Operating in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since 2014, the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission (KZNFC) is a provincial state entity, under the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) which endeavours to facilitate support for the local and international film industry by generating opportunities within the industry and thereby growing the KwaZulu-Natal film industry.
In the years since its inception, the KZNFC has demonstrated its commitment to the growth and transformation of the province’s film industry by putting together strategic programmes and projects that work to address the current industry issues of funding, skills development and infrastructure development. These projects have grown to include the following initiatives; Film Induced Tourism, the Bursary Programme, the Film Fund, the Facilities and Locations Programme and Human Capital Development Programme.
The Film Induced Tourism project aims to cultivate an integrated institutional approach towards facilitating and promoting film production and tourism, in order to stimulate film-induced tourism within KwaZulu-Natal. The project strives to ensure development and marketing of film-tourism products, tourism destinations, and film locations in order to attract both film producers and film tourists into the province by maximising key strategic focal areas outlined as Institutional Support and Facilitation and Product Development and Marketing.
In 2014, the KZNFC introduced a Bursary Programme aimed at addressing the skills shortage in the province’s film industry. In the short time since its launch the programme has seen an excess of 30 beneficiaries receive financial support towards their tertiary education, with eleven of those seeing their studies through to graduation.
Developed in accordance with the KZNFC’s mandate to stimulate the growth of the KwaZulu-Natal film industry, the Film Fund targets KwaZulu-Natal based companies as well as companies from outside the province that are producing films in KwaZulu-Natal. For the fiscal years 2015/16 ending 31 March 2016, the KZNFC funded a commendable 79 projects; 48 in development, 16 in production, and 15 in fund mentorship. These included the TV series’ Earthbeat, Durban Beach Rescue, Code Green, Uzalo, feature films Keeping Up with the Kandasamys, The Number, Beyond the River, The Killing Floor, the short film Gracie, the documentary How Long Park, the SA/Nigeria co-production Comatose, and the low budget feature films Umhlola, Family Matters and The Royal Assegai.
The Human Capital Development initiative aims to develop and implement programmes for skills development and industry support. The initiative takes various forms including programmes that attempt to redress the current skills shortage by creating new skills within the film and television value chain thereby ensuring competitiveness within the region. The aforementioned programmes operate to enhance the capabilities of local filmmakers and increase the presence of KwaZulu-Natal-produced local content on local and international distribution platforms, which in turn will increase sustainable employment in the region’s film and television sector.
Some of the training programmes that have been hosted thus far with various industry partners include Field Production, International Producers and Finance, Sediba Spark Scriptwriting, Accelerator Incubation Programme, Youth for Film Incubator, and Youth and Female Incubator.
To ensure the effectiveness of projects shooting in the province, the Facilities and Location team remains committed to providing support and access to various locations, crew, talent and accommodation. The team further assists in securing licensing for various production components and operations.
Looking forward…
In January 2017 the KZNFC launches its Film Cluster, which comprises a 42 seater theatre, a 100 seater training room, a resource centre, post editing suites and hot desks. Located in the heart of Durban, the 2 000m2 facility will operate as a production hub for visiting filmmakers working within the province.
A first for the province, the cluster combines incubation and skills development for aspiring filmmakers by giving them access to professional working spaces and new technologies, whilst also providing temporary offices to-let for established filmmakers and businesses working within the region.
During 2017, the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission will be predominantly focussing on developing local filmmakers through the KZN Film Industry Transformation Initiative – currently being developed. The initiative will work to grow investment in local film graduates over a two to three year period, in both scriptwriting and technical production, resulting in an increase of highly skilled African filmmakers. To ensure that the required level of skills is achieved, industry experts/mentors, and funding will be provided for the development and production of KZN-produced stories.
“We are confident that this investment will see a shift in the production capability of the province and our ability to attract and ‘service’ production from both national and international companies. KwaZulu-Natal has always taken the lead in terms of producing incredible talents, it is now time to see those talents in key positions in the film industry,” comments a KZNFC’s CEO, Carol Coetzee.
