A new DVD/CD distribution model launched on 4 December in the Johannesburg CBD is set to tap into the massive informal/commuter market and hopes to reduce piracy substantially by selling premium content through legitimate units at affordable prices.
The brainchild of filmmaker Ben Horowitz, Bliksem has been a year in the making. Realising early on that such a project could not be done in isolation, Horowitz has secured the support of, among others, the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO), the Johannesburg Metro Police Division, the city, the Department of Trade & Industry Office of Company and IP Enforcement, the South African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT), the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), as well as several filmmakers.
Bliksem’s six-month pilot project Ð The Hoek Street Depot Ð is a sales outlet situated in the Trading Spaces Mall in Hoek Street. There are currently about 40 DVDs/CDs in BliksemÕs inventory. While the focus is on local language/local content films and music, Bliksem also sells international titles.
“Our business model is based on very conservative projections,Ó explains Horowitz. ÒShould the pilot project reach its six-month target we will expand it to other cities. An opportunity in Pretoria has already arisen and thatÕs where we are headed in early 2010.”
Read more in the January 2010 issue of Screen Africa
