Another bumper year for Cape Town film

This is a significant increase on the previous year's 1 500 permits issued. Over December 2002 the Film Office issued more than 400 permits compared to 330 in December 2001.

Feature films shot in Cape Town were up by more than 50% - 10 were shot in 2002, compared to 6 in 2001. The Film Office says that while feature films are usually shot only in the winter months, they are now also being shot for the first time in peak season, from October until the end of March. 2003 is also off to a good start with shooting for Hollywood feature beginning next week and several more features expected from the the USA and Germany in February and March.

The average number of commercials shot in Cape Town has increased from an average of 300 per year to almost 500 in 2002, and have been generally a lot bigger with shoots lasting from 3 or 5 days to several weeks in cases of back-to-back commercials.

The majority of the commercials were from France. Large numbers also came from Germany and Britain, while smaller numbers came from diverse countries such as Poland, Japan, Israel, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, the USA and Canada.

For more information on the Cape Town film Office contact Malcolm Calderwood .