The aim of this initiative is to identify exceptional feature film projects from West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa (outside of South Africa) and help them to be packaged to pitch at the Feature Film Co-Production Forum (FFCF) at Sithengi, South Africa in 2006 with the potential of pitching at the co-production market, Cinemart, at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands in 2007. In order to counter the declining number of African feature films being produced, this process will hopefully bring more ideas through an African pipeline to a global marketplace for financing and development.

Co-production has become a fundamental method of financing film projects globally. By partnering with producers from other countries on one film project, filmmakers are given the opportunity to access joint resources such as government funding schemes and tax incentives as well as benefiting from the cross-fertilization of skills, ideas and talent. The African Co-Production Forum Initiative aims to provide a platform for filmmakers from the continent to meet with filmmakers from other African regions and to give African filmmakers the opportunity to pitch their projects at international co-production events such as Sithengi and Cinemart, in the hope of securing co-producing partners.

The ACF will take place in two phases:
The workshop phase will be held in each region at different film events/festivals during the first part of the year, to assist the filmmakers to develop their projects and understand the criteria for submission to the second phase and main phase, the co-production pitching sessions.

The first phase workshops will be held at the following events:
• Map-TV, Nairobi (1-3 March 2006)
• Zuma Festival, Abuja Nigeria (13-15 March 2006)
• Harare, Zimbabwe (date to be confirmed)

The Co-Production Forum Pitching Round will then be held during identified events/festivals that are held later in the year where a number of filmmakers, selected through the application process, will be given the opportunity to pitch their projects to a panel in a competitive environment in the hope of being selected to pitch to an international panel at Sithengi 2006.

The co-production forums will be held at the following events:
• Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), Zanzibar, (July)
• ITPAN, Lagos Nigeria (July)
• Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF), Zimbabwe (August)

The panellists from each region will select the best project/s to then attend Sithengi in November 2006. The panel will include representatives from the regional festival and Sithengi.

The successful producer/s will be flown to and accommodated in South Africa for the length of the Sithengi market. It is here that they will be competing with the successful producers from the other African territories. The 2 overall best projects pitched at Sithengi from Africa will be flown to and accommodated in Rotterdam at the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival and Cinemart Co-Production Market, where they will be given the opportunity to meet with participating international sales agents, producers and financiers in a series of one-on-one meetings, with the purpose of securing an international co-producing partner.

The aim of the African Co-Production Forum Initiative is to function as a conduit for the development of strong African feature film projects, packaged in line with the international standard criteria required to attract co-financing partners and ultimately make the transition from project to completed feature film.

Call for Entries and further information at http://www.sithengi.co.za/news/stories/call_for_entries_african_co-production_forum?section=/news

Contact Details
Name : Esther Henderson
Company : Sithengi
Phone :021 430 8160
Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
URL : www.sithengi.co.za