Hundreds of international film producers, writers, investors and business leaders are set to attend the Durban FilmMart that will spotlight the sector’s problems and opportunities from 19 to 21 July.
Organisers are expecting creatives and industry leaders to attend from more than 20 African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, Durban FilmMart director Magdalene Reddy said.
“We are also expecting delegates from North America and Europe. There is a big delegation coming from France, which has a co-production treaty with South Africa that was updated last year, to see how they can further work on this treaty to co-produce with South Africa,” she said.
“Last year we had 1081 delegates from 43 countries from across the continent and internationally. We’re hoping to have even more delegates attending this year.”
The overarching theme of the event — which focuses on all aspects of the industry from animation and businesses to gender equity, climate change and social responsibility — is “African Visions Unleashed: From Disruption to Accountability”.
The festival, which has been running for the past 15 years, provides the opportunity to showcase African film talent and for global film producers and financiers to collaborate, connect and make contracts.
Streaming service Netflix, one of the sponsors of the event, will host a masterclass on developing successful sequels. The programme also includes several workshops on animation, the business of acting and marketing film projects.
Themes will range from the business of film and labour issues to the past 30 years of democracy in South Africa, the need for gender diversity and the effect of film production on climate change.
Some of the major problems facing the film industry in South Africa and the broader continent include Amazon’s announcement in January that it is no longer doing further African originals for its Amazon Prime Video streaming service, as well as the closure of cinemas across the country, Reddy said.
“Ster Kinekor has announced closure of some of their cinemas. So while there are still independent cinemas, and that creates an opportunity for them to grow, we don’t see many people going to cinemas,” she said.
“We need to create a space in the industry where people can go back to cinemas and enjoy watching a film on the big screen, so filmmakers can start pushing that content out.”
Among the big names at the event this year is top South African producer Layla Swart, who has been the sole producer on seven feature films and the television series Blood Psalms.
Swart is the only South African producer to have two films selected to represent the country at the Academy Awards in two consecutive years — in the Best Foreign Language/ Best International Feature Category (Sew the Winter to my Skin, 2019 and Knuckle City, 2020), according to film and television database IMDb.
“She will be doing a session just to talk on her journey. We also have Katie Irwin from WME Independent, from the US, and she’s been very pivotal in the success of films like The Tin Soldier with Jamie Foxx, and the Oscar nominated The Lost Daughter and The Peanut Butter Falcon. She will also be bringing her expertise in terms of handling sales and distribution and financing into the conversation,” Reddy said.
“From Dakar, we have Moussa Sene Absa, who brings African stories into the conversation and how he has been taking African stories into the forefront of global cinema.”
This year’s event will also focus on climate issues organised in collaboration with Doc Society — Climate Story Unit, Climate Story Lab South Africa, STEPS, and the Global Impact Producers Alliance.
These sessions will bring together film professionals and activists such as Anita Khanna (Uhuru Productions), Emily Wanja (Doc Society) and Nasreen Al-Amin (Surge Africa).
According to the latest data available, the National Film and Video Foundation projected that the film industry would contribute R7.18 billion to the local economy in 2021.