Durban FilmMart Institute (DFMI) announces animation project selection for the 16th annual DFM Pitch and Finance Forum.

Over the past 3 years, animation has become an integral part of the Durban FilmMart annual event in July, Animation@DFM includes both important conversations in the industry programme and the participation of animation projects at the DFM Pitch and Finance Forum. 

The online animation masterclass series and one-on-one mentorship offered to projects in development is the first element of the annual programme. The aim of the masterclass programme is to prepare the selected participants  to pitch in Africa’s leading film finance and co-production market. The 16th annual Durban FilmMart is scheduled to take place from the 18 to 21 July, in Durban, South Africa. 

“Over the years, we have noticed the increase in the quality of animation projects coming out of African continent”, says DFMI director, Magdalene Reddy,  “DFMI is honoured to witness the growth of the animation sector and celebrate the work that is been done by creators, both on the continent and in the diaspora. Animation@DFM is now a permanent strand of programming at the market, bringing together the worlds of animation and live action in one place creates richer conversations and deeper networks for industry.” 

DFMI received applications from animation professionals across the continent and the diaspora which made the selection of 8 projects by the  independent evaluation panel very competitive, challenging and exciting. All 8 projects will go through a 3-month period of training and development to ensure they are ready to meet investors in Durban. 

8 Official projects:

Animated fiction features:

Aisha Qandicha    

Producer: Alyssa Harden

Director: Fatima Mahdar

Morocco     

Au nom du Roi Njoya (In The Name of King Njoya)        

Producer: Claye Edou

Director: Claye Edou

Cameroon   

Crocodile Dance

Producer: Ingrid de Beer

Directors:  Shofela Coker, Nadia Darries

South Africa /Nigeria

 Kamaroza

Producer: Nouran Abdallah

Directors: Ahmad Abdelhameed, Islam Mazhar

Egypt 

KINTUADI: SIMON KIMBANGU 

Producer:  Giresse Kassonga

Director: Benny Lusakueno

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tribe  

Producer: Debbie Crosscu

Director: Tendayi Nyeke

South Africa 

Animated fiction series:

Mboudgui   

Producer: Betty Sulty-Johnson, Lamissa Ouattara

Director: Bienvenu Wanso-Tissala

Cameroon /France 

Nunu Rhu/The Girl With Wings         

Producer: Ameera Faber, Sabrina Roc

Director: Clare Louis

South Africa 

Masterclass and Mentorship Programme

The 3-month online masterclass programme will feature script development, visual representation, finance planning, project packaging, pitching and much more while the one-on-one mentorship will allow individual mentors to assist animators with  project packaging and pitch preparation.

More details about the 16th Durban FilmMart will be announced in due course.

The Durban FilmMart 2025 is presented by the Durban FilmMart Institute with principal funding from the Durban Film Office and eThekwini Municipality.

About Durban FilmMart Institute

Durban FilmMart Institute is the business hub of the African film industry in a world where professionals and content are globally competitive and celebrated. The mission of the Durban FilmMart Institute is to provide appropriate and effective programmes and services to promote, support and facilitate investment in the African film industry.  The Durban FilmMart Institute runs year round developmental programmes and an annual market (Durban FilmMart).  The DFMI has recently launched Filmmart.africa which is an online tool for filmmakers to connect and which we hope will enhance visibility for African content.  

For more information about the DFMI programmes visit www.durbanfilmmart.co.za

For more information contact: info@durbanfilmmart.com

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Durban FilmMart 2023 - Selected Animation Projects Announced

The Durban FilmMart Institute (DFMI) is pleased to announce the 8 animation projects that have been selected for this year’s Durban FilmMart. 

“Animation has been noted by Forbes Magazine as one of the fastest growing sectors in the creative industry across Africa over the past few years”, says Magdalene Reddy, DFMI Director. “Against this backdrop the annual Durban FilmMart (DFM) will for the second year include animation projects in development in its Pitch and Finance Forum. Positioned as the premier film market in Africa, the DFM is perfectly placed to provide a platform for animation content creators to meet potential collaborators and financiers, thereby contributing to the continuing growth of animation on the continent.” 

The official DFM Animation project teams from across the continent are currently preparing their pitches for DFM 2023 will take place from 21 to 24 July 2023 as an in-person event in Durban, South Africa. 

