The Durban FilmMart began Friday in South Africa with the spirited, hopeful, often contentious representatives of the host nation weighing in on the highs and lows of its screen industries three decades into democratic rule.
“I think this industry has always reflected a combination of anger and courage. You see the demand. The numbers are there. You see the beautiful work. You see the potential,” said Onke Dumeko, head of operations at South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF).
“The challenge is how to meet that demand. How much funding is available…when you’re really trying to work towards creating an industry that you know can make a world of difference in a country that needs it?”
Africa’s largest economy has faced a host of challenges in recent years, from persistently high rates of crime and unemployment to the rolling blackouts that have become a daily fact of life for South Africans of every racial and economic background.
Dumeko pointed to budget shortfalls at the NFVF — an institution that is vital to both the growth and transformation of the South African biz — as emblematic of larger structural issues holding the screen industries back.
“If you compare South Africa to a lot of industries with similar GDPs, the difference here is the lack of intentional focus on this industry,” she said. “Intentional focus that’s vision-led, that says in 30 years, what do we want as an outcome for this industry and how will that impact the rest of the country?”
The Dept. of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), which administers South Africa’s struggling rebate system, found itself taking heat from several filmmakers over what producer Marc Schwinges described as a “massive problem that is decimating our industry.” Earlier this year, industry sources told Variety that the DTIC is slowly addressing a backlog of payments that has seen some producers waiting as long as two years to be reimbursed for expenditures covered by the cashback scheme.
“Film commissions, broadcasters, everyone has to deal with this, and urgently. It is a matter of major importance at the moment. We’re unable to cash-flow anything,” said Schwinges. “How are we supposed to produce content at a high level in South Africa?”
“The DTIC has bankrupted our industry,” added filmmaker Cati Weinek. “We really need, as filmmakers, to hold them to account. We can’t keep saying we have this fabulous rebate. It is actually so dysfunctional as to not exist. It’s very hard to be in this space, to see talent coming up. What kind of industry are we building if we don’t have that one pillar standing with us?” (The DTIC had not responded to Variety’s request for comment by the time of publication.)
For better or worse, streaming services like homegrown player Showmax and global platform Netflix have stepped in to fill the gap. But amid the cost-cutting measures that are reshaping those services’ business models, South African filmmakers worry they could be left in the lurch.
“Suddenly, there’s so many more opportunities. Suddenly, there’s bigger budgets available,” said producer Layla Swart, who is one of the keynote speakers at this year’s DFM. “It’s a good thing, but currently, it’s the only thing that we rely on. We don’t actually have a local, specific South African broadcaster that is functioning. Canal+ is taking over [Showmax owner] MultiChoice. Netflix is American. When Amazon left, it crippled a lot of people’s jobs.
“I think we’re all busy trying to fight for the same pie, but we’re looking at a pie that isn’t even going to feed us and satiate us,” she continued. “At the end of the day, we’re not cultivating a new generation — the new voices. And at some point, we’re going to realize that we’ve got nobody. It’s crucially important to start developing talent.”
For all its struggles, however, the South African industry looks radically different than it did three decades ago, when the country hosted its first democratic elections. Doors have opened that long remained shut — especially for Black filmmakers — and the locally produced content that appears on screen is more representative of the population of the “Rainbow Nation” than ever before.
On Friday in Durban, many took time to reflect on their young nation’s incredible journey — one that it continues to make against almost impossible odds.
“We started with almost nothing. We came from a space of prejudice that we had to deconstruct to allow the space for new changes and new voices to be heard. And how amazing that the film industry has changed to a large extent,” said Yashika Singh, of South African public broadcaster SABC.
“The narratives that have come through the passage of time have shaped who we are as a collective South Africa. It’s not been easy. But at the same time, new stories have come to the fore.”