It may have been generally quieter at the Cannes International Film Festival, which ended its 10-day run on 24 May, but for many of the South African producers who attended, it was their busiest festival to date.

Reports from producers are that the South African pavilion had a steady flow of visitors interested in filming in the country and establishing closer co-production relationships with producers. Good meetings were held with producers from the UK, Germany, France, Canada and the US, while the hands-on engagement of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) represented by Nadia Sujee and Karin Liebenberg as well as Basil Ford of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) boosted confidence in the country. However, a big damper was the news of the xenophobic carnage which came through in the final days of the festival.

"The design and facilities of the South Africa pavilion had been improved with more meeting rooms and even a boardroom. There was plenty of traffic and we were as busy as our neighbour, the British pavilion," says producer Mfundi Vundla, Morula Films. The South African pavilion was organised by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and co-sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), DTI and the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC).

For Vundla, the Cannes festival represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen important relationships, and he says he was particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to establish meaningful contact with International Creative Management (ICM), a Beverley Hills-based agency which represents some of the biggest Hollywood names. "I now have a base into Hollywood." He intends to follow up on the meetings he had at Cannes with a business trip to California later in the year.

Read more in the June 2008 issue of Screen Africa