The Department of Trade and Industry said it would have spent R100 million to support emerging black filmmakers through the South Africa Emerging Black Filmmakers Incentive by the end of March 2018.
That’s according to DTI’s Director of Film Production, Nelly Molokoane, who was speaking at the Emerging Black Filmmakers Workshop at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF).
The workshop was targeted at emerging film producers who want to access the incentives scheme.
Molokoane said since its launch, the Incentive scheme has managed to support 40 projects of emerging filmmakers as part of the R100 million budget.
However, she said in terms of finalising those projects and productions, producers still find it difficult accessing additional funds to close their projects due to financial constraints.
Molokane said that the Department of Trade and Industry has now partnered with the Industrial Development Cooperation, National Film and Video Foundation, South African Broadcasting Corporation and provincial film commissions to assist filmmakers.
“The scale of projects has been increasing since the inception of the scheme in 2014. The department approved 15 applications thereafter it increased to 40 over a period of three years. Partnership with these institutions will yield positive results in the near future and we will see more productions being supported. We are planning to host intense workshops in various provinces to assist filmmakers to access this support,” said Molokoane.
