Cape film industry at Cannes

This year the slogan “South Africa Yes” will be the main focus of the campaign, which was agreed on earlier in the year when the Cape Film Commission hosted the Gauteng Film Commission and the Durban Film Office at a joint marketing strategy meeting in Cape Town.

Cannes Lions is the platform to market and maintain South Africa's position as one of the leading television advertising production destinations and to encourage more foreign direct investment and job creation in the different regions.

Time right to re-position

Given the current global outlook, the Film Commission believes that the time is now ripe to re-position yourself in the global market from a brand and value proposition. The Film Commission will have to create confidence in investment circles that the return in the film industry is still good.

The mission here at Cannes Lions will really be to reinforce the fact that the Western Cape still offers the best value for money, but also the fact that its film industry service offering is still compatible with the best in the world.

“South Africa Yes”

The Commission's campaign, “South Africa Yes”, will also emphasise the overall readiness of the SA film industry as still being a desirable destination for film and commercial related productions.

The commission says the industry has had a relatively good production season but the full impact of the global economic meltdown is not yet known. It says it is in discussions with the other commissions, NFVF and DTI around conducting an economic assessment and will also hold a Film Indaba focusing on finance in July 2009.

Broadcasters around the world are under pressure in terms of content; the stills industry has experienced a slowdown, which is related to retail and associated catalogues that are no longer issued; the Commission says it also knows that there has been a decline in advertising/commercial spend not only in SA but with SA's main trading partners.

New markets

The Commission is already looking at new markets, such as the Middle East and Asia, and expending the SA product offering into these markets.

New digital media and animation products and an investment in new content creation that will reflect the spirit of South Africa will also be a key part of the strategy going forward.