Jumpstart programme to boost emerging filmmakers' international market skills opens

The deadline for applications is 28 February 2024.

Jumpstart is an incubator programme designed to introduce emerging filmmakers to writing and packaging with a focus on project packaging for the international market, introducing filmmakers to key techniques and tools for scriptwriting and storytelling processes.

Projects will be guided by script consultants from South Africa and France.

The programme will include the main workshop from 19 to 22 July 2024, during the 15th annual Durban FilmMart, with online follow-up sessions in November 2024 and February 2025.

12 South African projects selected for Durban FilmMart Institute's development programme

25 Jan 2024

“The partnership with Produire au Sud is one of DFMI’s most long-standing partnerships and one that is ever evolving to suit the needs of filmmakers," says Magdalene Reddy, director of the Durban FilmMart Institute.

“The programme creates a space for African writers and directors to gain exposure to French producers and industry.”

Lucas Taillefer, coordinator of Produire au Sud says, “The collaboration between Durban FilmMart and Produire au Sud is 12 years old and we are very happy to have been able to accompany so many emergent African directors and producers with their projects in development during all those years.”

“During this time, the Jumpstart programme went through many stages, and it has great potential to be further developed in the future.

“The cooperation between Durban and Nantes ensures not only Produire au Sud coming to South Africa, but also the other way around. Indeed, each year, a project of DFM is invited to come to Nantes during the PAS workshop in the framework of the Festival des 3 Continents in late November. This fruitful collaboration is made possible thanks to the help of the Institut Français in South Africa.”

Joburg Film Festival returns in 2024

6 Dec 2023

Application criteria

• Projects in which the producer, director, or writer is an African citizen.
  
• Proof of African citizenship must be provided through a certified copy of a valid African passport or identification document. (Africans living in the Diaspora must have African citizenship – proof of passport).
  
• Projects with a producer and director attached.
  
• Projects must have a first draft script available.
  
• Live-action fiction features in development only.

Applications can be made through the Durban FilmMart Institute website.