South African Industry Ponders Its Future as Challenges Mount: ‘We’re Not Cultivating a New Generation’

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias The Durban FilmMart began Friday in South Africa with the spirited, hopeful, often contentious representatives of the host nation weighing in on the highs and lows of its screen industries three decades into democratic rule. “I think this industry has always reflected a combination of anger and courage.

You see the demand. The numbers are there. You see the beautiful work. You see the potential,” said Onke Dumeko, head of operations at South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). “The challenge is how to meet that demand.

How much funding is available…when you’re really trying to work towards creating an industry that you know can make a world of difference in a country that needs it?” Africa’s largest economy has faced a host of challenges in recent years, from persistently high rates of crime and unemployment to the rolling blackouts that have become a daily fact of life for South Africans of every racial and economic background.

Dumeko pointed to budget shortfalls at the NFVF — an institution that is vital to both the growth and transformation of the South African biz — as emblematic of larger structural issues holding the screen industries back. “If you compare South Africa to a lot of industries with similar GDPs, the difference here is the lack of intentional focus on this industry,” she said. “Intentional focus that’s vision-led, that says in 30 years, what do we want as an outcome for this industry and how will that impact the rest of the country?” The Dept.