Official DFM Animation Projects: 

● Azania Rises: Season 1 (South Africa), producers: Dr. Farayi Chinyanga andFatuma Abdullah and director: Farisai Kavayi 
● Boy Boi (Kenya), producers: Shadrack Munene & J. Njogu Macharia and director J.Njogu Macharia 
● Between heaven and earth (Entre ciel et terre) (Tunisia), producer, Sarra BenHassen and director, Nadia Rais 
● My BIG name (South Africa), producers: Busisiwe Ntintili, Mpumi Sinxoto &Amanda Zungu and director: Lebogang Sekwelenkwe 
● NALEDI (South Africa), producer: Lesego Vorster, co producers: Valentin Maupinand Aristote Douroudakis and director:Lola Aikins 
● Spiky to the Core (زين) (Egypt), producer and director: Nermeen Salem

● SOLA (South Africa), producers AJ Pitre, Thandiwe Mlauli and director: ThandiweMlauli

● The Passport of Mallam Ilia (Nigeria), producer: Ferdinand Adimefe and director: Chekwube Okonkwo 

Each team has been assigned an individual mentor who will give them the tools to pitch and the confidence to navigate the market, which includes one on one meetings with decision-makers from across the world. In addition to this, each team has access to an 8 week masterclass series, presented by DFMI which began in mid January. The masterclass series is specifically structured to upskill and prepare filmmakers for the international marketplace and will be presented by Beth Parker, Terence Maluleke, Aseye Tamakloe and Mounia Aram, just to name a few. The series covers creative elements such as story development, character development and visual representation as well as business elements such as distribution and finance planning. 

At the end of the 8-week masterclass series, selected project teams will then be invited to participate in the Road to Annecy Animation Incubation Programme presented by DFMI’s animation partners, Digital Lab Africa (DLA), Tshimologong Precinct and Cape Town International Animation Film Festival (CTIAF). 

The 8 official animation projects in development will be presented to a panel of international decision-makers consisting of potential co-producers, broadcasters, film funds, and distributors at the 14th Durban FilmMart Pitch and Finance Forum. 

The Durban FilmMart Institute receives principal funding from the Durban Film Office and the eThekwini Municipality. 

The Durban FilmMart animation programme is supported by the project “Cultural and Creative Industries” which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. It improves employment and income opportunities for creative professionals in six partner countries; Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa and operates mainly in the music, fashion, design and animation sectors. In addition to promoting the development of entrepreneurial, digital, creative and technical skills through training programmes, the project aims to strengthen the framework conditions and the ecosystem of the cultural and creative industries. 

For further information contact info@durbanfilmmart.com

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DIFF Film Karl Marx City has messages for South Africa and the world

A Durban International Film Festival Film - Karl Marx City has messages for South Africa and the world.

By Wanda Hennig

German-born New York film-maker Petra Epperlein was at home in the United States with her co-director husband Michael Tucker when she received the devastating news. Her father was dead. He had hanged himself from an oak tree in the garden of the family home. The home her mom still lived in. The home that for the first 20 years of Epperlein’s life (and for 20 years before that) was in Soviet-controlled East German, the old German Democratic Republic (DDR).

There had been no warning signs that her dad was planning to end his life.

What Epperlein did know, however, was that after the Berllin Wall fell in 1989 and as the process of reunification was beginning, he had been mailed several veiled threats. Notes accusing him of having been in alliance with the sinister, controlling Stasi, the Ministry of State Security “secret police” that had created a society under constant “Big Brother” surveillance and in the grip of fear: even of thinking the wrong thoughts.

So was born the intimate and personal documentary Karl Marx City, the film that has brought Epperlein to the 2017 Durban International Film Festival. It is one of 10 “German Film Focus” films screening: a collaboration between the German Embassy, the Goethe-Institut, German Films and Berlinale Talents, with DIFF 2017. Epperlein, also part of DIFF’s women-led films focus, will share knowledge with aspiring film-makers while here.

Karl Marx City was the city of Chemnitz before the 40-year DDR period. With the name change came a 40-ton bronze monument of Marx’s head that still looms over the inner city skyline: even though the city is Chemnitz once more.

“My father’s suicide made me question my memories of him. Do we really know who our parents are? You live with them. You see them in a certain way. I had a perception of my father as a warm and loving person.”

But with his suicide she began to question her memories. Could her childhood have been an elaborate fiction? Could her father in fact have been an informant? The Stasi were known to have had neighbour spy on neighbour; children report on parents.

