The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in partnership with the Association of Transformation in Film and Television (ATFT) will lead a delegation of 20 emerging South African filmmakers to the Rio Content Market in Brazil. This is the second time both the DTI and ATFT attend the market; this year also partnering with the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) and Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency for the Western Cape (WESGRO). The Rio Content Market has been scheduled to take place from the 25^th until the 27^th of February 2015.

ATFT will register as a delegation at Rio and have a stand for South African filmmakers in attendance under the trademark “South African Indies”. With the assistance of the DTI, ATFT supported a total of 20 filmmakers and producers to Rio through the DTI’s emerging filmmakers group scheme SSAS. Any South Africans attending the market are welcome to join the delegation and make use of the DTI sponsored facilities.

One of the 20 ATFT delegates, Claudia Noble Areff from Noble Pictures, has been selected for the Rio Content Market Pitching Forum, to present her animation project titled “Nelson Mandela’s Favourite African Folktales”. This is a great opportunity for Claudia to get Brazilian broadcasters and financiers on board and find a possible co-production partner in Brazil.

“As South Africa prepares to sign a Co-production treaty with Brazil, this is a crucial time for producers from both countries to forge relationships that will become the backbone of the treaty. The treaty would lead to audiovisual productions between these two nations, and a larger market and pool of funds for both to access, says NFVF CEO Ms. Zama Mkosi. To ensure that filmmakers from both countries familiarize themselves with what each territory offers, South African Indies together with the sponsors CISUP and NFVF will host a networking event on the 26th of February to encourage networking among the South African and South American producers. The event will also serve as an opportunity for the partners to showcase what South Africa has to offer in terms of production facilities, infrastructure, services and talent.

On the same day, there will also be a panel discussion on co-producing with South Africa looking at the case study of a lifestyle show titled “Express Caipirinha” currently in development between CISUP (Brazil) and AAA Entertainment (South Africa). Mr. Terrence Khumalo from the NFVF will elaborate on the treaty process and South African co-production framework, while Pascal Schmitz from AAA Entertainment engage on the co-production relationship and initial conceptualisation for the show they are developing.

ATFT prepared a catalog of all the delegates’ projects and company profiles to be sent to the market in advance. A digital version of the catalogue is available on their website, and a print version is distributed to all the registered buyers at the market and to specific buyers. “With this catalogue we aim to engage with the buyers; providing them an opportunity to browse the catalogue, see the delegates’ projects and decide who they can meet with the ultimate goal of buying,” says Pascal Schmitz. The catalogue assists the delegates by conforming all the products information into a professional standard and uniform presentation that buyers can browse without having to wade through multiple styles and sizes of documents the delegates would present individually.

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