DIFF Indigenous Language Screenwriting Course

With the 30th anniversary landmark edition of the Durban International Film Festival just around the corner, DIFF has announced an exciting call for indigenous language writers to apply for participation in a free writing and scriptwriting workshop. The workshop, run by SA's leading screenwriter Mtutuzeli Matshoba, will accommodate all the indigenous languages if required, (although a reading level of English comprehension will be helpful.)


To be considered for the workshop, please send:

• a one page “treatment” of your life (a creative CV) (in any of the official languages)
• a one page treatment of one of your scripts. (in any of the official languages)
• a covering letter, in English or Zulu, containing your name, contact details and a declaration that you are free and available to attend the workshop between 29 th July to August 1 st from 09h00 to 17h00.

Applications (or requests for more info) are to be sent to diff @ukzn.ac.za or by fax to 0865490221. Closing Date for applications is 10 July.

ICASA Regulations on Commissioning

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has published draft regulations and the Position Paper on the commissioning of independently produced South African programming. The draft regulations and the Position Paper follow the publication of the Discussion Document and the holding of public hearings on Commissioning of Independently Produced South African Programming.



The Authority has now invited interested parties who wish to make written representations on the draft regulations (but not the Position Paper) to submit such representations to ICASA by no later than 16h00 on 04th AUGUST 2009. So this affects you directly.

For more information, visit the ICASA website.

CNN - The Screening Room in Africa

CNN's The Screening Room has a three part special on the African Film Industry, including Kenya, Cape Town and Nigeria. You can watch all three episodes online here.

Disgrace

The National Arts Festival has bagged the local premiere of the movie version of JM Coetzee's novel Disgrace. Starring John Malkovich as Professor David Lurie, the Australian-financed film won an International Critics Award at last year's Toronto Film Festival in Canada.



But here's the frustration; although the script calls for the professor to retire to a remote farm in the Eastern Cape, the movie shot in the Cedarburg. In America, that's called Runaway Production..... Which could in itself be termed something of a disgrace, I suppose.

Check out the movie during the festival.

Eastern Cape Production named Film of the Year

Did you know that Wild Ocean - a 3D movie shot in the Ocean off the Eastern Cape, was selected as the 2009 Earthwatch Film of the Year? How cool!



Wild Ocean celebrates the annual feeding frenzy in the oceans of South Africa as billions of sardines migrate up the Wild Coast, causing breaching whales, frenzied sharks, herding dolphins, and diving gannets to compete in an epic struggle for survival.

Written, directed, edited, and scored by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas (the UK-based, Oscar and Emmy-nominated creative duo behind the internationally acclaimed Stomp), Wild Ocean was a finalist for two Panda Awards (otherwise known as "The Green Oscars) at the 2008 Wildscreen Festival: "Best Film-Theatrical" and "Best Music".

It's only a little whinge, but if only Eastern Cape filmmakers could have gotten to this story first......

Eastern Cape delegation from Amathole District Municipality visits CFC

The (Western) Cape Film Commission's newsletter notes that it recently hosted a delegation of Councillors and officials from the EC's Amathole District Municipality.

According to the report, ADM is in the process of establishing a Film Office/ Commission and they specifically came down to Cape Town to meet with the CFC and learn more about how the film industry unfolded there and in particular issues related to permitting and marketing.



Hopefully this move is something that can be coordinated with the NMB process - and the ECDC's own efforts - so we can build synergies and avoid duplications. Let's watch this closely.

Television and Music

In this blog I'm going to be looking a lot at how the lessons learned by the music industry in terms of distribution, copyright protection, audience development, online marketing etc. can be applied to our regional tv industry. And to reiterate the cross-over, Senegalese master-musician Baaba Maal has announced the release of his new album entitled, Television - a groundbreaking successor to 2001's Missing You.

The title-track refers to that African phenomenon - ubiquitous TV screens. "The television set is like a stranger you didn't ask for coming into your living-room," explains Baaba. "You don't care about who he is: he just seems to come from nowhere and gives you information."