We are chatting at the Elangeni Hotel. Epperlein is just off the plane from New York City. The gaminesque architect turned film-maker is shiny-eyed from jet-lag but alert, curious about Durban (“what mustn’t I miss?) and happy to share both perceptions on her movie and the fact that Karl Marx City—the fourth film she and Tucker have made to premier at the Toronto Film Festival—has received fantastic reviews in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere.

Epperlein was an architecture student at university in Dresden when the Berlin Wall fell. The revolution that saw the Cold War unravel started in Dresden. She was in the thick of it. Scenes from the time feature in her film. East Germans were trying to escape to the West in growing numbers. Many had sought refuge in embassies in Budapest and Prague. The DDR regime agreed to give passage to the unsustainably large numbers holed up there. They would be taken by train to (west) Berlin. The train would pass through Dresden. The aim was for Stasi officers to board the train in Dresden and take away passports “so they could never return”.

But riots erupted. You see footage of the riots is in the film. “It was the first riot against the regime. I was there and it was four weeks of true excitement.”

Within a month the wall came down.

Two years later, soon as she completed her degree, Epperlein moved to Berlin. “The city centre didn’t exist. It was unchartered territory,” she says. “There were clubs and parties and excitement. Young people moved in and claimed it as their own—until the capital came in and started claiming it.”

After two years in Berlin, where she worked as an architect, Epperlein booked a ticket to New York City. “The ultimate symbol of freedom. I went to check it out.” She found it lived up to its promises and cliches.

It gave her something else too. She met Michael Tucker, the guy who became her husband. He was a film-maker. They became not only partners but also film collaborators. “Film-making and architecture are pretty similar,” she says. “With both, you have to organize complex structures in time and place.”

Epperlein’s father suicide came shortly before the 2013 Edward Snowden National Security Agency (NSA) leaks in the US. “Inspiration for the film came via the NSA leaks. People started comparing the Stasi to the NSA. This bothered me. They were really not the same. The Stasi were a repressive communist regime. You were not permitted to express your view or dissent. The NSA operates within a democratic society.

“I realised how little people knew about the Stasi or what life was like behind the Iron Curtain. East Germans don’t want to talk about it 27 years after reunification. It hasn’t been processed. Questions, for example about complicity, haven’t been addressed. It’s complex. So many questions.

“I thought, before it slips away and is lost, we should make a film about it. The final decision came after we went to the Stasi archives and discovered the film and video archives. Endless hours of surveillance. Mind-blowing. So much of it banal. The banality of evil. Unsuspecting people unaware they were being watched. Almost perfect documentary material.”

At the start of their quest, to try and find answers via the Stasi files, Epperlein had to convice her mom and her twin brothers that addressing this via a doccie was a good idea. “It was my obsession, to try and find the truth about my father. I imposed it on them. They were at first opposed. But then they went along.” The experience, she says, has brought them closer.

This is a film that will resonate with many South Africans who lived through apartheid. Think Broederbond and the Bureau for State Security (BOSS). Even the recent revelations of the Bell Pottinger secret manipulations... On a more intimate level, the family relationships resonate.

Epperlein and Tucker sponsor their own movies. They make them, then set about selling them. One called Fightville about cage fighting—“some amateur fighters who think their way of fulfilling the American dream is to go into a cage and beat each other up”—made them a bunch of money a couple of years ago.

It supported the current film “about a world that doesn’t exist any more.” Yet has profound lessons in the world we live in now where constant surveillance is a given. “It’s good to be aware of what it feels like to live in a truly oppressive society.”

The Stasi, she laughs, would have loved Facebook.

Karl Marx City shows tonight ( July 17) at 5pm  (one screening only) at Gateway Sterkinekor during the Durban International Film Festival which runs until Sunday, July 23. Tickets for this screening at box-office or www.sterkinekor.com.  For more information about the DIFF go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za.

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SOUTH AFRICA’S ‘INXEBA’ BAGS A STRING OF AWARDS AHEAD OF THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

SOUTH AFRICA’S ‘INXEBA’ BAGS A STRING OF AWARDS AHEAD OF THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

South African film ‘Inxeba’ (known internationally as ‘The Wound’) has won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the  current Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival at The Playhouse next week (14 July).

