The Durban FilmMart returns to South Africa’s sun-splashed coast this week for its 15th edition, with the thematic banner “African Visions Unleashed” underscoring the event’s focus on the power of the continent’s creative industries and how they can be harnessed to address the day’s pressing issues while also playing a more socially responsible role.
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Magdalene Reddy, director of the Durban FilmMart Institute, says this year’s edition is organized around the overarching question: “How do we create a new vision for Africa?”
“There’s a very transformative power in film. This year, having looked at what’s happening in our world, we thought, ‘Let’s ensure that filmmakers are creating stories or producing films in a more responsible way,’” Reddy tells Variety . “And by being responsible, we mean responsible to our society and responsible to our environment.”
A dynamic, wide-ranging program at this year’s DFM, which runs July 19 – 22, brings together industry professionals to engage with hot-button issues including the potential disruption of artificial intelligence, IP protection, fair labor practices, gender equality, industry codes of conduct and the impact of climate change on film and TV production. The goal, Reddy says, is to move beyond traditional narratives to emphasize the potential of cinema as a tool for transformation while also showcasing both new and established filmmakers from across the continent.
“Durban FilmMart is a space where we create visibility for projects,” says Reddy, “so that international financiers, programmers, broadcasters, local broadcasters can all connect with what’s new on the continent, who are the new talents, what are the new stories being told, and how can we invest in these stories so that they reach audiences?”
Among the guests and speakers in attendance will be Nicola Ofoego, head of acquisitions at Paris-based Black Mic Mac; Katie Irwin, agent and co-head of international at WME Independent; Frédéric Fiore, president of film and TV equity outfit Logical Pictures Group; Red Sea Film Fund head Emad Eskander; Dorothy Ghettuba, director of content in sub-Saharan Africa for Netflix; and Chris Mack, the streaming giant’s creative talent director.
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A perennial highlight, the DFM’s pitching and co-financing forum offers a platform for African filmmakers to present their fiction, documentary or animation projects in development to a room of financiers, broadcasters, streaming services, festival programmers and producers. This year’s event will showcase 30 upcoming projects, including new features from Rotterdam Film Festival winner Cyrielle Raingou (“ Le Spectre de Boko Haram ”) and Cairo fest winner Firas Khoury (“ Alam ”).
Meanwhile, a new wrinkle this year is the introduction of the CANEX Deal Room, a partnership between the Durban FilmMart and the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank, or Afreximbank, which last year announced a $1 billion African film fund as the latest in a raft of ambitious measures to boost the continent’s creative industries. A part of the bank’s Creative Africa Nexus Program (CANEX), the deal room will allow African filmmakers with a proven track record of producing commercially successful films to pitch projects in development to financiers and investors.
The initiative, says Reddy, is a sign of the rapidly evolving landscape for film finance in Africa. “There are more international funds that are being created that are looking toward Africa for content,” she says, pointing to a recently launched Africa venture, first announced in Variety , from Logical Pictures Group. “This is a way for Africa to make a big mark on the global stage, because there’s now real money coming through financing facilities.”
Transformation will be the buzz word at this year’s Durban FilmMart, which takes place on the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s transition to democratic rule. A raft of discussions will focus on the host nation’s film and TV industry — the most developed on the continent, yet one that is still grappling to unlock its full potential.
Reddy is hopeful about how far the South African biz has come since the country held its first democratic elections in 1994. “What we have achieved over the last 30 years, we’ve created a space for filmmakers who were not able to get their films shown or get their voices heard,” she says. “Democracy has created that space for them. More and more filmmakers who do not have access, who have not produced films before, are doing that, which is something new for our country.”
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