The Callsheet Issue 03

Issue 03 2013

MARKETING MOVES – The Western Cape and Cape Town South Africa’s Digital Migration Truck Rental Services – The Checklist

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Cover Photograph: © AFS Productions

CONTENTS 02

Publisher: Lance Gibbons lance@filmeventmedia.co.za Executive Editor: Maya Kulycky maya@filmeventmedia.co.za Business Manager: Taryn Fowler taryn@filmeventmedia.co.za Advertising Sales: Jennifer Dianez jennifer@filmeventmedia.co.za Sales and Marketing Assistant: Robyn-Lee Malan robynlee@filmeventmedia.co.za Head of Design: Jess Novotna jess@filmeventmedia.co.za Editorial Assistant: Danielle Illman danielle@filmeventmedia.co.za Proudbly Published by

57 2nd Avenue Harfield Village Claremont 7708 Cape Town South Africa Telephone: +27 21 674 0646 www.filmeventmedia.co.za

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in The Callsheet do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor or the publisher, while inclusion of adverts/ advertising features does not imply endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of this material is reserved. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, The Callsheet and/or its employees may not be held liable or responsible for any act or ommission committed by any person, including a juristic person, referred to in this publication. It and they furthermore accept(s) no responsibility for any liability arising out of any reliance that a reader of this publication places on the contents of this publication.

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Marketing Moves - The Western Cape and Cape Town

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Pan African Film Festival

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South Africa’s Digital Migration Migrane

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Truck Rental Services - The Checklist

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dti Rebates

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A Chat With...Bruce MacDonald

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Country Spotlight - Egypt

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Time for the SAFTAs

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Wild Talk Africa Film Festival

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Feature Film Premieres on Social Media

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Spier Films Funds ‘Khumba’

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AFDA Cape Town 10th Anniversary

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Events

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In Production

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Acheivements

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Opportunities

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Directory Listings

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NEWS © AFS Productions

Marketing Moves the Western Cape and Cape Town - By Kevin Kriedemann

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bution Trust Fund. In January, the CFC also met with The Development Bank of Southern Africa about its R175m funding submission.

While Denis says he would like the Province funding, the CFC has survived without it since April 2012.

The City and Province have separate budgets and work independently of each other. Splitting the marketing for a sector is not new: for example, Cape Town Tourism markets Cape Town on behalf of the city, while Cape Town Routes Unlimited marketed the Western Cape on behalf of the province before being incorporated into Wesgro.

However, the film industry split hasn’t been amicable. Denis has issued a cease and desist order to Wesgro and says the CFC “continues to function as we always have.

The CFC does promote the Western Cape as a filmmaking destination, as it does South Africa.” Denis also says that the Province continues to rely on the commission. While the Department of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism has cut ties with The Cape

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Now it it is clear that the CFC will market Cape Town and Wesgro the Western Cape.

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n December, Alan Winde, Western Cape minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, issued a statement announcing that Wesgro, the official Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency for the Western Cape, was the Western Cape’s film destination marketing agency. This created questions about the future of the Cape Film Commission (CFC), which was previously thought to fill this role.

Now it is clear that the CFC will market Cape Town and Wesgro the Western Cape.

While they are no longer The Western Cape’s film destination marketing agency, the CFC remains Cape Town’s film destination marketing agency. So while the Province has tasked Wesgro to market its film industry, the City continues to work with the CFC. CFC CEO Denis Lillie says that practically, little has changed for the CFC. It has funding from The City of Cape Town; The Department of Trade and Industry; the Media, Information and Communication Technologies SETA; and now The National Lotteries Distri-

Film Commission, this is just one department within the Province, and the department dealing with Provincial properties continues to refer permitting enquiries to the CFC. The industry tends to think that The Cape Town Film & Events Permitting Office is part of the CFC, but they are actually completely separate. They both handle locations but the CFC handles all Provincial locations, while the film office handles all City locations.

Denis would like all permits for both City and Province to run through the CFC, “as they do in most international commissions. After all,

NEWS © AFS Productions

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Nils says Wesgro’s initial plans for the industry include working closely with SARS to make tax benefits more easily understandable and accessible to the film industry…

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most international filmmakers make their first phone call to a Commission in the territory they are considering filming.”

Some in the industry anticipate an uneasy teething period while the CFC, Wesgro, and the film office all try to define and assert their roles within the changing funding landscape.

Wesgro CEO Nils Flaatten says its new budget allocation for film should be finalized by the end of March. This will shape the infrastructure they put in place for film destination marketing.

Unlike the CFC, Wesgro is not just focused on film. As Minister Winde said in his statement, “Wesgro already has the responsibility of marketing the Western Cape as a tourism, investment and trade destination.

Adding the marketing of the Western Cape’s entire film industry to the portfolio will mean that we have a streamlined and co-ordinated marketing strategy with which to approach local and international markets.”

This broader focus means that Wesgro has strong relationships and arguably stronger negotiating power with key government departments like The Department of Trade and Industry, Home Affairs and the

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South African Revenue Service, as well as local and international investors like The Industrial Development Corporation and The Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Rather than being split into different sectors, like film or tourism, Wesgro is structured around export territories. So rather than creating a separate film division within Wesgro, Nils says that – budget-willing Wesgro will rather hire product specialists for the film sector to work within Wesgro’s geographically-aligned divisions.

Wesgro is not new to the film industry.

They have a 10% shareholding in The Cape Town Film Studios. They’ve organized workshops for the film industry with Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs looking at royalty agreements, taking intellectual property offshore, and tax implications like writing off research and development costs to tax. They’ve taken filmmakers on export-development trips to New York, Nigeria and Ghana. They’ve funded The Cape Winelands Film Festival’s attendance at The Cannes Film Festival.

Nils says Wesgro’s initial plans for the industry include working closely with SARS to make tax benefits more easily understand-

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able and accessible to the film industry, as well as with the Western Cape film festivals to add market components.

He says, “The weak rand is going to assist with the cost of production in South Africa in the short term, so the industry really needs to be united to seize the special market moment that’s opening up for us.”

While much still needs to be finalized, Wesgro’s role within the film industry will become much clearer in the months to come, as will the CFC’s.

Technically, the CFC is not a government department: it’s a non-profit organisation (NPO), just like The Film Industry Learner Mentorship Programme (F.I.L.M.), or most of the associations and film festivals.

Even if City had withdrawn its money and mandate in addition to Province, as a NPO the CFC could continue to function, for as long as it had members and alternate funding.

Similarly, as a film commission affiliated to The Association of Film Commissioners (AFCI), the CFC can be funded by the private sector: AFCI doesn’t stipulate that its commissions must be funded by government.

NEWS

PAN AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL on important aspects of the South African industry, locations, co-financing and co-production opportunities available.

Although no one film swept the awards, films from the United States and the Caribbean proved to be the favourites at the festival this year. However, one African film was awarded and another recognised:

BEST DIRECTOR | FIRST FEATURE David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, director of “Nairobi Half Life” (Germany/Kenya)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT Special Jury Recognition | Short Documentary: “Africa: The Beat” (Tanzania/Spain), directed by the Samaki Wanne Collective

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We believe that this platform will give us an opportunity to position local black filmmakers to the international film community…

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he Pan African Film Festival (PAFF), America’s largest and most prestigious international Black film festival, took place 7-18 February. Celebrating its 21st anniversary, the Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF), is America’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival. The goal of PAFF is to present and showcase the broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images, help to destroy negative stereotypes and depict an expanded vision of the Black experience.

The South African National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) participated in PAFF for the first time. The NFVF has identified PAFF as a viable platform for local emerging black filmmakers to showcase their projects and advance their business prospects in the U.S. 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,” says NFVF Head of Marketing and Public Affairs Azania Muendane.

The NFVF supported four filmmakers to attend the festival: Uzanenkosi (‘uSkroef no Sexy’); John Volmink (‘Blitz Patrollie’), Tops Mkhwanazi (‘Gog’Helen’) and Sonia Sedibe (who pitched her project ‘Meet the Family’).

