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DAC gets industry lowdown
Mon, 16 Nov 2009
As at 2 November, written submissions on the key challenges curbing the film and television industry's growth had been presented to the Department of Arts & Culture (DAC) by the South African Screen Federation (SASFED), the Writers Guild of South Africa, the Sithengi Film & TV Market, Women in Film & Television (WIFT), the South African Communications Association (SACOMM) and several individuals. This was at the specific request of the new Minister of Arts and Culture, the Honourable Lulu Xingwana, MP, who held an open industry forum at Atlas Studios in Johannesburg on 12 October.
At the forum, the Minister agreed with most of what was said on issues such as public broadcaster SABC's financial and managerial crisis, the slow pace of transformation, lack of funding and capacity, challenges facing freelancers, lack of skills development and copyright of intellectual property (IP). However, she stressed that solutions must come from the industry working with the DAC and said the slow pace of implementation within her Department needed addressing.
Although the SABC crisis, which has crippled the independent production sector, falls under the Department of Communications (DoC), Minister Xingwana said she was engaging with that Department on the issue. (Meanwhile, the DoC has released the controversial Public Broadcasting Services Bill which seeks to put control of the SABC directly into the Minister of Communications hands and which wants to impose a tax on citizens to fund the broadcaster.)
Delegates at the open forum were encouraged to hear from Minister Xingwana that the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is amending the Copyright Act and is taking measures to ensure speedier disbursement of National Lottery payments. Together with the DTI, the DAC is setting up a task team to look into film finance and legislation. The Minister also revealed that Co-production Treaties are about to be signed with Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and France.
Read more in the November/December 2009 issue of Screen Africa
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