The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in collaboration with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, urged budding artists and local film-makers to advance their craft through their skills development programmes and to apply for the organisation’s available funding grants.
The CEO of NFVF, Charmaine Monareng, said young film-makers with no prior experience in the industry, but a strong ambition to produce films, have opportunities available for them.
“The NFVF has various initiatives, such as the production training for local film-makers to upskill themselves. We have the youth film-maker slate, which is an incubation hub for film-makers, and we have the Presidential Economic Stimulus Programme that creates employment opportunities in the sector, and a multiplier effect in the creation of employment opportunities beyond the sector itself, and forms part of the government’s intervention to reactivate the sector to economic recovery and reconstruction. Our intake for the youth slate is for a three-year period at a time. The applications will open after April 2023,” Monareng said.
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It offers assistance to content creators to monetise their content.
“We help creatives across the diverse field on audio-visual and the creative media landscape through the funding pillars. We focus on development, production, skills development training and marketing and distribution. We have other partners whom we help young creators on TikTok with skills and how they can make money out of their videos,” she continued.
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Monareng said they have several funding opportunities already opened.
“We have the Thuthuka Fund, a co-development programme launched by the Netherlands Film Fund (NFF) and the NFVF for the benefit of Dutch and local South African film-makers, which will close on October 17. The Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture (DSAC) has established the DSAC Unsung Community Heroes Fund, which invites film-makers to submit proposals for short documentary and fiction films that highlight historical and contemporary contributions made by individuals to the non-discriminatory, non-racial, non-sexist, non-violent, democratic, and prosperous society envisioned in our constitution. The last day is September 30.
“The NFVF signed a memorandum of agreement with the Mpumalanga Film and Television Agency in 2021. Through this agreement local filmmakers and content creators will be developed and offered opportunities,” Monareng concluded.
The youth of Mbombela are encouraged to visit the NFVF website to check out on how they can apply for opportunities.