Film & Cinematography News South Africa

SA's 11th trip to Cannes Film Festival

South African delegates have embarked on a trip to the 61st Cannes Film Festival, scheduled to take place from today, Wednesday, 14 May 2008, until Saturday 24 May. The SA highlight this year will be the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) conference, themed “South Africa, your co-production partner of choice” in celebration of SA's 11th year at the Cannes film festival (1997 - 2008).

The conference will take place at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes on Wednesday 21 May.

The delegates comprise the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), Cape Film Commission (CFC), Gauteng Film Commission (GFC), Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and prominent SA producers.

The NFVF and its partners will once again officially host the South African Pavilion at the International village. As always, the pavilion promotes SA as a filmmaking destination, positions our country as a co-production partner of choice and introduces SA producers to the international film industry. The dti film and television production scheme and other information that market the country will be disseminated at the pavilion. The pavilion is an office dedicated to all South Africans attending the Cannes film festival.

SA will have a representation at the Producers' Network, which was co-founded by the NFVF and officially launched in 2004. This programme is dedicated to bringing together producers in Cannes to encourage opportunities for international co-production and to contribute actively to the film industry. The dti will unveil the film and television production incentive scheme, which was officially launched in SA by minister Mandisi Mphahlwa in March, at the Producers' Network round table discussions, while NFVF will brief the delegates on co-productions.

The evening of Saturday 17 May will see the NFVF and its partners hosting a networking event, where industry professionals from across the globe will meet with their SA counterparts. This event has been hailed as the best by those that have attended it in the past. This year well-known DJ Black Coffee will be the SA entertainer at the event.

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