Representatives of the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday 14 February to represent South African films at the 21st Annual Pan African Film Festival (PAFF).
The PAFF is “dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. The festival presents and showcases a broad spectrum of creative works by black filmmakers, particularly those who reinforce positive images and help destroy negative stereotypes’.
The NFVF identified PAFF as a sustainable platform for local emerging black filmmakers to showcase their projects and advance their business prospects in the US market.
“We believe that this platform will give us an opportunity to position local black filmmakers to the international film community and create an environment where they are able to interact and seek more business opportunities for their projects, particularly in terms of co-production, co-financing and international distribution. This is in line with our strategy of exposing emerging filmmakers to the relevant international markets,” said Azania Muendane, NFVF head of marketing and public affairs.
The NFVF sponsored four filmmakers to attend the festival. They are Uzanenkosi who has just finished shooting his straight-to-DVD movie project, uSkroef no Sexy; co-producer John Volmink of Blitz Patrollie; Tops Mkhwanazi, co-producer of Gog’Helen and Sonia Sedibe who pitched her project Meet the Family for funding and distribution.
The NFVF hosted a South Africa day on Saturday 16 February where NFVF representatives made presentations to the international community. The presentations comprised important aspects of the South African industry, locations, co-financing and co-production opportunities available.
Fanie Fourie’s Lobola was represented at PAFF and will release at local cinemas on 1 March.
PAFF ended on Monday 18 February.
