Durban FilmMart Turns Inward for Its 17th Edition

The Durban FilmMart returns for its 17th edition from Oct. 9 – 12, organized around the theme "Shifting Worlds, Turning Toward Ourselves" and a program built to help African screen industries set their own agenda.

The theme draws on the pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène's memorable assertion: "Why be a sunflower and turn towards the sun? I myself am the sun."

"We are very much looking inward [at this year's edition]," Durban FilmMart Institute director Magdalene Reddy tells Variety. "In a world where…everything is shifting, we find that, at this time, it's important for us as the African cinema community to look at what we need to create systems that will work for us. How can we consolidate? How can we create solutions?"

The four-day event, arguably the most influential film market on the continent, features panel discussions, masterclasses, one-on-one meetings and mentorship sessions. It arrives at a moment of unprecedented visibility — and unparalleled disruption — for African screen industries.

A Cannes Winner Opens the Market

In a departure from previous editions, which ran parallel to the Durban Intl. Film Festival, this year's DFM opens with a screening of "Ben'Imana," the Cannes Caméra d'Or winner by Rwandan debutante Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo. The film is an alumnus of DFM's influential pitching and finance forum, and was selected to highlight the market's outsized impact on African filmmaking.

"This was a DFM project. It was pitched at DFM two years ago, and they were able to win two awards at Cannes [including the FIPRESCI prize]," says Reddy. "For us, the celebration of hosting a screening at the market — which we've not done previously — is based on the fact that we want to show our local content in our local context."

Distribution, Audiences and the Think Tank

A crucial pillar of every DFM is its Think Tank strand, whose conversations and conclusions often "become a blueprint for the next DFM and the direction which the industry is going," according to Reddy.

This year's central closed-door session gathers key distributors, financiers and industry leaders to tackle the vexing challenges of film distribution on the African continent — challenges sharpened by successive waves of corporate consolidation in the global industry. A second session focuses on audience development, "trying to see how we can connect better with our local [audiences]," Reddy says.

Equitable Co-Production

A backbone of this year's event is a spotlight on equitable co-production, with a series of sessions organized in collaboration with the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs network (EAVE). The conversations will tackle knotty issues such as how to best incorporate inclusivity into financing, development and production, and address the systemic imbalances facing African producers when partnering with outside co-producers — "even when they are coming with the stories, coming with the IP," says Reddy.

"How can they go in as an equal partner? How can they sit confidently at the table, so they are engaging in a way that will benefit them? Engaging in a way where finances can still come back to Africa?" she asks.

Partnerships and Policy

Collaboration runs across the market's strands. DFM has forged partnerships with industry bodies including EAVE; the Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF); the Cape Town Intl. Animation Festival (CTIAF); Documentary Africa; The StoryBoard Collective; and the Ladima Foundation, which supports African women working in film and television and will launch an initiative to push for greater gender equity at African film festivals.

"Collaboration is something that has underpinned all the work that DFM has been doing over the years," says Reddy. "In order for the industry to survive, we need to be working together."

This year's edition unfolds at a turbulent time for the host nation, whose screen industries have been "struggling," according to Reddy, particularly with ongoing uncertainty around South Africa's 25% cash rebate. Leading South African policymakers are expected on hand at DFM, which will host a closed session for local industry to meet one-on-one with representatives of the Dept. of Trade, Industry and Competition — which manages the country's rebate policy — the National Film and Video Foundation, and various local and regional film commissions.

"For us as DFM, the platform that we create is a platform for filmmakers not just to create a community for the filmmaking industry on the continent, but also a space for filmmakers to connect with policymakers," says Reddy. "A space for policymakers to understand what are the challenges, what are the issues our filmmakers are facing. We try to bridge that gap between industry and policymakers so we can create a conducive environment and ecosystem for our filmmakers."

That mandate, she adds, extends to DFM's broader engagement with the African continent as a whole. "Last year's theme was creating bridges, and that's what we continue to do. Even though it's challenging within the continent to work with each other, we are trying to find ways to do that."

How effectively this year's closed-door sessions translate into blueprint and policy may well determine whether the market's inward turn delivers the durable, African-owned systems Reddy describes — and whether the next DFM project follows "Ben'Imana" from a Durban pitch to a Cannes prize.