2006 – A Year of celebration

So far Tsotsi (a film by Gavin Hood, partly funded by NFVF) has won over nine international awards which includes amongst others the Greek Parliament’s Human Values Award (Thessaloniki Film Festival), Audience Choice Award (Los Angeles AFI Film Festival), People’s Choice Award (Toronto International Film Festival), Standard Life Award (Edinburgh International Film Festival) and the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film (Edinburgh International Film Festival).

The film, "Tsotsi" continues to make a contribution to what will ultimately become a legacy in the history of filmmaking in South Africa. Last year "Yesterday" (a film by Darrell Roodt also partly funded by NFVF), was nominated in the same category. This simply means that we are moving forward and I hope that we do not rest on our laurels. These nominations and other awards won is a reflection of our positioning effort of South Africa as a filmmaking nation and a partner for co-productions – our marketing strategy is working. On behalf of the NFVF staff, the Council and the Oscar Selection Committee (South Africa), I would like to thank the Producers, Cast and Crew for creating a world-class product.

Whilst on the topic of celebration, there are two industry events that I believe will have a particular significance to the history of South African and Television industry. For the first time ever, the NFVF and the SAFTA Committee will host the first South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) and in partnership with Department of Arts and Culture, the NFVF will host the African Film Summit (AFS).

SAFTA is an event that will celebrate excellence with regard to talent and creativity in the South African film and television industry. It is an event that I believe will encourage the development of new talent and promote quality in the film and television industry. We have thus far received overwhelming support from the industry since we made a call for production companies to submit nominations for the SAFTAs. The SAFTA Committee is in the process of selecting the judging panel for the event.

2006 is also the year in which South Africa will celebrate thirty years of broadcasting and over a hundred and ten years of filmmaking. All of these years clasp various developments that eventually led the South African Film and Television industry to become a competitive industry that it is today. For the very first time, South Africa will celebrate the talents of men and women whom over the years have helped to shape the image of South Africa through moving images and what better way to this than in our own backyard.

Whilst South Africa strives to find its own feet in the international arena of filmmaking, it is also important that we look beyond our immediate borders and play an active part (together with other African countries) in evaluating the successes and challenges of national and regional film industries within the continent and interrogating the performance of African countries against international benchmarks and Conventions within the area of filmmaking in Africa. The hosting of the AFS will achieve the abovementioned objective.

The AFS is a culmination of discussions held in 2003 at FESPACO (The Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou), Burkina Faso. The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), the NFVF and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) are collaborating in order to create a platform for African filmmakers to enter into dialogue on the future of filmmaking in the continent. One of the possible outcomes is the restructuring of FEPACI in order to make it a truly representative body of the aspirations of African filmmakers. For South Africa, this is also a response to a call by President Thabo Mbeki to align our programmes to support the NEPAD initiative for the economic transformation of the continent.

The call for the restructuring of FEPACI was primarily based on the African Union Commission's appeal for the Regional Economic Communities, African Governments, the private sector and the civil society to take appropriate steps to hold consultations and conduct preliminary studies with a view to establishing an African Commission on the Audiovisual and Cinema industries, as well as a Fund to promote the cinema industry and television programming in Africa.

On 3 April, over 150 filmmakers and cinema practitioners, from the African continent and the Diaspora, representatives of national and regional film associations, guilds and unions, continental and national government institutions and other key stakeholders will descend to Pretoria to attend the AFS.

The key expected output of the Summit are proposals on a way forward on how to implement process on various instruments, motions, proposals, declarations and resolutions made and signed by the African Union in relation to sustainable growth and development of film as a Cultural Industry across the continent.

Finally, in response to Indaba 2005 resolution on intergovernmental coordination, the NFVF has held individual discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry (Dti), the SABC and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on a coordinated approach to the development of the industry. Hopefully, this will culminate into a Memorandum of Understanding with all these institutions that will ensure a more coordinated approach in the interest of developing our sector.

In the last month we held discussions with the MEC's for Sports, Arts and Culture in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga and they have both shown commitment to supporting NFVF initiatives in the respective provinces but also in lobbying national government. The provinces are an important component in the development of our sector. The good news is also that cultural industries and film in particular are high on the agenda on the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative, which is a new government strategy for economic development.

It looks like 2006 is going to be a good year and I hope we will all commit to making it a good year.