During the festival the NFVF hosted a South Africa day where representatives made presentations to the international community

FEATURE

South Africa’s Digital Migration Migraine - By Kevin Kriedemann

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South Africa’s Latest Setback

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The latest setback was in December 2012, when The High Court of South Gauteng ruled that Communications Minister Dina Pule acted beyond her powers by awarding the control of the encryption of state-subsidised decoders to Sentech, a state-owned enterprise. The court ruled that the responsibility should be left to free-to-air broadcasters instead.

The Department of Communications (DoC) originally appealed and warned that South Africa and its 11 million TV homes would miss the 2015 deadline if the decision stood. However, speaking later at The Digital Broadcasting Forum in February 2013, Minister Pule said the DoC had withdrawn its appeal and that an agreement between all parties was imminent.

This isn’t necessarily cause for celebration: some argue that South Africa should not be encrypting its signal at all.

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Southern African countries agreed on a December 2013 deadline for analog to be switched off.

However, apart from Mauritius and perhaps Namibia, it seems increasingly unlikely that the region will meet this deadline.

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n 2006, member states of The International Communications Union from across Europe, Africa and the Middle East agreed to set 17 June 2015 as the deadline for their transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

Southern African countries agreed on a December 2013 deadline for analog to be switched off. However, apart from Mauritius and perhaps Namibia, it seems increasingly unlikely that the region will meet this deadline.

South Africa’s original plan was to switch on digital in November 2008 and turn off analogue in November 2011, but these deadlines have come and gone.

South Africa’s Progress

Despite this setback, South Africa has made some progress since missing its first deadline in 2008.

A number of key decisions have been made: after much debate South Africa will be using the DVB-T2 standard; government will be subsidizing five million decoders, which the South African Post Office will be distributing; Sentech has rolled out transmitters to provide 60% population coverage once program feeds are available; and ICASA (the regulator for the South African communications sector) released updated Digital Migration Regulations in December 2012, clarifying how new content services will be licensed.

In October 2012, South Africa hosted its Proof of Concept launch in the Northern Cape. Minister Pule explains, “It showcased our ability to broadcast digital television in an area notorious for its difficulty in doing so.”

However, this may all be a case of too little, too late.

FEATURE

Gerhard Petrick is secretary of the Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA), a voluntary industry association dedicated to promoting the co-ordinated, market-driven introduction of digital broadcasting technologies.

He says the major challenge facing South Africa’s digital migration is co-ordination.

“The DoC can’t do digital migration by themselves,” says Gerhard. “Neither can the SABC or e.tv or ICASA. This needs a network and a co-ordinated national roll-out, which isn’t quite there yet in South Africa.”

He points out that every step of the process is linked: for example, decoders need to be available to the public, but in order to incentivize the public to buy them, they need exciting new content already in place, as well as network coverage everywhere they are being sold.

Gerhard says the most important part of the process is not technical: it’s about what television content will be available to incentivise digital take-up. “If digital TV only offers the same programming as you can already watch on analogue, there’s no incentive to get the new box,” says Gerhard. ”Until we know that the bouquet of television available is going to be so stunning that people will rush out to buy decoders, we can’t be certain if we’ll get close to the 2015 deadline. The content mix on those new channels is massively important.”

For attractive programming to be in place in time, Gerhard says regulators need to create a more efficient licensing environment, where it doesn’t take long to license a new channel.

December’s updated Digital Migration Regulations are a step in the right direction,

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Part of the difficulty in fasttracking digital migration is that the consequences of missing the deadline aren’t particularly terrifying.

but South Africans are understandably skeptical after the 2007 announcement of ICASA awarding four new Pay-TV licenses to Telkom Media, E-Sat, Walking on Water TV and On Digital Media, the only one to launch since (as TopTV).

Africa’s 2015 Race Against Time

By October 2012, only Mauritius had made the jump to digital. According to African Digital Media Initiative, Mauritius had a softlaunch in 2005, which gave them plenty of time to sort out subsequent teething problems, like the fact that the decoders they originally imported from China weren’t compatible with the services being broadcast.

East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi had agreed on a 31 December 2012 deadline for their digital migration. According to The East African, only Tanzania met this deadline, albeit only in Dar Es Salaam and with some technical glitches.

Ghana has committed to a December 2014 deadline and may even be ahead of schedule.

The rest of the continent – including Nigeria - seem to be largely working towards the June 2015 deadline, but are rapidly running out of time.

Gerhard says that while no African country has officially declared it won’t make the

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The Missing Links: Co-ordination and Content

June 2015 deadline, there are reasons to be concerned.

The fastest a European country has migrated to digital was in four years. However, Gerhard says our closest comparisons – due to similarly low amounts of digital take-up originally - are Spain, which took 10 years, and the UK, which took 14, although the UK was also the first to launch, with all the associated teething problems that involved.

A small stick

Part of the difficulty in fast-tracking digital migration is that the consequences of missing the deadline aren’t particularly terrifying.

At the end of June 2015, ITU will not block or turn-off analogue signals: it will just stop providing protection from interference.

This means that countries may try use the same frequency, which could interfere with each other’s analogue signals – particularly near borders.

For example, Gerhard says that South Africa and Botswana signed the Geneva 2006 agreement, which in effect means that, should either country still have analogue in 2015, that country will accept whatever interference comes across the border. So Botswana would be allowed to switch on a digital frequency filed with the ITU in Gaborone, even if it killed analogue coverage in North West. “However, this doesn’t mean officials

FEATURE

couldn’t negotiate about specific issues,” says Gerhard.

This cross-border interference will be less of problem in Africa than it would be in Europe, as our continent has much larger countries, with fewer borders further apart, and with far fewer competing frequencies.

ITU does not have the power to switch off analog: South Africa and its broadcasters control this themselves.

Some Big Carrots

The real danger is likely to rather be in the opportunity cost.

Carrot 1: Universal Access The DoC has created a Go DIGITAL South Africa leaflet. This describes one of the benefits of digital television as follows: “Every citizen - irrespective of geographical location, race, and economical status - will enjoy access of all free-to-air channels of good quality picture and sound.”

ICASA expanded on this idea of “universal access” in a presentation at a December 2012 press briefing on digital migration regulations, saying. “Currently, 85% of the population receives an analogue terrestrial TV signal. After migration, 85% of the population

will receive a digital terrestrial TV signal. All the rest will receive a digital satellite TV signal. For the first time ever, 100% coverage will be possible.”

However, Gerhard says that this ICASA statement is factually incorrect. “The balance between 85% and 100% would be via satellite – not terrestrial transmission infrastructure. Today digital direct to home satellite coverage by Sentech (and also DSTV) is already available to 100% of South Africans.”

He adds, “It is yet to be seen if broadcasters can afford a 85% population coverage terrestrial network. If satellite is around any-

FEATURE way, the break-even point at which a roll-out of terrestrial infrastructure stops could be closer to 65-70% population coverage.”

Carrot 2: More Choice The Go DIGITAL leaflet describes another major benefit as “more channels.”

The leaflet explains: “At present, the analogue spectrum is crowded and expensive…

Prior to the 1990s, broadcasting transmitted sound and video through airwaves by analogue signals. As much as this method worked well, unfortunately it needed a lot of space on the frequency spectrum. Both television and radio are allocated valuable spectrum in each band. This means a different and unique frequency is allocated for each radio and TV service, clearly a very spectrum inefficient method of delivering multi-channel services.”

In contrast, the leaflet says, “Digital transmission will supply higher bandwidth efficiency at lower cost, allowing for space on the spectrum for more channels and reducing the financial barriers to entry. Post 1990s saw the new dawn of digital broadcasting, where sound, video, text and still images can be transmitted in the form of binary digits i.e. ones and zeros. This technology allows for information to be compressed, saving radio spectrum. For each unique frequency in analogue – or one TV service - we now - with digital in the same spectrum - can transmit 15 standard definition TV services. Digital is highly spectrum efficient. In the same geographical area, all TV transmitters can operate on the same frequency without interference.

Clearly, after analogue switch-off, a huge portion of valuable spectrum will be released back to ICASA… and can be reused for other services of national interest.”

