinema Festival started off small in 2002, on the back of the Sithengi Film and TV Market for Trade, which has been running since 1996. The festival’s launch was a great moment; I’d fallen in love with film courtesy of Cape Town’s historic Labia movie house and knew that I, and many like me, wanted to see more. It has been wonderful to bring to Cape Town audiences some of the best films the world has to offer, many of which will never reach screens or even DVD shops.
In the past two years, a flurry of local productions resulted in 10 South African feature films in competition in 2004, and last year’s stellar opening with the Oscar-winning Tsotsi. Along the way, Sithengi has seen the signing of co-production treaties with Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, and has entertained delegations from around the world. Sithengi also conducts workshops in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe — its pan-African vision has been realised.
Unlike most African countries, South Africa has a film-supportive environment. Government’s creative industries growth strategy allowed for the birth of the National Film and Video Foundation, which has been funding films and supporting the industry. From a financing perspective, though, the Industrial Development Corporation and the department of trade and industry rebates have been the real instruments for financing the development of films and other content.
But, as with all schemes — especially film schemes — it is the industry itself that has to continue to provide leadership in the development of the policies that shape this environment. For the first time this year, the local film industry has united behind the South African Screen Federation and the Independent Producers Organisation and, hopefully, an industry that speaks with one voice can have an impact on its future direction. It is historic that South Africa, for the first time, has hosted an African Film Summit, and the Federation of Pan African Filmmakers is meeting at Sithengi this year to discuss taking forward policy in Africa.
Africa is crying out for its images to be presented around the world. But African governments need to understand that for this to happen — and for Africa to benefit from the huge tourism and investment returns that flow from the promulgation of film and other content — an enabling environment needs to be created. Huge industries such as Nigeria’s, which make vast numbers of films for the Nigerian and African continent, need to be recapitalised to allow them to make larger films for export. Film industries such as South Africa’s, which have small amounts of funding mainly aimed at producers, need to look at other ways of supporting the distribution and export of that content and the development of audiences, so that there are takers for what we produce.
Finally, in the past few years we have seen an enormous growth in the development of local content by the SABC which, despite its administrative problems, can only be beneficial for the industry. This has put us in a position to produce dramas of international quality that could one day be exported to the biggest broadcasters in the world. This year at Sithengi we have gathered the most powerful group of drama executives ever assembled here. David Thompson from BBC Films, the largest investor in feature film in the UK and a co-producer of Red Dust; Andy Harries, head of ITV drama and producer of The Queen, which is on at the festival; Tara Ellis, head of Alliance Atlantis drama; and Gub Neal, who used to head Channel 4 drama, will be in town to discuss with local producers and commissioning editors the making of great international drama that will sell.
The local industry has made incredible gains through supportive institutions such as the National Film and Video Foundation, the SABC, Sithengi, the Industrial Development Corporation and the department of trade and industry, but these gains need to be secured and the industry needs to continue to further its objectives in Africa through the institutions that exist to carry that voice forward. I hope that during my time at Sithengi I have played a role in taking Africa’s industry forward, but I realise that we are only at the beginning of a long road. We all need to continue to fight for the resources to realise Africa’s dreams.
Mike Auret is the director of the Cape Town World Cinema Festival