The 23rd of July 2008 sees the beginning of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). This year’s DIFF promises to let the international production and media industry know that South Africa is a force to be reckoned with. The SABC will be presenting over 300 films from around the world with a special focus on South African and African films. As the proud partner of the 29th instalment of DIFF, the SABC through this festival, strengthens the South African film and television industry and brings a host of industry expertise, film networks, local and international media highlighting and stimulating our progressive film industry.
“DIFF is one platform that the SABC uses to continue to promote local programmes and content from the African continent. This initiative not only aims to showcase the best production but endeavours to promote a united Africa. We are especially excited to be a partner at this year’s festival as we have a lot of exciting plans and announcements to make, says Mvuzo Mbebe, Group Executive for Content Enterprises Division.
As part of it’s commitment to promoting the development of the local film industry, the SABC has incorporated a cultivating programme line up with workshops that will take place throughout Durban during the festival. Some of the workshops that will take place are:
The “Cash flowing the rebate workshop - hosted by SABC & DTI, this workshop aims to answer questions around the criteria for accessing the rebate and explores co-production between broadcaster and producer. DTI directors and SABC executives will be present with an open floor for filmmakers.
The SABC’s Digital Terrestrial Television and New Media team /leader will be on the panel to provide the industry with an insight into the relationship between digital migration and new media from a broadcaster perspective in the workshop “Mediating the Media convergence”.
DIFF in partnership with the SABC will be hosting the Talent Campus initiative. The “Student Reel” initiative, a six-day program that touches on essential issues of filmmaking such as story development, cinematographic styles, production models and new markets, is run successfully at the Berlin International Film Festival, with campuses in New Delhi, Sarajevo and Buenos Aires. It brings together aspiring talents and experienced film professionals from all over the world. It affords young up and coming filmmakers and students an opportunity to have their films screened on national television in the different countries they are in. This slot ran successfully on SABC television from October 2007 to March 2008 and will be back on screens later in the year.
An open floor discussion around international formats vs. local formats will be discussed in the “Can our content be formatted” workshop. This workshop will be focusing on discussions around whether South African content allows itself to be formatted and whether this is the genre to break the American ceiling?
In “Fiction scripting docu-ganda” - Films that are portrayed as fact based but actually have an agenda are discussed. The discussion covers issues of the filmmaker becoming a dispassionate observer speaking with the voice of God. This style of filmmaking has a strong point of view similar to fictional writing but unlike fiction it claims to inform the audience. This workshop asks whether the honey moon between fiction and docu-ganda is over and whether media gatekeepers are realizing that this cross-pollination demands higher media literacy from audiences.
“Word of mouth” is a workshop to inform the industry on the importance of subtitling especially in the new media and digital environment.
Prominent local animators and animation companies will feature at the “Cartooning the tube” workshop to discuss the cost viability of animation for television and local animated films. Various animation styles will be on view on screens around the venue. In line with this discussion, the SABC children genre department with will launch their exciting, innovative animation strand -“Seeing the world through 3D on the 29th of July.
To get the full events programme, please visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and click on the Durban International Film Festival link.
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