Film Maker Services

Here is how this works in practice. We connect productions with filmmakers who carry a project across multiple disciplines, from developing and directing to shooting and finishing, as versatile creative leads. Our network is centred on Cape Town and Johannesburg, where a deep, top-tier production community supports filmmakers working on documentaries, branded films, short-form drama and digital work. The filmmakers we supply combine storytelling instinct with hands-on technical skill, comfortable directing a crew or operating as a lean self-shooting unit, and they know how to deliver to a brief, a schedule and a budget. We match each filmmaker to your project's format and ambition.

Here is the short of it. We set up them with local fixers, crew and post facilities so a project can move efficiently from concept to delivery within South Africa's mature production system. Because English is the working language of the South African industry, filmmakers work with directly with overseas commissioners and brand clients, and the favourable South African rand exchange rate means strong creative and technical work is engaged at costs well below European or North American norms.

Here is the breakdown. South Africa has a filmmaking custom with genuine global standing. Gavin Hood's 'Tsotsi' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. Neill Blomkamp's 'District 9', made in Johannesburg, earned a Best Picture nomination, both showing that locally rooted films can reach a global audience. The country offers filmmakers extraordinary canvases: Table Mountain. The Cape Peninsula, the Cape Winelands, Johannesburg and Soweto, the Kruger bushveld, the Drakensberg and the Karoo.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Its history, from the apartheid era through Nelson Mandela and the 1994 transition to democracy, and its Rainbow Nation identity across twelve official languages, give filmmakers rich and serious subject matter. The National Film and Video Foundation supports the sector, the DTIC rebates draws global work, and the clear, strong Southern Hemisphere light makes the country an inspiring base. The prime November-to-February season aligns conveniently with Northern Hemisphere production calendars.