This is a latest in a string of awards for the film, which explores tradition and masculinity, and the clash between age-old rituals and modernity. Described by Variety magazine as “a milestone in South African cinema”, the film stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani's entire existence begins to unravel. 

At Cinema Jove, the Valencia International Film Festival, held in Spain from 23 June to 1 July, ‘Inxeba’ was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Touré.

At one of the world's longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, held from 7 to 18 June, ‘Inxeba’ won the Audience Award for Best Feature, with ScreenDaily describing it as “a measured consideration of class, race, self-loathing and self-assertion”.

At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25 June and where 147 films were screened, ‘Inxeba’ won the First Feature Award. 

Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy from 15 to 20 June.

In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US. The festival is known as a world-class platform for thought-provoking films from some of the best known and emerging independent filmmakers. At the MOOOV International Film held in March 2017, in Belgium, it garnered a Special Mention.

‘Inxeba’, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama, was a 2014 Durban FilmMart project. This initial pitch enabled the team behind it to obtain funding from a number of international financiers, resulting in a co-production between South Africa, France, Germany and The Netherlands. 

According to a Sundance review, “John Trengove's hard-edged but beautifully wrought study of clashing Xhosa models of masculinity will be an eye-opener to outsiders — and some South Africans too.”

‘Inxeba’ is the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, and is co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. The Xhosa initiation ritual which forms the landscape of the film is also the subject of ‘Inxeba’ co-writer Mgqolozana’s novel, ‘A Man Who Is Not a Man’. 

‘Inxeba’ will continue to travel around the world, having been sold to 19 countries for theatrical release thus far, and will be distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution. 

“The release strategy for South Africa ensures that the film will qualify as a strong contender to represent the country in the Foreign Language Film nominations for the 2018 Oscars,” says Helen Kuun, MD of Indigenous Film Distribution. “We are excited about ‘Inxeba’ as it is an authentic South African story that has gained traction globally.”

Director John Trengove, lead actor Nakhane Toure, some of the cast as well as co-producer Cait Pansegrouw, will be in attendance at the premiere.

‘Inxeba’ will be screened at 6pm on Friday, July 14 at The Playhouse, 8pm on Tuesday, July 18 at Sterkinekor Gateway, 2.30pm on Saturday, July 22 at Sterkinekor Gateway. Bookings for the Playhouse are through www.computicket.com, and for Sterkinekor on www.sterkinekor.com. For more information about the Durban International Film festival go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za

-ENDS

Caption: Poster for Inxeba

For more information:

http://www.urucumedia.com/the-wound

https://www.facebook.com/thewoundthefilm/

Watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I&t=3s

The Durban International Film Festival brings Germany to South Africa

The 38th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is set to captivate audiences with a German Focus, which features ten gripping films by some of Germany’s finest directors, a masterclass by German film industry professionals, as well as networking sessions with the cream of the international film industry crop.

 Curated by Alex Moussa Sawadogo, the variety of the films on the lineup is set to keep audiences enthralled. Films such as The People vs Fritz Bauer (which relates to German history after the WWII and the role of the attorney of law Fritz Bauer in confronting the state with its political shortcomings), Paula (which recounts the journey of a well-known early 20th century painter, who discovered her artistic freedom in a more traditional Germany), Goodbye Berlin (a depiction of how the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany merged into one state, taking two young children as the protagonists of a road movie through former East Germany) and Greetings From Fukushima (which breaks the common stereotypes that surround Germans) will leave audiences with a better understanding of German history, culture and people.

 While Goodbye Berlin ties in with this year’s overall festival theme, “Transit Tales”, All of a Sudden, Greetings From Fukushima, Paula and Karl Marx City speak to one of this year’s focus areas – women-led films.

 DIFF audiences will have the chance to meet key people behind the productions. Anand Batbileg and Tristan Göbel, two of the most promising talents in Germany’s film scene and the main actors of Goodbye Berlin will be in Durban for a Q&A following the German Gala screening of Goodbye Berlin at The Playhouse (Drama Theatre) on 16 July (time to be confirmed). The award winning and family friendly film was made by prominent film maker Fatih Akin who recently presented his last film in Cannes. Tickets for the Gala Screening are available at Computicket.

