2014 Durban FilmMart Award winners The 5th Durban FilmMart (DFM) come to an end after four exciting days of networking, workshops and film! This year’s event has been a resounding success with over 450 delegates in attendance from 32 countries, 24 workshop and panel discussion programmes presented by 32 industry experts and professionals, and over 900 official business meetings documented in the Finance Forum - which excludes the frenzy of meetings that took place outside of the Finance Forum room at the Elangeni Hotel. The Durban FilmMart, is a joint initiative of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) and Durban Film Office (DFO) funded through the City of Durban, which took place over the 18 – 21 July 2014 at the Tsogo Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban. Set on Durban’s picturesque ‘Golden Mile’, the Durban FilmMart has, over the past five years, become Africa’s most important film finance platform and has certainly created a global buzz about Durban as a key destination for film business and tourism alike. “The City is honoured to be associated with the Durban FilmMart, as it is a strategic platform to market the destination as an ideal film location to potential film directors and producers, which will significantly help boost the tourism industry. Durban is a diverse and culturally rich city with strong African, Eastern and Western influences. Through the vast potential of the Film industry, we would like to use the Durban FilmMart to market the destination on a global level and this also aligns well to our strategy of Taking Durban to the World,” says Head of Durban Tourism, Phillip Sithole. Every year the Durban FilmMart activities close with the closing night awards dinner, where key local and international partners of the annual co-production market, select a number of projects to receive development support for their respective projects in the form of development grants or invitations to attend partner markets. This year’s closing night dinner, held at the Maharani Hotel in Durban, presented 10 awards, guaranteeing these projects additional support and opportunities beyond Durban FilmMart. Through an evaluation panel made up of local and international film industry heavy weights, recipients of the 2014 DFM awards are as follows: The CineMart Award, sponsored by the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, was awarded to Hawa Hawaii (Kenya / South Africa Co-production) – to be directed by Amirah Tajdin and produced by Wafa Mohamed Tajdin, Bongiwe Selane, Helena Spring and Junaid Ahmed. This award invites and sponsors the DFM 2014 fiction winning project to attend the Rotterdam Lab, a five-day training and networking event bringing together producers from all over the world. For the ‘Most Promising Documentary Pitch’ award, sponsored by the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), has been awarded to The Sound of Masks (South Africa) – to be directed by Kofi Zwana and produced by Sara Gouveia. This award will provide Kofi Zwana and Sara Gouveia with an invitation and travel support to attend IDFA Forum. The New Cinema Network award has been awarded to Alex on Seventh (South Africa) – to be directed by Engelbert Phiri and produced by Guy Bragge. This award gives Engelbert Phiri and Guy Bragge the opportunity to attend the 9th edition NCN in Rome, taking place on the 19 – 21 October 2014, with the chance to present their work to active companies of the International Film industry. The award sponsored by Produire au Sud of Festival des 3 Continents (Nantes), a developmental workshop programme aimed to familiarize producers with a variety of important tools and international techniques, has been awarded to Hawa Hawaii (Kenya / South Africa Co-production) – to be directed by Amirah Tajdin and produced by Wafa Mohamed Tajdin, Bongiwe Selane, Helena Spring and Junaid Ahmed, and Mrs Popplestone to be directed by Sarah Ping Nie Jones and produced by Jean Meeran. These filmmakers will be given the invaluable opportunity to attend the Produire au Sud (PAS) workshop, where they will be given tools, expertise, and new connections especially with European networks through this one week unique training programme. The Docubox award, an East-African documentary film fund, has been awarded to In search of African Duende: The Uganda Flamenco Project (Uganda) – to be directed by Caroline Kamya and produced by Keren Cogan. This Ugandan documentary project will have the support for their non-Kenyan East African Documentary production with $2500 development funds. Shattered by Philani Ndaba won The Restless Pitch award, which is a one-year representation deal for the project by Restless Talent Management, who provide development services such as image-building and positioning, project packaging, PR, and advises its clients on film sales, distribution and promotion. Home Expulsion (Rwanda) – to be directed and produced by Kayambi Musafiri was awarded with the Organisation Internationale de Francophonie (OIF) award of €5000. While, The Wound (South Africa) – to be directed by John Trengove and produced by Elias Ribeiro have been awarded the ARTE France International Prize of €6000 for their feature film project. The Videovision Entertainment ‘Best South African Film Project’ prize valued at R75 000, has been awarded to Nyanga Sky (South Africa) – to be directed by Matthew Griffiths and produced by Rafeeqah Galant. This award guarantees Nyanga Sky a release once the project is completed and includes marketing and distribution support from Videovision Entertainment. Afridocs, a new award of €4000 that was inspired by the Durban FilmMart events, was awarded to ‘Amal’ to be directed and produced by Mohamed Siam. “The quality of projects presented this year were quite good. There was a good balance in the eclecticism of their subject and film style in which their directors wish to bring their story to the screen. The diversity of countries represented emphasizes the relevance to the DFM to play an important role as a platform for African cinema. Our objective as a partner of DFM is of course to discover new African projects. It is important that Africa keeps producing its own films and we want to help”, says ARTE France’s representative Rémi Burah. “The 5th Durban FilmMart has been one of the most dynamic one’s we’ve had. We have seen a dramatic change over the past five years in how attending filmmakers engage with guest financiers, funds, sales and distribution agents. The market is maturing faster than we expected, the projects are getting stronger every year and the filmmakers are well prepared to tackle the market when they arrive. For us, this is an indication that the market is really working and the vision of creating a credible platform to promote African stories has been achieved. Together with the celebration of the 35th Durban International Film Festival, Durban certainly rocked African Cinema this year! We extend a huge thank you to our sponsors and partnerships, new and old, they have truly helped the DFM reach its goals in helping African filmmakers access the market place and grow their understanding of the business of film,” says Durban Film Office’s Toni Monty For more information on the Durban FimMart visit durbanfilmmart End_ Image: left to right Sharon Ngcobo, marketing manager for DFO Philani Ndaba, Filmmaker Tendeka Matatu, Restless Talent Management PREPARED FOR: The Durban Film Office For media enquiries contact: Mona Pilane Email: [email protected] Mobile: +27 (0) 78 715 3463 Tel: +27 (0) 31 468 2025 Note to Editors: The Durban FilmMart (DFM) is a co-production and finance market and is a joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). DFM provides filmmakers from across Africa with a valuable opportunity to pitch projects to financiers, distributors, sales agents and potential co-producers, and to participate in meetings, project presentations and a series of master classes and workshops on the latest industry trends. durbanfilmmart The Durban Film Office (DFO) is the film industry development arm of the eThekwini Municipality, mandated to position Durban as a world-class film production destination and facilitator for the development of the local film industry. The DFO drives activity and development in the sector in order to boost tourism, job creation and the development of core skills and SMMEs in the region. durbanfilmoffice The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) presents over 250 screenings from different countries and cultures with a special focus on Africa. The festival includes development programmes such as Talent Campus Durban and a rich schedule of workshops. DIFF is a flagship project of the Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, which facilitates creative platforms and economic opportunities for artists and related industries, intercultural exchange and network development, training, audience development and strategic Pan-African and international cooperation in the cultural sectors. cca.ukzn.ac.za
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 11:41:51 +0000
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