More awards scheduled for Durban FilmMart

Durban FilmMart (22-25 July) is a joint venture between the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) (21-31 July) created to raise the visibility of projects from the African continent and to facilitate financing and networking opportunities with potential co-producers and other industry players.

More awards indicate support

"The increase in the number of awards we will be making is a tangible sign of the increasing support for the growth of African film product and an encouraging endorsement of the DFM, which has found its place as a highlight in the South African film industry calendar," says Durban Film Office (DFO) acting CEO, Toni Monty.

"These awards provide producers with much needed support in further developing their projects and make these projects more attractive to financiers. We hope that other leading industry role-players will take Videovision Entertainment's lead and offer similar incentives in the years to come."

Videovision Entertainment CEO, Anant Singh, says, "South Africa has a wealth of filmmaking talent that needs to be supported. Our sponsorship of this prize is designed to nurture and develop emerging South African filmmakers. We remain committed to the South African film industry and to creating a platform for local films, both in South Africa and abroad."

UK awards

"PUMA.Creative is also offering three awards in 2011," says Peter Rorvik, director of the Durban International Film Festival. "Its Mobility and Catalyst Awards are for ambitious and creative documentary ideas and its Impact Award, which comes with a substantial cash prize, is for the documentary that has created the greatest social impact."

Channel 4's BRITDOC Foundation will adjudicate all these awards. The foundation is a UK-based, not-for-profit organisation backed by founding sponsor, Channel 4 TV. It empowers documentary filmmaking by enabling films with global ambition, by brokering new partners and by working to build new business models for filmmakers to deploy.

International awards

Other awards being made this year are from the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) and Jan Vrijman Fund for the 'Most Promising Documentary Projects'. They will offer accreditation and accommodation at IDFA 2011 for two selected documentary projects. Three projects will also be invited to the Rotterdam Producers Lab as part of the partnership with Cinemart and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The Hubert Bals Fund will again award 5000 Euro's for the 'Most Promising Fiction Project'.

To register for DFM, go to www.durbanfilmmart.co.za/DelegateRegistration.aspx