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Election Coverage pg 8 The Year Ahead pg 22 Editing pg 18
Broadcast • Film • Commercials • Technology • Digital Media
www.screenafrica.com VOL 21 – January 2009 R27.00
Sithengi is back!
After a two-year hiatus, the
Sithengi Film & Television
Market will be back in 2009.
Sithengi, which was the
premier Southern African
Gauteng
makes
progress
There has been much criticism
levelled at Johannesburg
municipal and provincial
departments for
their lack of support and
assistance for commercial
productions shooting in
the city (see page 6). According
to Jacques Stoltz,
senior marketing manager
for the Gauteng Film
Commission (GFC),
progress has been made in
addressing the challenges.
“We have made progress
with the Johannesburg
Metro Police Department
(JMPD) in agreeing on
operational matters, including
a maximum five
day application turnaround
time. We have also
agreed that all permit applications
will be channelled
through the GFC
in order to ensure that
we properly co-ordinate
applications.”
– to page 51
media event held in Cape Town
for 11 years, came to an abrupt
end when it was cancelled in
2007 by the then board because
of financial difficulties.
It was announced at the
Sithengi AGM held in
Johannesburg on 6 December
that the survival of Sithengi has
now been assured with the
support of Minister Pallo
Jordan and Director-General
Themba Wakashe of the
Department of Arts and
Culture (DAC), as well as the
National Film and Video
Foundation (NFVF) which
has been mandated by
government to develop and
grow the South African film
industry.
A web-based location booking
system for the Cape Town Film
Permit Office is to be developed
over the next six months in an
effort to resolve the industry
crisis which is hindering
productions in terms of location
access. This is an intervention
by the City of Cape Town to
address the Film Permit
Office’s logistical challenges
and bureaucratic systems. The
Commercial Producers
Association (CPA) will be
consulted on the development
aspects of the new system.
Further, the City Cape
Town, under which the Film
Permit Office falls, will
It was agreed that the DAC
would work with Sithengi and
the NFVF to find a solution for
the debt and to draw up a
proposal for a three-year
funding period in line with
Sithengi’s vision of a publicprivate
sector funding model.
The Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) and the public
broadcaster SABC have also
committed their support to
Sithengi.
Since the new Sithengi board
was elected in November 2007
it has been working tirelessly
on a new strategy, meeting with
previous funders, donors and
partners and trying to find
mechanisms to overcome the
– to page 51
Cape film permit crisis
accelerate the establishment of
a dedicated film and events
traffic services unit to support
locations for the industry.
These developments are the
result of a meeting held on 4
December between the City of
Cape Town, the CPA and the
Cape Film Commission
(CFC).
The ongoing Film Permit
Office crisis was highlighted in
a recent Cape newspaper and
prompted Garth Strachan,
Western Cape Minister for
Finance, Economic Development
& Tourism, to call for an
urgent investigation.
MARKET FORCE: Firdoze Bulbulia (Sithengi media liaison), Themba Sibeko
(Sithengi consultant), Faith Isiakpere (Sithengi chairperson), Theo Seanego (Sithengi
legal adviser), Judi Nwokedi (vice chairperson Sithengi), Eddie Mbalo (CEO NFVF)
and Themba Wakashe (director-general DAC)
CTFS captures
industry support
The new look and vision of the
Cape Town Film Studios
(CTFS) was launched on
Monday 1 December on the
Faure site, near Stellenbosch,
where the mega studio complex
will be built. The industry
learnt from CTFS chief executive
officer Nico Dekker that
by early 2010, the first phase
which includes four studios,
two workshops and the production
house will be complete.
Half of the CTFS 200
hectares site will be developed
and the rest will remain as unspoilt
wetlands. Of the 100ha
that is to be developed, 70% is
earmarked for studio use with
the remaining area allocated
for residential, commercial
and retail developments.
(See www.screenafrica.com
for Screen Africa’s report on
CTFS developments at the
time of the launch.)
Dekker told Screen Africa
that there had been a remarkable
confidence turnabout by
the industry in the development
of the long delayed
R450m Hollywood-style studios.
Industry scepticism about
whether the studio complex
would ever be built has finally
turned to enthusiastic support
with more than 60 film-related
companies indicating their
interest to move to the future
studio site.
The type of companies
which have made serious enquiries
about relocating to the
CTFS range from production,
post-production, film and digital
laboratories, special effects,
set building, casting, training
– to page 51 – to page 51