By Abdi Ali
Published August 4, 2020
The 11th annual Durban FilmMart (DFM) shall be held September 4 – 13, 2020.
“Using the theme Brave New Cinema, we are bringing together leading and emerging African film professionals in an online space, to benchmark themselves, learn from peers, pitch their ideas and projects and network, and collectively demonstrate our courage to tell our own stories,” says Toni Monty, Head of the DFM.
Saying DFM 2020 focuses on ‘African filmmakers who work to contribute cinema images that celebrate, and canonize our struggles and our beauty,” Monty explains that ‘These are African filmmakers whose stories challenge oppressive structures, engage with dominant value systems, and reflect our daily experiences.’
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The creation of film, Monty says, is ‘an act of courage because of the ever-increasing challenges in both funding and media freedom in many parts of the continent. This will be a gathering of filmmakers in a celebration of collective African resilience, collective victories and a call for the stories of the future’.
According to a media statement released by the newly created Durban FilmMart Institute (DMI) under which DFM now runs, the programme “looks at current filmmaking development, distribution and marketing trends, with a Pan-African focus, and how the future of cinema will navigate new landscapes including the digital world. In an effort to connect African film professionals across the post-colonial divides and create new synergies and networks, this edition will include French and Portuguese, two languages largely spoken around the continent.”
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DFM’s virtual approach has added new initiatives to the Market:
- The DFM Content Shop. Distributors, sale agents and programmers will have, at their disposal, a catalogue of 90 African projects (fiction, documentary film of all lengths as well as series) that are ready for sale and distribution.
- The Pitch Forum, scheduled for September 4 – 7, offers financiers, funders, investors, and programmers a chance to explore the 70 African projects in development that will be presented. These include the selected projects from submissions, projects from the Talents Durban programme in partnership with Berlinale Talents, as well as start-up projects from the Jumpstart incubator programme, in partnership with Produire au Sud, in Durban sister city Nantes, France. Jumpstart will introduce 6 emerging directors from Durban and Kwazulu-Natal region to project packaging for the international market
- Engage, the pan-African think tank, will discuss the difficult social, economic, and political landscapes that filmmakers are required to navigate, especially around representation and authenticity in the content created within Africa.
Also planned to enrich the industry programme is a series of webinars, discussion forums and hangouts.
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Through Durban Does Docs sessions, delegates will meet and engage with documentary film directors in a series of talks that centre around the art of the creative documentary film. Filmmakers sharing their process include Sam Soko from Kenya, Dylan Valley from South Africa, Teboho Edkins from Germany/South Africa/Lesotho, Nicole Schafer from South Africa, and Petra Costa from Brazil.
The DFM Conversations platform is a space in which delegates can participate in in-depth conversations with industry leaders around topics like screenwriting, audience development, representation in filmmaking and pioneering an African aesthetic. Speakers include Roger-Ross Williams from USA, Chioma Ude from Nigeria, Kagiso Lediga from South Africa, Akin Omotoso from Nigeria/South Africa and Wanuri Kahiu from Kenya.
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Filmmaker Talks invites directors, writers and animators to discuss the stories they are telling in their works of art – ranging across feature, documentary, animation, and short film creation. Speakers include Mounia Aram from France/Morocco, Clare Tracy Louis from South Africa, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese from Lesotho and Rehad Desai from South Africa.
In a Special Focus: African Content in the New Normal, speakers will discuss the challenges that national lockdowns present and the unique opportunities that these circumstances have offered filmmakers. Topics include Co-production in the New Normal; Homegrown Online platforms for pan-African content; Risk Under and After Covid – Future Prospects for the Service Industry.
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In the South African Film in Focus, sessions will look at the various areas of focus for South African filmmakers, but will be of interest to all filmmakers.
“Going online has enabled us to extend our reach and include more filmmakers than ever before,” says Mandisa Zitha, Chairperson of the DFI Board of Directors. “The disruption of our world by the COVID-19 virus has led to innovation, as well as demonstrated the ever-increasing need for the creation of content. The DFM virtual space now offers filmmakers extensive opportunities to network, make connections with other filmmakers and industry professionals with whom they can collaborate, or build relationships and get down to the business of film. This we believe will provide a positive stimulus for the industry’s economy on the continent.”
Delegates can register for participation in the 11th DFM here.
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