Registration opens for 7th Durban FilmMart

The 7th Durban FilmMart (DFM), Africa’s premier film finance and

co‐production forum will open for early bird delegate registration

on April 4, 2016.

The dates for this year’s DFM, a joint project of Durban Film Office

(DFO), the eThekwini Municipality’s industry development unit, and

the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) are from June 17 to 20,

earlier than in previous years, to co‐incide with the DIFF (June 16‐

26), which was moved to an earlier slot for this year.

“The aim of the DFM is to increase the visibility of African cinema,

kindle the creation of film on the continent, and to stimulate the

development of project collaboration between African filmmakers

through a dynamic networking programme,” explains Durban Film

Office’s Toni Monty. “The objective of the Mart speaks to the need

for African film makers to be creating their own content and telling

their own stories to their own markets. By driving the development

of local content, we believe that it lays a bedrock for business and

employment within the sector to thrive and look towards its own

models for success.”

This year, the Mart, will provide delegates with access to prominent

film industry experts, financiers, content directors and broadcasters

from around Africa and the world, and other industry specialists

attending both the DFM and DIFF as independents to connect and

develop business associations

The DFM is structured around three programmatic pillars – Master

Classes, a Finance Forum and Africa in Focus – a series of industry

workshops, which offer networking and social opportunities for

industry representatives.

Master classes are led by well‐known industry experts and will

unpack issues and challenges in concept development, project

packaging, co‐production development, new media, finance,

marketing, distribution, and other related themes.

The DFM’s co‐production market, which called for submissions of

film projects last year, has roughly ten feature films and ten

documentary films selected for mentorship. These will be

presented to industry experts during the Mart, and following

thorough sessions with experts, projects are awarded grants for

further development.

Partners of this year’s DFM include the International Film Festival

Rotterdam's (IFFR) CineMart, the International Documentary Film

Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Sundance Film Festival, AfriDocs, the

Berlinale Film Festival, HotDocs ‐ Blue Ice Documentary Film Fund,

Produire au Sud, Restless Talent Management, Sørfond, French

Embassy South Africa, , National Film and Video Foundation,

KwaZulu‐Natal Film Commission, Durban Film Office, VideoVision

Entertainment, Goethe Institute and the Organisation

Internationale de la Francophonie.

For registration or for more information view the delegate

registration process online at the official website:

www.durbanfilmmart.com.

Early Bird registration discount for those booking before 30 May 2016.

Fees are R1 485 (ZAR) for the 4 day event which includes access to allocated

sessions, lunch, access to DFM networking events, entrance into

the Durban International Film Festival screenings (subject to ticket

availability), listing in the DFM Industry Manual and access to

Masterclasses and the Africa in Focus programme. After 30 May

2016, fees are R2035. Daily passes are R605 (this does not include

tickets to the DIFF screenings or access into the opening and closing

events.)

This edition by Fred Felton

Twitter @fredfelton