Training opportunity for aspirant film and TV producers

Aspirant film and TV producers in the province have been presented with an opportunity to train with some of the creators of the Eastern Cape Film Festival, Encounters South African International Documentary Festival and The Film Hub for six months.

The three entities, under the annual festival’s #EC10 development programme, recently also invited aspiring scriptwriters to apply for another training opportunity with the National Film and Video Foundation. 

Successful candidates for the producers’ training will go through an intensive producers incubated training programme from September with mentors to provide them with the tools to develop and produce engaging stories, films and TV shows.

Eastern Cape Film Festival founder Nceba Mqolomba said the training programme would be held virtually unless absolutely necessary to meet. 

The training programme is free of charge.

To qualify for selection, applicants must:

• Have been born or reside in the Eastern Cape;
• Write a  motivational letter stating what inspired their film idea, why they would like to be in the film and television industry and what their future career plan is;
• Submit a comprehensive CV, biography or profile;
• Production planning, co-ordinating and finance; and
• Understand a script and how to cost the various production phases.

Mqolomba said they were busy with the selection process for 10 scriptwriters from the call-out made two months ago.

The July deadline was extended by two weeks and training, which was scheduled for August, will now commence in September, he said. 

“Since we partnered with Encounters South African International Documentary Festival in the first training too, our programme needs to correlate with theirs,” Mqolomba said. 

The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival will be held from August 20 to 30. 

He said the previously broader focus of the first #EC10 training had now shrunk to focus on script-writing and would not incorporate production as previously stated.

“We now have the National Film and Video Foundation as an official partner for that programme, so when they came on board they offered to take on the script-writing training programme.

“That’s why we’re now opening up another opportunity specifically for producers this time,” Mqolomba said. 

Deadline for the producers’ training is August 28. Applicants can send their applications to ec10@ecfilmfestival.co.za. For inquiries, contact Mqolomba on info@ecfilmfestival.co.za.

The Eastern Cape Film Festival’s #EC10 legacy project, which seeks to empower filmmakers in the province, is a follow-up to EC100, a 2019 project which saw the screening of 100 locally produced films in communities across the Eastern Cape.

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