As ICASA explains, “Moving from fewer than 15 terrestrial channels to up to 140 terrestrial channels offers much more choice to the consumer. Existing broadcasters will be able to broadcast more channels. There will be sufficient spectrum for more new broadcasters to attempt to win market share. More community broadcasters can be accommodated… Consumers will therefore have more and better choices about their service providers… The increased competition and increased choice outlined above will drive down prices for the consumer. She will be free to choose a higher priced, higher quality service, or a lower priced service, as suits her needs.”

However, Gerhard queries how ICASA calculates the figure of 140 channels, as he expects a figure closer to 60. And he says that only once the transition to DTT is complete, which may be in 5-10 years, can some analogue transmissions be switched off to create space for additional digital channels.

Regardless of the exact number of channels though, the increased availability and decreased costs of spectrum should lead to more innovation, with services like HD, 3D, video on demand (VOD), catch-up TV, and interactive TV all likely to increase.

But while South Africa will have capacity for substantially more channels, at this stage it seems unclear where this content will come from.

Carrot 3: Mobile Broadband In many ways, the biggest benefit will be the space on the spectrum created for mobile broadband (wireless Internet access through mobile devices like a phone).

After digital migration, ICASA expects coverage to reach rural areas and even pre-

dicts that TV over broadband will become a practical alternative for the first time in South Africa.

Speaking at The Digital Broadcasting Forum in February 2013, Minister Pule said, “In Africa, broadband internet means mobile broadband. Mobile networks now reach 90 percent of Africans and offer a cheaper way of delivering the internet to them… Last year African ministers agreed to 80 percent broadband coverage by 2020. The releasing of spectrum for mobile broadband has the potential to exceed this commitment.”

Gerhard says mobile operators could have a key role to play in speeding up digital migration. “Who knows? If a set-top box was bundled with your cellphone contract, digital take-up might happen very quickly after all.”

For more information, visit www.godigitalsa.co.za/.

FEATURE

The Checklist

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ithin the film industry, affordable, reliable transport to move equipment, props, costumes and other necessary gear is vital.

The Callsheet knows the questions you need to ask before renting, including where the company is willing to travel, what services are provided, what additional equipment is available and customer service.

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The film industry moves at a pace that requires immediate action, and companies that act effectively are used above others.

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THE BASICS

There are a number of competitors in the truck rental services industry. There are therefore many options depending on requirements. We recently spoke to David May about his work on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ which was shot in Namibia and South Africa. The production required large scale trucks -- a number of rental vehicles were used. According to May, every production company needs a check list that is not negotiable when it comes to discussing what’s needed from a rental company. The following are the basics.

TERRITORY

Most truck rental services allow local moves.

Larger scale rental companies allow travel in and around Southern Africa. However, some companies limit where they travel in Africa depending of the safety within the country and fuel availability. Several companies, for instance, will not travel to Zimbabwe due to fuel issues within the country.

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SERVICE

In addition to moving trucks, some companies also rent cargo trailers, auto-trailers, pickup trucks and vans. Additionally, some offer assistance with loading or packing and others provide self-storage services. Certain companies may require that your production company uses their drivers for insurance purposes. They will not cover any losses or damage if their drivers are not used.

ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT

Production and moving film equipment requires an assortment of gear. While it isn’t mandatory for truck rental services to offer boxes, padded blankets, tie downs and other packing supplies, it is always convenient when travelling with sensitive and expensive equipment. Certain rental companies pride themselves on making every journey safer and more efficient and therefore as an added benefit may provide this these extra items. Avis, for instance, provides van assistants and cross border permits as part of their additional service.

© AFS Productions

TRUCK RENTAL SERVICES

FEATURE PRICE This is one of the most critical aspects of renting a moving truck or vehicle. Some of the most important things to be aware of when it comes to price are: base rental cost, fees per kilometre, and insurance cost for all moves. It is important to note that these rates may vary from location to location and that companies may also charge additional fees such as taxes, fuel charges or environmental fees.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

A major to customer satisfaction is whether the hire company offers a guarantee if the contract is breached. Equally important is whether the hire company provides roadside service in the event of an emergency and whether they provide pickup services for customers without cars.

THOSE IN THE KNOW SAY… Frank Mulaji, a veteran truck driver who has worked for various film production companies including Velocity, Moonlighting and Monkey Films, has driven arts and prop equipment across Southern Africa. Frank says that renting reliable, cost-effective trucks or cars is easier than ever before.

Based on his experience, and having worked with companies like Imperial, Value Logistics, Tempest, Budget Van and Truck Rental, A-unit, he believes that the competition between the various hire companies has made it easier for production houses to get the very best in vehicle rentals. For instance, Imperial, has come out with new automatic trucks that has meant that other companies have had to follow suit in order to keep up.

In most cases the truck you require will be specific. Franks says if you need an Isuzu or Nissan heavy duty truck Avis and Tempest have proven to be not only reliable

but cost effective.

Chris Roland of ZenHQ Films says that while most people believe that cost/price more than anything else effects the decision when hiring vehicles, the reality is that service impacts the decision the most.

Within service, the most import factors for film companies are the reliability of the vehicle and the customer service the rental company provides. The film industry moves at a pace that requires immediate action, and companies that act effectively are used above others.

Armoury Prop, which also worked on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. According to a representative at Armoury prop, the companies that have excelled at providing must-haves like reliable vehicles, competent staff, storage space, security and insurance, have been A- unit, Imperial, Budget Van and Truck Rental and Avis. “These rental companies were well maintained, reliable and customer service was excellent,” says Armoury Prop.

When it comes to insurance, Sidney Wright (who has worked in the costume industry for more than 4 years) says Avis and Budget Van and Truck Rental have always been effective, reliable, and efficient when it comes to evaluating an insurance problem. “Whenever a truck or car has given us problems, be it with the gears or even if we have had an accident, Budget Van Rental and Avis have been professional, friendly, on time and effective in resolving the matter given the time constraints we had.”

CALLING ALL PRODUCTION COMPANIES: SERVICES YOU GET Different hiring companies have different services and naturally therefore different advantages in using them. Most rental companies pride themselves on their ability to tailor make a portfolio of amenities for the film and commercial industry. Value Logistics supplies vehicles depending on the size required. In addition, they provide wardrobe fully kitted vehicles and have a line haul division to transport bulk loads

Inside a Set Truck

nationally. UVS have an 18 year history in the film industry and provide special rates for the film industry. Both companies provide vehicles that cater to the requirements of the film and commercial industry.

Budget Van & Truck Rentals has a specific film division that provides vehicles to production companies that may require kitchens, lighting storage, wardrobe storage and trucks that have high weight retention.

UVS has specialized vehicles that include trucks with railings for costumes and carriers that have small to medium kitchens.

Tempest Car Hire has put aside resources for major film cities in South Africa. These include film specialized reservations and administrative personnel who are on twenty-four hour standby for any needs required by film companies.

One of the most important requirements that most film companies have is the ability by a rental company to be on time. This includes arriving on time and being able to

cater to the needs of the production if there any problems or setbacks like breakdowns.

Value Logistics has a twenty-four hour break down number as well as a national call centre for day or night assistance. UVS arranges to send either a reliable mechanic and/or a replacement vehicle. The company deals with the mechanic and drivers so that their client can continue with their production on schedule.

Budget Van and Truck Rental prides itself on a protocol that is present for all their clients regardless of whether it’s a huge film production or if it’s a simple van rental.

Twenty-four hour assistance is always available if a breakdown occurs and replacements are on hand to ensure time is never wasted.

Tempest has a vast network of branches around South Africa catering for each region. In situations where a break down is in a remote area the company has a network of breakdown assistance services to their disposal ensuring a recovery for all clients.

FEATURE

‘Machine Gun Preacher’

DTI REBATES

- By Kevin Kriedemann

Up for Renewal and Review - In 2014

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he Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) two rebates – the Foreign Film and Television Production and Post Production Incentive and The South African Film and the Television Production and Co-Production Incentive – are both set to expire in April 2014, but the industry seems positive that they’ll not only be renewed but also improved.

