Johannesburg - South Africa's film industry has become a major foreign exchange earner and an increasingly important job creator, with the Western Cape's film sector alone contributing R3.5bn a year to SA's gross domestic product.
But with SA's temperate climate and film-friendly infrastructure, earnings are still lower than they could be. Eddie Mbalo, CEO of the National Film and Video Foundation, has approached government to establish an entity to invest in film, the South African Film Development Corporation.
No major film-producing country, whether Canada, the US or Australia, has been able to create significant film industries without such help.
The Industrial Development Corporation, which has been a significant partial funder of films ranging from Blood Diamond to Oscar-winning Tsotsi, says that the local entertainment industry is worth R12bn a year, of which film is a major contributor with earnings set to double in less than five years.
In 1995, film employed 4 000 people; now, some 20 000 people are employed full-time in the industry and in-season - summer - it can leap to five to 10 times that figure with contract and casual workers as well as extras.
Favoured for foreign ads
A significant amount of film in South Africa is for foreign advertisements, television series and the occasional international feature films: Lord of the Rings' director Peter Jackson is in pre-production with a sci-fi film called, District Nine in Johannesburg and Roland Emmerich recently completed 10 000 BC in Cape Town.
In its first weekend, local movie Bakgat reportedly made enough money to cover its production costs and by early 2007, Tsotsi had grossed R20.9m locally and R49.5m internationally.
The IDC has ploughed some R500m into 30 films over six years, creating 5 000 jobs and more importantly gaining SA a reputation for excellence in terms of location, crews and infrastructure.
As an example, it's 40% cheaper to shoot an ad or feature film in Cape Town than in Europe or the US.
South Africa's animation industry is growing fast - it's one of the most popular courses at film schools - and SA's animators have excellent reputations. Local animator Conrad Murrey won an Emmy award for outstanding special effects for a miniseries for his work on The Triangle.
During the 2005/6 season, as an example SA's film industry grew by 23%, with a further 30% increase during the 2006/7 season. In 2007, the Cape Film Commission estimates that 30 feature films, 600 commercials and 2 100 stills productions were made in that province.
Commercials, most of which are for foreign companies, add a very healthy R900m to the South African economy, whereas stills production contributed R680m in 2005/6. Gauteng mostly makes commercials for local consumption and that amounted to some R240m in 2006.
The city of Cape Town, which sees 75% of productions shot within the city itself, has waived location permit fees as a further incentive to keep film makers in the Mother City.
DTI contribution
The Department of Trade and Industry's production rebate budget - the Large Budget Film and Television Production Scheme - was set at just under R430m in 2005/6 and ratched up to R860m in 2006/7 although, with around R1.3bn being paid out so far.
It demands that at least half of the principal photography should be filmed in South Africa over a minimum of four weeks and at least 75% of all production or co-production costs must be paid or payable in SA. The rebate is tax-exempt.
And Section 24F of the tax laws allow for a rebate for any production that exceeds R25m.
South Africa also has co-production treaties with Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy as well as a Memorandum of Understanding with India, which has begun attracting Bollywood movie makers to these shores.
There are 10 major film festivals in five provinces and smaller, specialist film festivals ranging from a focus on everything from architecture, to various languages, cultural groups and sexual orientation.
NFVF funding for film festivals alone leapt from R1.54m in 2005 to R2.37m in 2007; while film festivals in towns rely on funding, those in cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg make a healthy profit.
There is a relatively buoyant cinema going market: there are 461 screens in SA with 109 152 seats (22 000 in Gauteng alone) and an average of 607 122 cinema goers each week, which at anything from R20 to R50 a ticket provides a healthy turnover.
- Fin24.com