Thank You Programme Director,
Mr. Eddie Mbalo, CEO of the NFVF,
Mr. Mfundi Vundla, Chairperson of the NFVF,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tonight’s occasion marks yet another milestone attained by South Africa in pursuance of the vision enunciated in the Freedom Charter, which proclaimed, among other things, that “the doors of learning and of culture shall be opened.” South African cinema has scooped up impressive awards on three continents during the course of the past two years. Our film industry is making its mark internationally.

The inauguration of South Africa’s own film and television awards is therefore very timely.

Film-making entails the harnessing of virtually all humanity’s achievements in the sciences and technology, skillfully combined with our achievements in the arts. Cinema is quintessentially a modern medium, dependent on a myriad contributors – some of whom are recognized , thousands of others are not even acknowledged. The platform on which movies are made extends very deep into a society’s economy – from reliable and consistent electricity supplies, to such mundane matters as clean drinking water for the actors and crew.

The value chain involved in the making of a film is perhaps the most comprehensive. It begins with the creative persons who write the script, extends to those who conceive and build the sets, goes further to embrace those who are responsible for the lighting, it will include those who compose and play the music, then there are various support structures, the make-up artists, the people in charge of the wardrobe, the costume designers, the continuity people, etc. Besides the actors, the directors, the scriptwriters and producers who receive most of the acclaim, there are all these other role-players who contribute towards the development of the product. I’m think I am right in saying that film and film-making are inconceivable without the numerous industrial processes of the modern age that we take so much for granted.

South Africa is a country bursting with talent. As government we are committed to advancing the arts by mobilizing available public funds to assist artists, to support the arts community and to stimulate cultural activity in all parts of the country.

The film industry as a whole stands poised to move into a phase of rapid growth. We must ensure that we have the necessary infrastructure, resources and capacity to achieve this.

There can be no doubt that the small amounts South Africa has invested in the development of film have been well spent. Given the constraints that will continue to bound state funds, government will never have enough to meet the demands of a growing film industry. The need to explore alternatives and to encourage private investment in this industry is not just rhetorical flourish. Government has installed support measures to build infrastructure and to nurture competence. Government has offered incentives, created the mechanisms for co-operation and collaboration, but box-office blockbusters rely on thousands of film-goers filling cinema seats. The private sector must begin defining a role for itself in that respect as well. The Golden Bear winner, “uCarmen eKhayelitsha” played to packed audiences virtually every night it was screened at the O.R. Tambo multi-purpose centre. How many other communities thirsting for self expression will ever see themselves on the silver screen? It should be possible for the private sector to make that realizable by opening up cinemas in the townships, in the rural areas and in small towns.

Government wants to use film, as one amongst our numerous cultural industries, to achieve overall social development and to economically empower those who were previously excluded from the bounty of South Africa. Few realize the extent to which the value chain I sketched earlier contributes very directly to the growth of our economy and to the generation of wealth. Consider that each of the components of that value chain consists of people – who have to be housed

in our hotels while they work ; they have to be transported, often over great distances, which brings revenues to our car hire firms; they have to be fed; they need materials to construct their sets; they have to employ carpenters and other artisans to help build sets; they require seamstresses to make the costumes; every film needs extras – for the crowd scenes; for street scenes; etc. The knock-on impact of film on a host of fields of endeavour is enormous and should not be under-estimated. One, just one film which required scenes shot at Cape Town harbour, last week gave temporary jobs to well over 400 unemployed people. I am told that in order to complete that movie, they will have to spend over a billion rands in South Africa.

That can be repeated many times over provided we place our film industry on a firm footing.

The DAC is currently exploring additional ways of harnessing the potential of film-making in South Africa. We would like to make it a requirement that every foreign film company that is making a movie in this country, take on a designated number of aspirant film-makers as trainees. We will hopefully be in a position to report on this early next year.

But tonight is about celebration. It is about the awards. It is about affirming our talent; the talent of our creative people, of the producers, the directors, the technicians, the designers, the script-writers, the musicians, and, yes, it is also about affirming the players – the actors.

We are here tonight to inaugurate the awards and to offer positive reinforcement to our film industry.

We remain confident that the recent successes of our films are opening up further opportunities for our film-industry. The DAC pledges its continuing support to this industry.

Thank You.

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