“The dti is aware of the success of the incentive,” says Rudi van As, Film Afrika’s general manager and chief financial officer. “The rebate is not going to go away in 2014; the general feeling is it will only be enhanced.”

Rudi points out that in November 2012, Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, held a press conference at The Cape Town Film Studios, where he spoke glowingly about the local film industry.

The Minister pointed out that the South African film industry has more than tripled

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its contribution to the economy in the last four years, up from 2.4 billion in 2008 to R8 billion in 2012.

He also celebrated that South Africa had just attracted ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, which he called “the largest commercial film… produced in South Africa” so far.

“I think this marks a milestone in an evolving programme of support for the film industry,” said Davies. “South Africa is now very, very well-positioned and that is beginning to have an impact in terms of the films that are produced here and the jobs that those films create in South Africa. So this is a significant growth sector.”

Writing in The Sunday Times at the same time last year, Loni Prinsloo pointed out that South Africa’s contribution to the global film industry has grown from 0.5% in 2006 to 2.4%.

Much of the credit for this growth be-

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longs to the dti, which has approved 271 productions since 2008, playing a key role in keeping South Africa cost-competitive.

The notoriously hard-to-please film industry has praised the rebates as refreshingly efficient. Most encouragingly, the dti has repeatedly listened to industry and made intelligent changes to improve the rebates.

For example, in 2011, the dti removed the R20 million cap on its incentives. In 2012, they raised the foreign rebate from 15% to 20% on qualifying South African spend to 22.5% for projects spending a minimum of R1.5m locally on post production and to 25% for projects spending R3m locally on post.

Although the rebates officially end in April 2013, Nelly Molokoane, director of the dti’s Incentive Scheme, says that there is funding in place until 2016, so the dti will be able to push this deadline if necessary until a new rebate is in place.

FEATURE

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The notoriously hard-to-please film industry has praised the rebates as refreshingly efficient. Most encouragingly, the dti has repeatedly listened to industry and made intelligent changes to improve the rebates.

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At this stage, the dti is unable to comment officially on what changes industry can expect, but Nelly says they will review the existing rebates with The Independent Producers Organisation (IPO), The Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA) and AnimationSA, among others.

Rudi says that he doesn’t expect any major requests for changes coming from the IPO and the live-action film and television sector. “The last round of changes were significant enhancements, in particular the introduction of the post production rebate and the increasing of the foreign incentive to 20%.”

However, he says there’s no room for complacency. “The rebates have been a dynamic process, constantly changing and improving. The dti know they need to keep on their toes because of the competitive arena we’re playing in.”

For example, Rudi points to the new British incentives expected to begin in April 2013, which will offer up to 20% to keep productions in the United Kingdom (UK).

Britain has traditionally been a strong source of business for South Africa, but, after the announcement of the UK incentive, one regular client - Left Bank Pictures’ chief executive Andy Harries - told The Hollywood Reporter: “Left Bank Pictures shot two productions in South Africa this year – ‘Mad

‘Safehouse’

‘Spud’

‘Khumba’

Dogs’ and ‘Strike Back’ – because the tax breaks available made it a highly competitive destination. We have many other large-scale projects in development and this incentive will allow us to make them in the UK while supporting the UK’s creative community.”

To counteract this, Rudi suggests amending South Africa’s co-production treaty with the UK to include television series.

While he expects changes to the rebates to rather come from the animation, documentary, and post-production sectors, he’s confident that any amendments made will be improvements.

“From the dti’s point of view, it’s a partnership,” he says. “They are very hard-working and take to heart any constructive comments that anyone has.”

He expects to see the inclusion of the gaming sector within the next incentives.

Sherene Kingma, business manager of Off the Fence in South Africa, and freelance producer Liezel Vermuelen are preparing a submission on behalf of the DFA, which will draw on global best practice to make a number of constructive comments. Sherene says she’s unable to speak about these proposed changes before they are finalized.

The DFA is expected to highlight a number of clauses that currently exclude much of the documentary sector.

For example, the incentive is only avail-

able to qualifying South African productions and co-productions with a total budget of R2.5million and above, which excludes the many documentaries that are made for much less.

Similarly, projects funded by the rebate need to be completed within 12-months of the application, whereas many documentaries follow a story over a number of years.

Glenn Gillis is founder and managing director of Sea Monster, an animation, gaming and app development business. He praised last year’s introduction of a postproducton rebate, but is hoping that some of the guidelines will be tweaked next year to fit the animation sector better.

“The recent changes to the film rebate have been extremely useful in generating further interest in South African animation,” says Glenn. “Unfortunately, the current policy guidelines are mostly relevant for live-action film projects, which take place over relatively short periods of time. Animation projects have very different dynamics and would ultimately probably require separate guidelines.”

He suggests these could be based on the Business Outsourcing Processes incentives, which may have more in common with animation and gaming than the film incentives currently do.

The “related parties” cap at 5% or R1 million is one area Glenn would like to see

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| 17

FEATURE

‘Jock of the Bushveld’

18 | THE C AL LSHEET

happen over relatively short periods. For animation that takes place over at least 12 to 18 months, this puts a major strain on cash flow, especially when the rebate makes up a portion of the funding of the project. In animation service, we’re not going to attract jobs if we have to wait 24 months to access the rebate.”

Pointing recent retrenchments in the industry as a warning, he’d also like to see a move away from incentivizing individual productions towards the support of a studio system. “Why go to the racecourse and try pick a winning horse when you can own the racecourse?” he asks. “At the moment, we don’t have an industry: we have a series of once-off productions, with valleys and peaks. You can’t grow an industry like that.”

Glenn has other ideas, like linking the rebate with SARS to make the paperwork less onerous for small businesses. But while the framework may still require some tweaking to reach its full potential, everyone is positive about dealing with the dti and optimistic that the incentive is moving in the right direction.

“The dti is fabulous,” says Sherene.

That’s not a word I’ve heard anyone in the South African film industry use about any other government department.

For more information, visit www.thedti. gov.za/financial_assistance/financial_incentive.jsp?id=7&subthemeid=26.

w ww. t hec allsheet . c o. z a

“

…while the framework may still require some tweaking to reach its full potential, everyone is positive about dealing with the dti and optimistic that the incentive is moving in the right direction.

“

re-evaluated. “Because animation studios have to be sustainable beyond a single production, they need to be able to build industrial capacity,” he says. “This is made up of permanent employees within the studio, as well as specialised hardware and software.

This should always be paid for via the SPV [special purpose vehicle], at arms-length / market rates and subject to the usual audit processes. We’d ask that this cap be raised to 25% of QSAPE. The other policy guidelines, like arms-length, market-related clauses, along with a completion bond, offer sufficient protection to the dti.”

Similarly, Glenn points to the sub-limit of R1 million on the producer’s unit. He says this makes sense for three-month film shoots, but is less suitable for animation projects, which require “several layers of on-going production support, typically over at least an 18-month production lifecycle.”

Glenn points out that this longer production period also means that payment against milestones becomes a key to attracting animation and gaming service work.

“Payment against milestones is recognised as having had a major effect on the success of the local and co-production rebate,” he says. “The current rules don’t allow milestone payments for service projects, which for live action are usually well-funded and

Otelo Burning

FEATURE

ABruceChat With…

Macdonald, Director, ‘The Perfect Wave’

T

A: We’ve tied down a debut in the U.S. – can’t

Q: What makes this film unique?

Q: What was the fundraising process like?

A:

A:

he Callsheet recently spoke with Bruce Macdonald about his project ‘The Perfect Wave’ - a movie about a physical and spiritual journey. How it was made provides insight into funding and directing in 2013.

There hasn’t been a film before about a guy who died and could stand before god and tell his story.

Q: Is this a Christian film?

A:

I think this is going to have a broader appeal. Only the last 11 minutes cover the Christian element. It’s more a coming of age film and a love story. There are four pillars of love in the film, the first is a young man’s love for surfing and a need to explore life. The second pillar is a mother’s love for her son. The third pillar is our hero falling in love with a girl and the fourth pillar is God’s love for our hero. So I like to think about this as being a love story.

