Four members of the recently formed Association for Transformation in Film and
Television (ATFT) – Sifiso Khanyile, Shelley Barry, Mayenzeke Baza and Clayton
Thom, as well as their mentor Marc Schwinges – comprised the official South African
delegation at the recent MIPCOM content market in Cannes, France.
ATFT was instrumental, together with support from the Department of Trade &
Industry (the dti), in creating the South African Indies Stand at MIPCOM, which
served as a base for the official delegation and the 70 other South Africans who
attended the market.
Says Sifiso Khanyile of Happy Brown Babies, who is also the ATFT spokesperson:
“Our stand attracted many visitors who were keen to work with South African
producers, particularly on local stories with political, historical, wildlife and sport
themes. There were also film commissions from Brazil, the UK and Nordic countries
who expressed interest in South Africa because of our co-production incentives.
Among the other visitors to our stand was a commissioning editor from a large news
network who was particularly looking for South African stories.’
He notes that at first MIPCOM seemed overwhelming for the official delegation,
especially for the mainly documentary producers.
“However, by day three, the South African Indies Stand was buzzing with meetings
and presentations to different groups. As much as our priority was the exporting of
South African projects, we saw great potential to forge relationships that could lead
to co-production deals with projects from other countries that have South African
themes,’ comments Khanyile.
In his personal capacity Khanyile received expressions of interest from two
distributors and a film festival in his documentary, Andrew Mlangeni: The Untold
Legacy, about the struggle stalwart and Rivonia Triallist. He also received offers from
producers of struggle documentaries who wish to license the film locally.
Khanyile’s other MIPCOM project was His Majesty’s Building, a TV feature made for
M-Net’s Mzansi Magic channel.
Shelley Barry of Two Spinning Wheels Productions wanted to attend MIPCOM
because of its global stature.
“I had not previously been to a film market, so this was a rare opportunity for me
and an experience that I believe will impact me for many years,’ she continues. “My
meetings were fruitful and there is keen interest in my wok from a video on demand
(VOD) company in the US, with another potential sale to a company in Spain.’
Barry took four films to MIPCOM: Mr Shakes – The Passion to Live (48mins); Where
We Planted Trees (48mins) and two shorts under 30 minutes, namely New York /
New Brighton (fiction) and Whole – A Trinity of Being (documentary).
“I also used the MIPCOM opportunity to talk about my work with students at the
University of the Western Cape, who need equipment for our fledgling film unit. So
far we have secured a professional video camera with a company in the UK.
“MIPCOM was an incredible experience, daunting to say the least, but I now have a
clearer sense of the global context in which I am producing work,’ comments Barry.
Mayenzeke Baza of Mandela Bay Pictures regards MIPCOM as the biggest content
market in the world, with over 3 000 buyers in attendance.
“I managed to secure a distributor for my feature length documentary, The Boy, The
Blade and The Man. Two distributors fought over it so I had to choose between
them. There was also interest in my other projects – the horror feature Blood
Tokoloshe, the dance film Pop Lock “n Roll, and the crime series Corruption Busters,’
he states.
Baza describes MIPCOM as “brilliant’ but stresses that people should prepare for the
market in advance and book meetings.
Team effort
The AFTF delegation was funded under the dti’s Sector-Specific Assistance Scheme
for Emerging Exporters, which included the participation of an industry mentor for the
delegation, producer Marc Schwinges of Underdog.
“Our stand, which stretched across 25 square metres on the lower level of the Paleis
des Festivals, looked very professional and every person who came for a meeting
was impressed,’ says Schwinges. “Whether they were part of the official delegation
or not, I think that every South African who participated at MIPCOM left saying it
was an excellent event. The great thing was that the South Africans all worked
together as a team and there were a lot of cross-referrals and introductions to
internationals.’
Schwinges notes that the ATFT delegation was featured in the MIPCOM Daily News
on 10 October.
With financial support from the National Film and Video Foundation, the ATFT was
able to produce a catalogue of South African projects at MIPCOM, which was
distributed on the stand.
