The 36th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which takes place from 16 to 16 July, has announced the participants of
the 8th edition of Talents Durban, presented in cooperation with the Berlinale
Talents, an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival. Talents Durban is a five
day development programme made up of workshops and seminars for African
filmmakers delivered by film professionals, academics and intellectuals. The
‘Talents’, who are selected through a rigorous application process, will also have the
opportunity to attend screenings and events at the festival.
Talents Durban is one of the six Talents International programmes formed by
Berlinale Talents in Africa and around the world including Talents Beirut in Lebanon,
Talents Buenos Aires in Argentina, Talents Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Talents
Tokyo in Japan and Talents Guadalajara in Mexico.
Forty filmmakers from ten countries across the continent including South Africa, Kenya,
Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Zambia and Cameron will be
in attendance.
The following are the selected participants of Talents:
Oluwakemi Adesoye (Nigeria), Ssenkumba Adnan (Uganda), Lawrence Agbetsise
(Ghana), Isabella Akinseye (Nigeria), Kassim Braimah (Nigeria), Bentley Brown
(Tunisia), Lucky Nhlanhla Cele (South Africa), Karien Cherry (South Africa), Joanne
Corrigall (South Africa), Angeline Dimingo (Zimbabwe), Daniel Ecwalu (Uganda),
Daniella Esua (Nigeria), Polani Fourie (South Africa), Mehluli Hikwa (Zimbabwe),
Benjamin Johnson (South Africa), Njata Joseph (Rwanda), Andrew Kaggwa
(Uganda), Joel Kapungwe (Zambia) Godisamang Khunou (South Africa), Trent Kok
(South Africa), Makundi Lambani (South Africa), Sheetal Megan (South Africa),
Theoline Maphutha (South Africa), Francisca Meyer (South Africa), Ali Mwangola
(Kenya), Samantha Nell (South Africa), Simphiwe Ngcobo (South Africa), John
Nyoka (South Africa), Roselidah Obala (Kenya), Agbor Obed (Cameroon), Temotope
Ogun (Nigeria), Olawale Oluwadahunsi (Nigeria), Kennedy Omoro (Kenya),Osei
Owusu Banahene (Ghana), Davashni Rajoo (South Africa), Charne Simpson (South
Africa), Samson Ssenkaaba (Unganda), Tendai Charles Tshuma (South Africa), Amy
Van Den Houten (South Africa) and Mark Wambui (Kenya).
Presented under the theme “Start Motion’, Talents Durban aims to boost the already
rising flow of current filmmaking in Africa, and to encourage filmmakers on the
continent to share their stories through their own cultured lens. Participants interact
with over 600 delegates of DIFF and Durban FilmMart (DFM), the co-production and
finance forum which takes place from 17 to 20 July at the festival. Selected
participants get to be part of numerous project-oriented, hands on skills
development programs. Practical development programmes within Talents Durban
include Talent Press, Script Station and Doc Station.
Script station is a script development programme for short films which pairs four
writers with script editors who assist in clarifying story and getting to an advanced
draft of their script. Our participants this year are John Nyoka, Mark Wambui,
Quwakemi Adesoye and Polani Fourie. The mentors for the programme are Tracey
Dearham-Rainers and Karima Effendi.
Talent Press is presented in cooperation with Fipresci, an association of national
organisations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world
which lobbies for the promotion and development of film culture. The programme
invites four critics to cover the films and events of the Durban International Film
Festival for online and print publication. Talent press has four participants and they
are Andrew Kaggwa, Oluwale Oluwadahunsi, Isabella Akinseye and Kennedy Omoro.
They will be mentored by film writers/reviewers Sarah Dawson, Oris
Aigbokhaevbolo, Debashine Thangevelo and Shaibu Hussein.
Doc Station selects three documentary projects in development for coaching and
mentoring towards participation in a public pitch at the DFM’s pitching forum, The
African Pitch. Participants are given mentoring prior to the pitching and during
preparations at the festival. Doc Station participants are Bentley Brown, Sheetal
Megan and Tendayi Tshuma and the producer mentor is Odette Geldenhuys. They
will receive additional mentorship from Andy Jones, Jihan El Tahri and Khalo
Matabane.
Talents Durban is supported by the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, Goethe
Institute SA, German Embassy in South Africa and Gauteng Film Commission.
The 36th Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre for Creative
Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (a special project of the deputy vice
chancellor of the College of Humanities, Cheryl Potgieter).
For more information about Talents Durban visit the DIFF website.