Q: Where and when will the film debut?

share the name of the distributor yet. Late September or early October 2013 on 350 screens.

We had one screening for a funder who was so moved he pledged 5 million USD for print and advertising for the United States.

The original fundraising process was incredibly hard. I am a completely unknown features producer. I was incredibly lucky to join with Brian Hickox who brought a lot of experience to this project and who helped us develop all aspects of the film. Then we were projectready to go to market, and we approached Judy Prins at Deloitte and Touche and she put an investment package together on the project and we used that document to take it out to the market and we received funding from all over the world. And it was just absolutely amazing. People would hear about the project and donate 50 000 dollars here…100 000 dollars there. And the dti [Department of Trade and Industry] came in with their portion. And then we had to make a critical decision. We had raised all this money but were still short

4.2 million rand, and collectively our company made a decision to approach people with regard to deferring a portion of their salaries, and we deferred half of ours and this empowered the project to kick-start. Raising money is tough because you have to make a lot of very hard decisions.

Q: Has it paid off?

A: If I set in my mind that we said we’d deliv-

er our investors a “7” I think we have delivered a “9”. It’s such a strong film. We’ve invited 165 people to watch the film so far and we haven’t had one dry eye yet.

Q:

What are your goals, how will you gauge success so far?

A: When we did our first screening to an au-

dience, the first edit was aimed at emotion. Do we evoke emotion from the viewers? And that was a very definite yes. Since then all we’ve done is refine the film and make it much, much, better. It has improved ten-fold since the first screening.

Q: Anything you want to add?

A:

Basically it’s a film made by a South African but it’s an international film when you look at the cast. A very inspired film and I think the end result is incredible.

One other thing…

I’ve done a lot of commercials as a director and I’ve never done a feature film. A lot of the discipline of commercial making I’ve brought into the feature. I approached it as a director as a lot of little commercials. My approach was one of simplicity, to try to story-board each scene. I think that’s what kept me going day for day for day. www.th ecal l sh eet.co .za T H E C A L L SH EE T

| 19

COUNTRY

SPOTLIGHT All Images © www.stockfreeimages.com

EGYPT

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“

The stunning, colossal monuments of Ancient Egypt never fail to astonish.

The heat, sight and the light of the desert invigorate. The cool, turquoise waters rejuvenate. No place has the magic, mystery and pleasures of Egypt.

“

F

illed with some of the world’s most fascinating ancient treasures, Egypt is a magical country which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Egypt is situated in Northern Africa and borders the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan. As a result of the country’s recent political and economic instability, Egypt currently has a reputation for being a challenging place to film in. This enchanting country can however be the perfect film location when working with experienced and reliable fixers on the ground. Sites like the Pyramid of Giza, the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, the Egyptian Museum and the big Sphinx are recognized and admired all over the world.

COUNTRY

SPOTLIGHT

Getting to Egypt by Air

Cairo International Airport is the busiest airport in Egypt and the primary hub for Star Alliance member EgyptAir. The airport is located to the north-east of the city around 15 kilometres from the business district. Cairo International is the second busiest airport in Africa after OR Tambo in South Africa.

Population

About 83.688 million in 2012 according to The CIA World Factbook.

Climate

Generally days are warm or hot and nights are cool. Unlike most countries Egypt has only two seasons: a mild winter from November to April and a hot summer from May to October. The only differences between the seasons are variations in daytime temperatures and changes in prevailing winds.

In the coastal regions, temperatures range between an average minimum of 14 °C in winter and an average maximum of 30 °C in summer. On average, only an inch of rain falls in Egypt per year.

“

You Need to Know

The Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival aims to support and encourage African film productions and partnerships between the countries of the continent. The second edition will take place from 15 to 24 March 2013 and feature over 70 films from 34 African nations.

“

The Egyptians, from all origins, are known for their welcoming attitude towards tourists. If you respect the local customs and traditions, and avoid offending anyone, you are sure to spend an unforgettable holiday in Egypt.

The Cairo International Film Festival was held in December despite a climate of political upheaval. The festival welcomed attendees from 66 countries. The 2013 Festival is tentatively scheduled from 26 Nov - 5 Dec.

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| 21

COMING UP

TIME FOR THE SAFTAS!

‘Sea Skeletons’ - Big Fish

I

t’s time again for the annual South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs)!

The SAFTA ceremonies will take place on the 15th and 16th of March in Midrand, and will be broadcast live on SABC 3 on the 16th March with highlights from the 15th.

Mzansi Magic and Top TV will broadcast an edited version of the awards.

The SAFTAs are the film and television industry awards under the custodianship of the National Film and Video Foundation. The awards are meant to honour, celebrate and promote the creativity, quality and excellence of South African film and television talent, and encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new talent in the industry.

Nominees were announced at a star-studded event in Johannesburg.

Topping the drama nominations is e.tv drama series ‘Sex Tips For Girls’ which received a total of 10 nominations including nomination

in the Best TV drama category, where it is up against ‘Erfsondes’ and ‘90 Plein Street’, both SABC 2 dramas. SABC 1’s ‘Zone 14’ and ‘Soul City’ received 5 nominations each. In feature film categories, Afrikaans comedy ‘Semi-Soet’ is leads with 8 nominations including Best Feature Film where it competes against ‘Otelo Burning’, ‘Material’ and ‘Die Wonderwerker’ (‘The Miracle Worker’).

As with the previous years, the Best TV Soap category is open for the public to vote for their favourite. This year eight South African TV soaps will be competing for the title, including ‘Isidingo’, ‘Generations’, ‘Scandal’, ‘The Wild’, ‘Inkaba’, ‘Muvhango’, ‘7de Laan’ and ‘Rhythm City’.

“We are very excited that it’s that time of the year again when the industry assemble to celebrate its talent. We are privileged as NFVF to once again have the opportunity to put together an event of such magnitude. It is an enor-

mous responsibility, and we’d like to thank the industry for the continued support towards the SAFTAs. We always maintain that this is not about our individual organizations but about recognizing the industry and the roles that each one of us is playing in taking the industry forward,” says NFVF CEO and SAFTAs Chairperson Zama Mkosi.

SAFTAs’ overall judging chairperson Nodi Murphy says she is impressed by the quality of this year’s entries and urged the industry to continue supporting the awards. “It is encouraging to see our industry growing, this is evident with the quality of the entries we received this year. I’d like to thank all the judges for their dedication and commitment during the judging process,” adds Murphy. This year the SAFTAs committee extended the judging sessions to Cape Town.

A new media category, the Critics Lifetime Achievement award was announced at the event. The purpose of the award is to

‘Sea Skeletons’ - Big Fish

22 | T HE C AL LSHEET

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COMING UP

‘All The President’s Elephants’ - NHU Africa

allow arts and entertainment journalists an opportunity to acknowledge and recognize individuals that, in their opinion, have made a significant contribution in the industry over the years. The winner of this category will be chosen by the South African media.

The awards are supported by all the broadcasters SABC, MNET, e.tv, Top TV and industry organisation SASFED. The Film Publication Board (FPB) and Remy Martin are also sponsors.

‘All The President’s Elephants’ - NHU Africa

“

…we’d like to thank the industry for the continued support towards the SAFTAs. We always maintain that this is not about our individual organizations but about recognizing the industry and the roles that each one of us is playing in taking the industry forward.”

“

‘All The President’s Elephants’ - NHU Africa

COMING UP

Wild Talk Africa Film Festival

‘Into the Dragon’s Lair’

T

he Wild Talk Africa Film Festival will be returning to the city of Durban in 2013 from the 23-26 July. Organisers say having the event in Durban is “exciting and significant, as Durban is the place where the festival first began in 2006.” Staging the film festival in Durban provides “lush green landscapes and abundant wildlife” they say, the “perfect backdrop for South Africa’s natural history film festival.”

Organisers are encouraging attendees to take the opportunity to travel to Kwa-Zulu Natal’s reserves to “enjoy a little down-time in the bush.”

Call for Submissions: Roscar Awards 2013 The Wild Talk Africa Film Festival is now calling on filmmakers around the world to submit their films to the prestigious ROSCAR Awards.

