Hollywood deal-making will hit peak this week as the American Film Market opens in Santa Monica, California. Among the throng of film execs and ambitious producers at the world’s largest motion picture trade event is a group of South Africans who carry more than the hopes of their entertainment industry.
The group of South African filmmakers landed on Oct. 31 as the film market opened, sent there by the country’s department of trade and industry. The aim is to sell South Africa’s film and TV industry to the more than 7,000 film reps from 80 countries—championing their original productions and positioning it as a great filmmaking destination.
Of the 222 films released in South Africa last year, only 23 were made in South Africa. Two of those were as a result of co-productions with US and French studios. While production facilities in and around Cape Town have attracted international customers, the South African industry has failed to meet the potential it showed with the foreign language Academy Award in 2006 for Tsotsi. It’s also been eclipsed by the sheer ubiquity of Nollywood, and Nigeria’s ability to generate a rapidly professionalizing industry.
It’s no mistake that the group sent to Santa Monica is majority black. The trade department chose a black delegation to diversify the South African film industry and expose them to the international film market, which is itself making greater effort to diversify.
Among them is Thabang Moleya, who directed the breakout hit Happiness is a Four Letter Word. Based on the book by the same name, the 2016 comedy about three girlfriends from Johannesburg was a hit with audiences, and showed that South Africa’s cinematic story went beyond apartheid and crime. Moleya, who has also directed a string of South African series, is hoping to return with a co-production deal.
The group also includes producer Phumelele Mthembu, who looking for financers and distributors for her project African America. Animator Kearatwa Sedidi has the same goals. The group is made up of emerging filmmakers, and few of the directors and producers who have had local hits or international attention, which makes for great exposure but a harder sell.
The “mission” is typical of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic strategy across sectors. The president believes the way to save South Africa’s struggling economy is to court international investment and develop black industrialists.