Now we just need to get Eastern Cape product onto those screens.....



Television is a collaboration primarily between Baaba Maal and singer Sabina Sciubba and keyboardist Didi Gutman, both members of New York's Brazilian Girls. The result is a stunningly beautiful and diverse record that meshes two genres, generally unfamiliar to each other, to produce an eclectic and romantic sound.

Viral Marketing and the new District 9 Movie

Re. Digital (again) - here's something to look out for - the online viral marketing campaign for the new SA Sci-Fi movie District 9. It's produced by Peter Jackson (yes, he of Lord of the Rings fame) and has a clever but also quite relevant story about the integration of aliens. In this case, alien aliens, but there's a lot of apartheid in there, and a lot about the attacks on refugees last year. It looks like it might be the kind of SA tale that works without a lot of finger wagging and point scoring.....



So visit www.d-9.com and play around with the very cool interface and various websites that have been setup to give you an introduction to the origins, look and hardware/technology on the "non-human" aliens that are the focus of Neill Blomkamp's film.

And how does Viral Marketing work? well, just like this actually; I see something I like and send it on to all my friends. It's the kind of word-of-mouth advertising that money can't buy...... Another reason for us to start building a database of Eastern Cape movie audiences.

Screen Africa Talent and Technology Conference 2009

Make a note: the 6th Screen Africa Talent & Technology Conference will take place on 23 July 2009 alongside the Mediatech Africa exhibition.

Dedicated to the business of broadcast, film, new media and communications media in South Africa and Africa, the Talent and Technology Conference represents an excellent platform for learning and sharing experiences in the fields of technology developments and trends as well as content creation, management and delivery.



With a strong focus on 2010 and Low Budget Production, the conference highlights include panel discussions on 2010 Preparations, New Media, Digital Terrestrial TV, Doing Business in Africa, Film Financing, New Technologies and Platforms, Funding Update and Broadband Internet Opportunities.

So where do I catch the NMB Film Bus to this event???

For more information visit www.screenafrica.com

ABSA Kirkwood Wildlife Festival

The 8th annual Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival is held at Kirkwood from 26 to 29 June.



Over 35 000 visitors attended the 2008 event, which is a unique blend of wildlife, arts, crafts and live entertainment including hundreds of creative flea-market stalls and delicious food stalls with a wildlife theme. The event includes the second biggest game auction in South Africa. So bring your friends - and your cameras - to Kirkwood in June for the wildest festival in the country.

For more information email info@wildsfees.co.za

SABC responds to TVEIC

On June 4th, the TV Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC) conducted a national protest action and presented a Memorandum of Demands to the SABC.

ScreenAfrica is carrying the SABC's formal response. It includes:

• claims to have increased the local content budget from R230million to R1.1 billion
• increased the ratios of international to local production from 60:40 to 30:70
• the growth of an independent production sector from 20 companies 2004 to 408 in 2009.
• the introduction of numerous developmental strands to give access to new producers

Here's the kicker though: "To ensure diversification of companies doing business with SABC, the SABC is preferentially procuring in the regions other than Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Western Cape."

Wow. So, the SABC is actually preferentially procuring in the Eastern Cape???? They're seeking you out for your untapped stories?? How are they doing that exactly, and to what success? Because it's clearly news to most of the respondees in our surveys so far. We're going to need to hold them to this wild claim. Read the whole response here and let me know what you think.

Video Hire is History

A whacky but digitally pertinent spoof from the wickedly funny The Onion



"I am a block buster customber called Kathy. Two times a week I drive six miles to hire and return videos"

Perfect Storm

PriceWaterhouseCoopers have announced expectations that, inspite of recession, the global entertainment media market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.7% over the next five years, to reach $1.6 trillion in 2013. The firm projects a decline of 3.9% for 2009, followed by growth of just 0.4% in 2010, before regaining strength and reaching 7.1% in 2013.