The ROSCARS are the highlight of Wild Talk Africa, a biennial event recognised as Africa’s premiere wildlife and natural history film festival and conference.

Judges for the ROSCAR Awards include highly qualified and well-known local and international professionals in the filmmaking industry, with representation from leading natural history companies and broadcasters including National Geographic, Animal Planet, and BBC Natural History Unit to name a few.

The ROSCARS, affectionately known as the rhino Oscars, are the ultimate recognition of wildlife and natural history filmmakers in Africa.

24 | THE C AL LSHEET

FILMS CAN BE SUBMITTED TO A NUMBER OF CATEGORIES, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING: • The Music Award • The Sound Design Award • The Cinematography Award • The Limited Budget Award • The Best Children’s Natural History Production Award • The Best Environmental Production Award (Dedicated to the memory of Rick Lomba) • The Expedition/Adventure Award • The Short Film Award • The Best Presenter Award • The New Media Award • The Editing Award • The Best Script Award • The Best Series Award • The Best 3D Film Award ** new category • Best Newcomer Award • Best African Production Award • The Best of the Fest Award

‘Iceman’

‘Iceman’

To enter visit: www.wildtalkafrica.com or email roscars@wildtalkafrica.com for information.

‘Into the Dragon’s Lair’

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‘Nature of Life’

All images courtesy NHU Africa

23-26th Durban

Closing date fo r submis all sions is the 12th March 2013

FEATURE FILM PREMIERES

COMING UP

on Social Media

M

“

Since Cinemo’s launch in January, the app has attracted over 90 000 subscribers.

“

xit, Africa’s biggest social network, claims it is hosting the first full length feature to premier exclusively on a social network.

‘A Lucky Man’, which was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, is a feature about Ernie ‘Lastig’ Solomon, the legendary ex-gang boss. It can be downloaded by Mxit users with the newly-launched Cinemo app. Lucky Man has been broken into 18 four-minute episodes. A new episode is uploaded every weekday at 10am from 18 February 2013.

Cinemo is an app within the Mxit Reach ecosystem, the platform for social good within Mxit. Marlon Parker, VP of Mxit Reach says, “We know the power of video and want to use this to encourage conversations about social issues such as drug abuse, HIV/Aids and gangsterism. Cinemo has three content streams. It has movies, of which A Lucky Man is the first, public service announcements on issues such as condom use, and music videos like Freshly Ground’s popular, ‘Take me to the dance’.”

Since Cinemo’s launch in January, the app has attracted over 90 000 subscribers. “Most importantly we have seen great conversations happen around the social issues raised. These chats are used to raise awareness of and direct users to Mxit com-

munities and services where they can get help should they need it. With one click a user can go from a conversation about drug abuse to the Angel Network, our anonymous drug counseling service,” says Parker.

“A Lucky Man reflects many of the incredibly difficult social issues South Africans face. I am looking forward to the conversations these episodes inspire,” says Parker.

Written and directed by Gordon Clarke, A Lucky Man follows Ernie ‘Lastig’ Solomons on his search for identity and belonging in a society smothered by crime, violence and abuse. The movie raises questions of identity, destiny, self-preservation and how in the end all of us are our choices.

Mxit’s Cinemo app has been specifically designed for feature phones and is compatible with over 3000 handsets. The files are compressed for the feature phone market and are never larger than 2mb. Many of the public service announcement videos are smaller, often only a few kb.

“Cinemo combines education, entertainment, counseling support and information into one application. We are keen to see our community’s response to A Lucky Man,” concludes Parker.

‘A Lucky Man’ will be released in cinemas country wide on the 29th March.

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COMING UP

SPIER FILMS FUNDS ‘KHUMBA’

“

We believe that animation is an area where South Africa can compete in the international market and we want to do everything to support these kinds of projects.

tional market and we want to do everything to support these kinds of projects. There is a great creative team behind Triggerfish and we trust them to produce something even better with this film.”

Slated for release later this year, ‘Khumba’ tells the story of a half-striped zebra who is blamed for the drought by his superstitious herd and leaves his home in search of the magic waterhole where legend has it, the first zebras got their stripes. Teaming up with an overprotective, sassy wildebeest and a self-obsessed ostrich, this plucky young zebra meets an array of wacky characters in an adventure through the Great Karoo desert to earn his stripes.

The original story was penned by Triggerfish writers Raffaella Delle Donne and Anthony Silverston in consultation with Jona-

“

A

ward-winning production and finance company, Spier Films, has put its weight behind Triggerfish Animation Studios’ animated feature film, ‘Khumba’ which is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013.

Starting with ‘U-Carmen eKhayelitsha’ in 2004, Spier has funded a slate of successful films including ‘Master Harold and the Boys’, ‘Son of Man and Black Butterflies’.

This is the first time the company has invested in an animated feature film.

Managing Director of Spier Films, Michael Auret says, “We are very proud to be involved with Khumba because of the amazing achievement that was Zambezia which is still entertaining audiences globally. We believe that animation is an area where South Africa can compete in the interna-

than Roberts (‘The Lion King’) and has been picked up by Millennium Entertainment for North American distribution. Following on from the success of their first widely released animated feature ‘Adventures in Zambezia’, Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest is thrilled to have Spier on board, making ‘Khumba’ a 100% locally funded film. “Having a financial partner like Spier, along with our other South African investors the IDC, DTI and the NFVF, is such a great affirmation that we are producing a world-class product that does our country proud. Zambezia is the first African animation film to be nominated for two Annie Awards and has become Africa’s most successful film export since The Gods Must Be Crazy, released over thirty years ago. We expect Khumba to break this longstanding record.”

COMING UP

AFDA CAPE TOWN 10th Anniversary

called Dirty Soul Productions which has had two of their videos nominated for MK awards.

“It has been an exciting and fascinating journey,” says Bata Passchier, AFDA CEO. “What has been possibly the most rewarding part of the journey is to watch how empowered the graduates are to go out and tackle this tough industry, creating work, and make such incredible successes of their careers.

We are in constant contact with our alumni, and it is so encouraging and satisfying to see their careers in full flight. It is thanks to the team within the school who have fostered and nurtured their entrepreneurial skills providing the industry with highly trained and motivated individuals.”

AFDA in Cape Town celebrates its 10th birthday in 2013, while, in Durban the first AFDA school opened its doors this year, and in 2014 AFDA Johannesburg celebrates its 20th birthday.

“

The original intake in 2003 was 141 students and in 2013 numbers have grown to 400 students.

“

A

FDA (The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance) in Cape Town celebrates its 10th birthday this year.

“It’s difficult to think that the majority of that enthusiastic and fresh-faced bunch of AFDA film and performance students of the year 2003 in Cape Town are probably 30 years old today and some probably older.”

Says Garth Holmes, Chairman and co-founder of AFDA. “It’s like yesterday – I remember it so vividly,” says Holmes. “The hot and dusty first assembly - the painters were still completing the walls of the lecture room; the pervading smell of paint only second to the screeching sound of the grinder and the large clouds of dust emanating from a worker hurriedly completing the laying of a floor; the installations of a plaster wall and huge activity in the midst of new students, staff, parents and VIPs.” “The staff had had a welcome party the night before and most were feeling the effects of all the excitement that pervaded Cape Town and its new AFDA campus. An address by myself about the frontier-spirit, the role of

those in the vanguard, the responsibility of creating a vibrant local industry – tempered by the noise and the odd worker passing through the assembly - and some words of wisdom and encouragement to the staff and students from CEO and co-founder Bata Passchier – all soaked with sweat as the air-conditioners were still in the process of being installed. “ Some of the original staff from 2003 are still with the school including Steve Drake (Post Grad Course Director), Dr Gerda Dullaard (Chief Academic Standards Council), Jaco Janse van Rensburg (Dean of AFDA Cape Town), Archie Birch (Production design lecturer), Farieda Cozyn (Finance), Aneesa Abels (Librarian Assistant) and Peter Dodo (Groundsman).

