In a panel discussion held at the Johannesburg leg of the Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival on 18 July, documentary filmmakers were encouraged by Emma Kaye, CEO Gate 7 New Media, to produce and distribute films on cell phones.
Kaye is the convener of Mobfest, a soon to be launched festival dedicated to mobile TV films. Mobfest in association with Encounters produced seven made-for-mobile documentary films which are being shown at Encounters. Kaye and Encounters approached the documentary filmmakers the week before Encounters and tasked them with making three-minute films using phones supplied by Nokia. Post production was sponsored by The Refinery.
Four films were shown during the panel discussion in Johannesburg: “Dark Angel’ by Fiona MacPherson and Jacquie Trowell; “Maximus’ by Rehad Desai; “10 Trillion Cells in Flux’ by Karin Slater; and “The Fault is our Creed’ by African Renaissance Productions.
The high level mobile TV panel included Canadian Emmy Award-winning documentary writer/producer Thomas Wallner, who is also presenting master classes at Encounters and whose film “Beethoven’s Hair’ is being screened at the festival. Others in the panel were Eject Media’s Jonathan Mckay, DStv Mobile’s Astrid Ascar, Endemol SA’s Siven Pillay, Vodacom – Vodafone Live’s Jennifer Marshall and MTN’s Lana Strydom.
Among the questions raised was how to drive entertainment to mobile handsets and how to build a sustainable business model around mobile TV. The issue of the type of content suitable for mobile was also covered.
See report in August issue of Screen Africa.