Driving the survival is Digital Media. Marcel Fenez, Global Leader Entertainment & Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said:

“In some ways this could be called “the perfect storm”. Inside every cloud is a silver lining and in this case, a digital one. Companies who grasp the opportunities which are appearing in this fast changing marketplace and are agile enough to adapt their business models will be able to take full advantage of the potential and new revenue models as they emerge.”

The title of their report?: No Place to Hide from the Digital Revolution

KwaMashu African Film Festival Call for Entries

Organised by K-CAP, the 6th edition of KAFF (KwaMashu African Film Festival 2009) is calling for submissions of films made in SA, KZN, Africa, and Africa Diaspora – as well as and unique world cinema films that highlight issues about Africa. The films (short, feature, docs) must have been produced after October 2008 and must be submitted before September 30th, 2009. The event runs from December 4th – 13th, 2009.



Now it would of course be great if NMB filmmakers were motivated to submit their projects to this festival - just because the festival is hungry for local films and it's therefore a great opportunity to push for public screenings of work that might not otherwise get a platform......

However my sense is there's a larger discussion / opportunity here. How about engagement with KAFF for an Eastern Cape strand at the festival? How about a single, joint submission of all the films from the province? How about the creation of an umbrella NMB film brand that every local filmmaker would carry on their submissions (as well as a commitment to include trailers and shorts made by your compatriots) - the kind of joint-marketing/cross-promotional stuff that can raise the profile of NMB as a film centre?

For more information on KAFF contact: kcap@mweb.co.za or tel: 0027 31 504 6970 - or read more here.

Website turns into TV Show

As if to reiterate the convergence between digital and tv, in the USA, Prometheus Entertainmenthas signed a deal with website Axelist.com, a site that highlights users' complaints, to create a half-hour TV show.

Launched in September 2008, Axelist includes users' rants about employers, neighbors, businesses and other entities. Each episode will reportedly focus on a single complaint, and attempt to reach a resolution.



More at Variety.

Filmmaker IQ

In the absence of local training opportunities from national providers, Sunshine Coasters are just going to have to learn to better help themselves. Fortunately that's more than possible with the internet. So in case you've been feeling that your Eastern Cape isolation is all-consuming, think again by taking a look at FilmmakerIQ.


Filmmaker IQ is one of the most thorough blogs I've come across when it comes to online tutorials for Filmmakers. Not only does it provide the kinds of information you can use to build your skills and expand your range of techniques, it backs it up with a ton of useful links to other pages, You Tube sites, expert tutorials etc. about the same really good stuff.

Take this page on Final Cut Pro, for instance. Gobsmacking amounts of information that there's now really no excuse for you NOT to know. Remarkable.

Training Opportunity

I fear this will be the first of many training opportunities I shall be noting on this blog that will be bypassing the Sunshine Coast altogether. 

A 2-day course for Independent and aspiring filmmakers, writers, directors and producers, exploring the craft of filmmaking and the art of being a film director is being run in Cape Town on June 13/14 and in Joburg on June 27/28.

The blurb claims it's a great training ground for candidate film directors, actors and screenwriters who want to pursue a career in filmmaking, and that it "also gives scholars and students the opportunity to make a competent choice in a career decision in the film and television industries; and to develop their independent film projects."

Our challenge in the Eastern Cape?

1. To collectively hire a bus to get local filmmakers to those workshops and
2. To get enough interested people together so that this course could be run in NMB

SAFTA Awards open for Eastern Cape Entries

The South African Film and Television Awards have opened for entry - click here for the entry details. Hopefully we can get Eastern Cape entries in just about every category??

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog site for the Film Sector in Nelson Mandela Bay. The blog will be used to keep you informed and get you involved in the Film Sector Feasibility Study that will be conducted over the next few months. More than anything though, the blog reiterates that you are not alone - and that there are some significant opportunities out there, as long as you are simply prepared to grasp them.....