Former NFVF CEO, Eddie Mbalo (cited in Treffry-Goatley, 2010:81), in accordance with the need to introducing the SEDIBA programmes stated that “it is good for the filmmakers to pursue their aspirations we need to find stories that can travel. The best way is through script development and this is why we have Sebida script development programme”. This implies that the international appeal is emphasised more than the local appeal. Mbalo (cited in Treffry-Goatley, 2010) also highlighted that Sediba script development encourages filmmakers to adhere more closely to the classical narrative structure to enhance audience engagement to the story. Sebida’s obsession with the classical narrative structure is also supported by the founder and creator …show more content…
Whoever does not follow these requirements cannot get funding. The NFVF and SEBIDA are two mechanisms which are used for cinematic assimilation that is enforced by cultural assimilation. What I mean by cinematic assimilation is that the cinematic experience of one nation must adopt the cinematic experience of the other nation and be willing to follow them as its own. This assimilation is born and bred by cultural assimilation which has always been presided over by colonialism and cemented by post-colonialism. The NFVF uses these requirements as exclusionary techniques. This obsession with economic sustainability and international standards sets South Africa apart from countries like Senegal, Ethiopia Congo and Cameroon where the purpose of the film industry is to develop film …show more content…
This is a government program which offers incentive packages to promote film production and post-production industry. The incentive consists of three programs, first; Foreign Film and Television Production and Post-Production (the aim of this program is to attract foreign-based film productions to shoot in South African locations and also conduct some post-production activities), second; South African Film and Television Production and Co-Production (this program aims to support local film producers to produce local content), third; South African Emerging Black Filmmakers (this is the sub-program of the second program, it aims to help emerging black filmmakers to participate in big productions and hence contribute to towards creating employment (DTI, 2015). My focus on the DTI Film Incentive schemes is on the second program. The scheme’s secondary interest is funding films with international market interest. In the DTI websites, it clearly states that for a film to be eligible for funding 50% of it must be shot in South Africa and the international market can be found in the project. This is the goal they call “globalizing from both ends”. Saks (2010) and Treffry-Goatley (2010) problematize this approach as the DTI situating films into a commodity rather than an art form and this proves that The Media and Motion Picture Division of the Industrial Development Corporation (found