 Another confirmed DIFF guest is Doris Dörrie, director of Greetings From Fukushima. With her unmistakable way of storytelling, she has been one of the towering figures in German cinema since she stirred up the countries’ film scene in 1985 with the gender comedy Men. Christian Schwochow has been awarded for both his cinema and theatre work and will visit DIFF in his capacity as Director of Paula. Petra Epperlein will visit Durban as well to present the extraordinary documentary Karl Marx City, which is a highly personal cinematic journey into her childhood to find the truth about her late father’s suicide and his rumored past in the GDR’s secret service. Furthermore, Directors Karin Steinberger (The Promise) and Stephan Rick (The Dark Side Of The Moon) will be attending DIFF. 

 The German Focus at DIFF 2017 is presented by German Films, the Goethe-Institut and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in South Africa in cooperation with DIFF. 

Alex Moussa Sawadogo, director of the Afrikamera Festival and curator of the German Film Focus at DIFF elaborates: “Long considered as a highly politicized cinema that placed social and political criticism at the heart of its creation, today, German cinema is dominated by a new generation of directors. From diverse origins, free and gifted, these German directors are at the foreground of the vivacity of the production of German cinema, which is recognized all over the world. They bring the concerns of their generation in an intimate sphere on screen and discuss the tribulations of a new Germany that has opened itself to the world - particularly by receiving many people in distress. The German Film Focus at DIFF 2017 presents itself as a unique platform for the discovery of a program of new, diversified, exciting and engaging German films of all kinds – a cinema that places German people from all origins at the heart of its creation.”

Mariëtte Rissenbeek, German Films Service said: “The majority of the films we are presenting have been very successful at a large number of international film festivals. The kinds of stories they tell and the way in which they are told are relevant for a larger international audience, and the director’s handwriting has both a specific and an international element. The strength of German cinema at present is its diversity. Since the year 2000 a number of German films, about German history and personal stories, have been made which achieved international success.”

 Lien Heidenreich-Seleme, Head of Cultural Programmes at the Goethe-Institut, added: “The goals of the Goethe-Institut are to support film within the creative industries and to undo with stereotypes through visual storytelling. We do this with training and networking initiatives, through interdisciplinary and pan-African collaborations, and by increasing access to the variety of German filmmaking. In this light, and after our longstanding relationship with DIFF, we are excited about this year’s German focus.”    

 DIFF, the Goethe-Institut South Africa and Berlinale Talents have a decade-long partnership. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Talents Durban, a programme that began in 2008 as a result of the partnership between DIFF and Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Talents, with the support of the Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy.   

 Talents Durban is an annual five-day training and mentorship programme that runs at DIFF, aimed at empowering emerging 27 African screenwriters and directors working on projects for film, television, web series and content for mobile platforms. The 10th edition will take place from 14-18th of July under the theme “Perspectives: Seeing things differently”, which is derived from the observation that film alone may not change the world but can show the world when it changes. Talents Durban looks to not only highlight the stories of Africa, but create a culture of Africans telling their own stories, and most importantly from their experience and perspective of cutting edge and modern cinematic technology. Talents Durban is happy to welcome the German directors Doris Dörrie, Petra Epperlein and the two main characters of Fatih Akin’s film Goodbye Berlin, Anand Batbileg and Tristan Göbel. As part of Talents Durban and in association with the Goethe-Institut and FIPRESCI (International Association of Film Critics), the Talent Press programme will provide again mentorship and hands-on training in the craft of film criticism to three emerging African journalists. 

Furthermore, the Goethe-Institut will present “New Dimensions – Virtual Reality Africa”, a brand new package of four VR productions from Kenya, Ghana and Senegal. The works were co-produced with Cape Town based Electric South. To be shown at the Durban FilmMart (DFM), they allow a glimpse into the fascinating new opportunities that technology provides for visual storytelling.

DIFF is one of Africa’s leading and longest running festivals, and runs from 13 to 23 July in Durban, South Africa. 

To find out more about the German Focus at DIFF, visit www.durbanfilmfest.co.za, or follow the Festival and the German Film Focus partners on social media: 

Twitter: 

@DIFFest (#DIFF2017) 

@German_Films #germanfilms

@goethejoburg 

@berlin_talents

@GermanEmbassySA

Facebook: 

Durban International Film Festival 

German Films

Goethe-Institut Johannesburg

Talents Durban

German Embassy Pretoria

Instagram:

@durbaninternationalfilmfest

@germanfilms #germanfilms

@goethe_jhb

@berlinaletalents

 -ENDS