Pretoria - The annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is an ideal platform to promote the South African film industry, says Trade and Industry (dti) Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina.
“TIFF is a prestigious and strategic festival that has been earmarked by our department as an ideal platform to further promote the South African film industry and the country as an attractive location for the shooting of international films.
“The South African government firmly believes in the sector and understands the contribution that can be made in terms of skills transfer, arts and culture and job creation,” said the Deputy Minister.
Speaking at a breakfast session hosted by the dti on the sidelines of the festival, on Monday, Deputy Minister Masina said the high regard that government has for the industry is evident in the co-production treaty that South Africa and Canada has signed.
This is also evident in the 20 film makers that the department has funded to attend TIFF this year.
“We brought 20 filmmakers here to assist them sell their productions, source finance and find partners and international distributors. We would also like them to gain international experience in what is undoubtedly one of the toughest industries in the world to do business in.
“This is an industry where million rand productions compete with million dollar productions, which in turn compete with hundred million dollar productions all on a global scale,” explained Deputy Minister Masina.
He emphasised that the co-production treaty between SA and Canada was intended to serve as a driver from which the two countries could contribute to the expansion of the film, television, video production and distribution industries in both countries.
He also encouraged filmmakers from Canada and South Africa to contribute meaningfully in ensuring that the implementation of the treaty was successful.
Producers and actors David Kau and Terry Pheto, as well as Mfundi Vundla attended the session and interacted with film industry stakeholders from Canada and South Africa.
Meanwhile, renowned Canadian filmmaker Anthony Sherwood said he was impressed with South Africa’s world-class film production facilities, adding that they are among the best in the world.
Sherwood was in South Africa in July as part of an inward mission organised by the dti for eight Canadian film producers across different genres with the intention of exposing them to South Africa’s film industry capabilities and to give them an opportunity to assess co-production projects and partners.
“I was very impressed by the state-of-the-art film production facilities, the passion, commitment and the talent that I had an opportunity to see in South Africa during our tour. We visited Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. Many of the film and television production facilities over there can easily compete with many of the facilities we have here in Canada, and many in the world,” said Sherwood on Monday.
The festival will conclude on Sunday. - SAnews.gov.za