The original intake in 2003 was 141 students and in 2013 numbers have grown to 400 students. Over the years the school has produced a lineage of highly acclaimed and accomplished film-makers and live performance practitioners. These include Jozua Malherbe (2004) director of ‘Wolwedans in die Skemer’ and ‘Getroud met Rugby’; Bronwyn Reddy (2006) cast in ‘Kramer Petersen Song Book’, performed in ‘Prison Codes’, ‘Grease’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, with a debut album out called Love Constant; Shimmy Isaacs (2008), now a freelance writer, actress, comedian and producer widely regarded as one of Cape Town’s funniest female comedians; Tristyn von Bergh (2006) won silver and bronze at the Loerie awards for his debut advert for the Organ Donor Foundation, and Kyle Lewis (2010) director for a production company

www.th ecal l sh eet.co .za T H E C A L L SH EET

| 27

EVENTS

Africa’s Biggest Film Festival – FEPASCO

“ character is played by the Algerian director Djamila Sahraoui.

All of the juries for the different categories were presided over by women this year, with the jury for the Etalon d’Or headed by French cinema legend Euzhan Palcy.

The AFP reported FESPACO organiser Michel Ouedraogo as saying, “women have carried African cinema both behind and in front of the camera but Africa has not given them anything back.”

“We have to give women greater visibility and a bigger role in promoting African cinema,” he said.

The 2013 guest of honour is Gabon, which presented a seven-film retrospective of its cinema.

In addition to celebrities, the president of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, attended the festivities.

“

T

he 23rd edition of the Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) was held from February 23 to March 2, 2013 in Burkina Faso with “African Cinema and Public Policy in Africa” as the edition’s theme.

The biennial Pan-African film festival offers a varied program based around film selection, the African Film and TV International Market (MICA), and professional meetings (symposiums, roundtables, master classes).

101 films competed for the top Etalon d’Or prize at FESPACO. Results were not available when The Callsheet went to print.

Nearly 170 films from across Africa were shown during the week-long bi-annual festival. Opening the festival Sunday night was “Yema”, the story of a mother who suspects jihad to be infiltrating her family. The main

Nearly 170 films from across Africa were shown during the weeklong bi-annual festival. Opening the festival Sunday night was “Yema”, the story of a mother who suspects jihad to be infiltrating her family. The main character is played by the Algerian director Djamila Sahraoui.

www.th ecal l sh eet.co .za T H E C A L L SH EET

| 29

EVENTS

March

April

May

PANAFRICAN FILM AND TELEVISION FESTIVAL OF OUAGADOUGOU (FESPACO) 23 Feb-2 March

ADC 92ND ANNUAL AWARDS 2-4 April

ONE SHOW DESIGN 7 May

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING CUP 8 March Istambul, Turkey

SWSX SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST (FILM) 8 - 16 March Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

SOUTH AFRICAN FILM AND TELEVISION AWARDS (SAFTAs) 14 -15 March Midrand, South Africa

ADVERTISING CREATIVE CIRCLE 14 March London, England

ADFEST 2013 17-19 March

Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

MIPTV 8-11 April Cannes France

LEBOOK CONNECTIONS TOUR 2013 10-11 April Paris, France

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 11-22 April London, England

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 17-28 April New York, New York, U.S.A.

New York, New York, U.S.A.

THE ONE SHOW 8 May New York, New York, U.S.A.

ONE SHOW INTERACTIVE 11 May New York, New York, U.S.A.

CANNES FILM MARKET (MARCHÉ DU FILM) 15-24 May Cannes, France

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 15-26 May Cannes, France

GOLDEN AWARD OF MONTREUX 22-23 April

OUT IN AFRICA GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL CAPE TOWN 17-18 May

Montreux, Switzerland

Cape Town/Johannesburg, South Africa

HOT DOCS 25 April – 5 May Toronto, Canada

Pattaya, Thailand

© AFS Productions

30 | T HE C ALLSHEET

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IN PRODUCTION

In Production March 2013

T

hanks to ever-present confidentiality clauses, no one is ever allowed to officially talk about what’s in production in Africa, so this monthly section is an unofficial overview of the industry’s worst-kept secrets.

According to SixSales’ synopsis at The Berlinale European Film Market: “In a world with no water, a 14-year-old boy will be confronted with his primal instincts when he finds out his friendly brother-in-law is his father’s assassin.”

YOUNG ONES

KITE

In February 2013, Spier Films and Do Productions started production in Springbok on ‘Young Ones’, directed by Jake Paltrow – best known as Gwyneth’s younger brother but also responsible for TV series ‘NYPD Blue’ and feature film ‘The Good Night’, with his sister, Penelope Cruz and Martin Freeman.

‘The Young Ones’ has an impressive cast that includes two of the fastest rising young stars around: Elle Fanning (‘Super 8’, ‘We Bought a Zoo’, the upcoming ‘Maleficent’) and Nicholas Hoult, who’s grown up since About A Boy and has upcoming lead roles in the blockbusters ‘Warm Bodies’ and ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’, as well as roles in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’.

Michael Shannon – an Oscar nominee for ‘Revolutionary Road’ and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor winner for ‘Take Shelter’ – also stars in the Irish-South Africa co-production.

Ralph Ziman (‘Jerusalema’, ‘The Zookeeper’) has taken over from David R. Ellis (RIP) as the director of Kite, a live action adaptation of a 1998 Japanese anime of the same name. Anant Singh’s Distant Horizon is executive producing and has announced a cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson (‘Django Unchained’, ‘The Avengers’); India Eisley (‘The Secret Life Of The American Teenager’; ‘Underworld: Awakening and Maleficent’) and Callan McAuliffe (GQ Man of The Year 2012, ‘I Am Number Four’, ‘The Great Gatsby’). It started shooting in Johannesburg in February 2013, with Greig Buckle line-producing for VideoVision.

MAD DOGS

ister (‘Calendar Girls’, ‘Kingdom of Heaven’), John Simm (‘Human Traffic’, ‘Life on Mars’) and Marc Warren (‘The Good Wife’, ‘Hustle’), the critically-acclaimed series was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Drama Serial in 2011 and won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best MultiChannel Programme in 2012.

BLACK SAILS

Film Afrika is still shooting ‘Black Sails’, a ‘Treasure Island’ prequel set 20 years earlier than Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. Toby Stephens, the son of Dame Maggie Smith, stars as Captain Flint; Luke Arnold (‘The Pacific’) plays John Silver; and Tom Hopper (‘Merlin’) is Billy Bones, while other faces you might recognize include Zach McGowan (‘Shameless’) and Nigerian/South African star Hakeem Kae Kazim. It’s expected to shoot at Cape Town Film Studios until around May 2013.

We’d like to hear from you!

March 2013 will see Out of Africa Entertainment end production on a new season of Mad Dogs, produced by Left Bank Pictures and coproduced by Palma Pictures for Sky1. Starring Max Beesley (‘Glitter’, ‘Torque’), Philip Glen-

Share production updates or news to The Callsheet at editor@thecallsheet.co.za.

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| 31

ACHIEVEMENTS

Searching for Sugar Man Wins an Oscar

T

he Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards.

Directed by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and produced by Simon Chinn, ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ tells the story of

32 | THE C AL LSHEET

a singer whose musical star faded without a trace until he was rediscovered in South Africa.

Western Cape MEC of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde said, “Oscar Winner ‘Searching for Sugarman’ not only depicts the natural beauty of our City, it

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also tells the story of who we are as a people. The spirit with which South Africans have embraced Rodriguez was also shared with the foreign travellers who visited us during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We are a friendly, warm and welcoming nation. Our people are undoubtedly our biggest asset.”

ACHIEVEMENTS J��� F��� Fes��v�� 2013 W����r� The second annual Jozi Film Festival took place in February. Twenty three films were screened at three venues across Johannesburg.

