On 26 March 2014 Paul Mashatile, the South African Minister of Arts and Culture granted the community of Diepsloot in the north of Johannesburg, a modern film studio facility.
The initiative is a collaboration between Top Crew Home Brew Movies, a 100 percent black owned holding company which produces locally made films, and the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and was brought about as a way for community members to tell their stories through the medium of film. The project will not only provide valuable resources and information to aspiring filmmakers in the area, but will aid to identify potential talent while facilitating training and mentorship.
Mashatile said: “Diepsloot should no longer be seen as a notorious area where children are raped and murdered, but as a model of a society that is producing actors and actress, who will be making South Africa’s film industry vibrant.
“With the opening of this studio, gone are the days where people would not dare to visit this area… You must produce the best actors so that people will always flock to the township in their numbers.”
The Top Crew Film training programme will initially be hosted in three provinces and dependent on the programme’s success the DAC, which has contributed R1.5m to the project, may include a further three provinces.
The DAC’s support aligns with their ongoing Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy which aims to encourage arts and culture while nurturing skills development and creating sustainable employment.
The training programme will also contribute towards local content which can be used on community television stations and Mashatile urged that residents use the facility to produce authentic South African movies.
“The world is hungry to hear our stories: stories of a nation that has overcome adversity, stories of a resilient people, stories of reconciliation and stories of how together we are building this nation on the foundation laid by giants such as Nelson Mandela,” concluded Mashatile.