The winners of the Jozi Film Festival 2013 are: Best Documentary Short Film – Siphe Bongwana for ‘Energy is Power’ Best Documentary Feature Film – Tobias Lindner for ‘Orania’ Best Short Fiction Film – Joint winners: Guy Spiller for ‘My Room At The Centre of the Universe’ Nevil Sandama for ‘iBalaclava’ Best Student Film – Mikles Manneke for ‘Kanye Kanye’ Best Feature Film – Vickus Strijdom for ‘Zama Zama’ Audience Choice Award – Henk Pretorius for ‘Fanie Fourie’s Lobola’

D��b�� F���M�� Pr��ec� t� B� Sh��� a� T���� In���na�i�n�� F��� Fes��v�l� A film, which was one of the officially selected projects in the 2011 Durban FilmMart (DFM), a joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), recently enjoyed its World Premiere at the Gotebord Film Festival in Sweden and has been snapped up by two other major international film festivals.

‘Imbabazi: the Pardon’, produced and directed by Rwandan film-maker Joel Karekezi, was one of the features that was selected for the

2011 Durban FilmMart, where the film was also awarded the CineMart Rotterdam Lab Award at the DFM, which provided the up and coming producer with accreditation, accommodation and transportation to attend the Lab, an incubator for producers of new projects which ran concurrently with the 2012 International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

Imbabazi: the Pardon had its USA premiere at the San Diego Black Film Festival in January and this month will enjoy its Los Angeles premiere at the prestigious Pan-African Film Festival.

D�M Pr��ect� Re�����nt� � H� Doc� B��� I�� Gr��� Do� F�n� Durban FilmMart 2011, 2012 participants Nadine Salib, Mayenzeke Baza, Riaan Hendricks and Eddie Edwards projects’ are among the eight winning projects that were selected to receive grants in the 2nd round of the Hot Docs Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund which is coordinated by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Three categories of funding were granted to the following DFM Projects: Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund Development Grant awarded to ‘Mother of the Unborn’ (Egypt), director Nadine Salib and co-

producers Hala Lotfi and Fawzi Saleh.

Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Production Grant awarded to Ndiyindoda/ ‘I am a Man’ (South Africa), director and producer Mayenzeke Baza.

Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Completion Grant awarded to two DFM Projects; ‘The Devil’s Lair’ (South Africa) directed

by Riaan Hendricks, and produced by Neil Brandt and Rollaball (South Africa) a DFM 2011 project participant, directed by Eddie Edwards and produced by Steven Markovitz.

UCT s�u��nt� �ho��� t� g� S�nd�n�� F��� Fes��v�� Two UCT students, Katey Carson and Dylan Bosman, were invited to Sundance Film Festival to have their short films exclusively screened at the GFS MasterClass Showcase.

They are both presently entering their 3rd year of study at The Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town and are 2 of only 24 students that were selected for the Screen Production course last year.

Both Katey and Dylan entered short films in a Google Plus initiative, called GFS MasterClass, that is the brainchild of the Ghetto Film School of LA. Their films, along with 6 other entries, were chosen to be showcased at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

OPPORTUNITIES

Talent Campus Durban Calls for Filmmakers and Film Critics

T

alent Campus Durban is looking for 40 of the most innovative voices of African cinema to take part in the 6th edition of this leading networking and developmental event held at the 34th Durban International Film Festival.

Talent Campus Durban seeks to provide selected participants with an opportunity to meet with international industry professionals and experts in various aspects of the filmmaking business through participations in a 5-day programme of masterclasses, workshops and industry networking events. The continent of Africa is a source of a myriad narratives which offer possibilities to be re-imagined, re-told, overlapped and adapted within numerous contexts. Under this year’s theme of “Memetic Africa”, Talent Campus Durban calls for African filmmakers to participate in this programme and be inspired by stories shaped by varying innovative patterns, ideas, customs, traditions, practices and skills that enforce the legacy of the African film context.

Talent Campus Durban also calls for participants for Talent Press, a mentoring programme for three African film critics in

34 | T HE C ALLSHEET

collaboration with FIPRESCI and Goethe Institut, which makes a welcome return in its second year. Talent Press mentors will offer their expertise to guide selected participants in the art of film criticism with access to all the screenings of the 34th Durban International Film Festival.

The five-day programme also includes the 3rd edition of Doc Station, where three selected documentary projects submitted by accepted talents will be finessed and packaged for presentation within the DOC Circle pitching forum at the 6th Durban FilmMart.

Applications for Doc Station are open to selected participants for Talent Campus. Mohamed El Amine Hattou of Algeria was one of the three Doc Station participants in the 5th Talent Campus Durban who, after presenting his project at Doc Circle, also had the invaluable opportunity to meet one-on-one with potential investors. Describing his experience, Hattou says, “Doc Station is a great opportunity to gain in maturity, networking, and dive into a promiscuous and professional African market. After my pitch on Doc Station, I had some positive and interesting feedback on my

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Apply online a t www.cc a.ukzn. ac.z Applica a tio on 1st A ns close pril 201 3

project. It was also an easy way to know about new funding and co-production opportunities. Durban Talent Campus is a unique way for African filmmakers to connect, meet and share their stories.”

Held in co-operation with the Berlinale Talent Campus, and with support from the German Embassy of South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Talent Campus Durban runs from 19 to 23 July 2013. Apart from the main event in Berlin, Talent Campus partnerships also take place at selected festivals in Buenos Aires, Guadalajara, Tokyo and Sarajevo. Opportunities for participating talents are enhanced through Talent Campus networks and the Berlinale’s global information platform.

Application is open to filmmakers and critics who are resident in Africa. Applicants are encouraged to apply well before the deadline in order to submit their work samples timeously.

For DIFF and Talent Campus Queries +27 (0)31 260 1650 / 2506 Email both: talentcampusdurban@gmail. com / talent@ukzn.ac.za

OPPORTUNITIES

Call for entry: IDFA WorldView Summer School 2013

I

DFA is looking for emerging documentary film talent for the 6th edition of the Summer School: a tailor-made training program for emerging filmmakers, taking place in Amsterdam from the 1st to the 6th of July 2013.

Around sixteen projects from all over the world will be selected for the Summer School 2013 which is aimed at strengthening the narrative structure of documentary projects. The IDFA WorldView Summer School is open to: • Directors making their first or second feature documentary • Ten projects in the script development phase and six projects in the rough-cut phase

•

Creative documentary projects IDFA WorldView Summer School offers the opportunity to meet and work with highly esteemed filmmakers and film professionals who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with emerging film talent. The Summer School combines individual coaching with group sessions and an inspiring cultural program in a relaxed atmosphere. It offers two types of training possibilities: Script Development and Editing Consultancy.

Filmmakers who are selected have the opportunity to bring a sparring partner: a creative producer, a co-scriptwriter, or an editor in the case of participation in Editing Consultancy. If a project is selected, a project fee of

€750 (excluding VAT) is due.

Participants will be coached by eight international documentary experts. In previous years experts like Carmen Cobos (Producer, the Netherlands), Kate Townsend (Executive Producer BBC Storyville, UK), Sabine BubeckPaaz (Commissioning Editor ZDF, Germany), Debra Zimmerman (Distributor Women Make Movies, USA), Erez Laufer (Editor, Israel), Peter Wintonick (Producer/ Director, Canada), Audrius Stonys (Director, Lithuania) and Janus Metz (Director, Denmark) were tutors at the Summer School.

For more information visit: www.idfa.nl/ industry/training-and-education/about-summer-school.aspx

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DIRECTORY LISTINGS

Crew Production Companies COMPANY

REGION

TELEPHONE

EMAIL

WEBSITE

Al Is On Production

Kenya

+254 020 445 4056

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Birthmark Films

Egypt

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Chaftop Films.

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Emerge Film Solutions Nigeria

Nigeria

+191 757 53838

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Gingerink

Kenya

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ltv films ghana

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Mahla filmes

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COMPANY

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Akwasu Travel

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Avis Ghana

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Bushlore

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Carhire Kenya

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Rwanda Carhire

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Unity Global Ventures

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Voyagers Zambia Car Rental

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Transport Hire

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CTICC

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Fabulous Boomtown Boys

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Media Film Services

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Protea Hotel President

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Roodebloem Studios

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Wizardz

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Congratulations!

OSCAR WINNER

‘Searching for Sugar Man’