Sinemite newsletter #7

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American actor and film producer Leonard DiCaprio is expected in Kenya for a film project. The production budget has been estimated at Sh2.4 billion. The multiple award winner, whose illustrious movie career has seen him play lead roles in some of Hollywood biggest productions such as Titanic, Once Upon a Time, Total Eclipse, Blood Diamond, The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street and Inception, will lead a mega cast into the country in what could be a game changer in Kenya’s positioning as a filming tourist destination. {Standard Media}

Image on sinemite.com Africa best source for film industry news, insights and distribution knowledge.
Image on sinemite.com Africa’s best source for film industry news, insights and distribution knowledge.

The countdown to the 19th Africa Movie Academy Awards Submissions started from 1st December 2022.

The deadline for submissions is the 31st March 2023. Late entry deadline is the 30th of June 2023.  Nominations will be announced on the August 2023 Only films produced and released between January 2022 and 30th March 2023 may be submitted. Film Free Way  {https://www.afriff.com/}

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Baraza media lab, is a space that serves as a beacon for leading thinking to experiment, problem-solve, learn and incubate new models of storytelling. The lab offers an experimental space for media startups.

Lisa Muchangi, the marketing, and communications manager at the lab describes it as, ‘a co-creation hub for media practitioners and creators in Kenya. Most practitioners work in their silos and never get a chance to come together. This lab offers them a sense of community.’

The lab will host the first-ever African Media Festival in the coming month -February. The conference targets 1,500 delegates over the two days. {NTV Kenya}

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The Namibian Film Commission extends support to students who wish to pursue a career in the film industry through a bursary program. More details here

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 19th January 2023

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The Mollo Animation Academy and Studio is proud to announce its 5th intake for its 12 month, intensive animation internship is now open. This paid internship program is aimed at creating work ready artists looking to specialize in high-end 2-D animation and tell authentic African stories.

Once applications close in January, the shortlist will be announced and the interview process will begin. They take only 10 artists a year to be mentored and taught by our dedicated trainers. More details here.            

APPLICATION DEADLINE
: 31st  January 2023.

Gross Revenue

Gross Revenue is the total amount of money generated before deduction of the negotiated Distributor’s share and the Distribution expenses.

Distribution Expenses are those expenses that the distributor incurs in order to facilitate the promotion & distribution of a film.

Deductible marketing expenses could not only be the expenses from marketing & promotion but also the procurement of legal documents that are necessary in order release a film in a certain country.

Sinemite newsletter #6

Happy New Year! 

We start the year with some exciting news: Women In Film Awards nominations are open til 15 January 2023. The 4th edition of the Women in Film Awards (WIFA) aims to celebrate the Drive, Sprit and Diversity of the woman filmmaker. Now more than ever we need creativity and diversity and women filmmakers have played a great role in creatively sharing our stories. And so, WIFA 2023 we celebrate these phenomenal women filmmakers. Winners will be unveiled during a red carpet gala ceremony on 8th March 2023. {Beyond The Film}

Set to showcase some of the finest films from over 35 countries across the globe, including 20 African premieres and 27 South African premieres, the Joburg Film festival will run from Tuesday, 31st January 2023 to Sunday, 5th February 2023 at various locations across the city.{ THE CALL SHEET}

Kigali held the 8th edition of the Mashariki African Film Festival in December. This is the largest film festival in the country and aims to showcase Rwandan filmmakers, but also from Africa in general. Emphasis this year was placed on on films that question gender relations with the theme of Afro-futurism. {AFRICA NEWS}

  • The Kitale Film Week Screenwriters Lab will have Six (6) writers in a residency from the 20th to 25th of February 2023 during the Kitale Film Week, where they will be immersed into a full-week workshop to learn to write for TV and film.. More details here

           APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10th January 2023.

  • The Climate Story Fund is now open. The Climate Story Fund supports compelling storytelling and impact campaigns from around the world that move us closer to a climate just and biodiverse future. The fund will support 6-8 projects with grants ranging between $50,000 to $100,000 per project.. More details here.

           APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1st February 2023

FAST stands for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV. It’s like watching traditional Free TV but streamed over the internet. Big different is that on traditional TV everyone watches the same Ads. On Streaming TV everyone gets individual personalized Ads depending on your profile.

This makes FAST the to-go-to for advertisers as they can reach out much better to very specific target groups. Forecasts say that is replace traditional satellite/cable TV in the future.

Sinemite is a service in cooperation and supported by GIZ

Sinemite newsletter #5

Zee Entertainment is proud to announce its partnerships with major international brands, MultiChoice, Kellogg’s and Miss India South Africa.

Zee has partnered with MultiChoice Talent Factory, an education program that develops emerging TV and film talent in Africa, through an accredited 12-month immersion program including theory and hands-on experience in cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling.

Zee will host masterclasses in the Kenya, Zambia and Nigeria academies pertaining to film and television production by Zee’s renowned filmmakers. Zee will also sponsor the top students to spend two weeks on a Bollywood production set in India, and the best short films from MultiChoice Talent Factory graduates will feature on Zee World, DStv channel 166, and GOtv channel 25. {BROADCAST MEDIA AFRICA}

Recent industry analysis has revealed that outside of Africa, audiences and streaming services generally disregard the thousands of films made in Africa each year.

Tanzanian film “Vuta N’Kuvute” (Swahili for “Tug of War”) has generated a buzz of excitement after being entered for an Oscar for best international film. {BROADCAST MEDIA AFRICA}

  •  The NEFTI Competition is requesting short-film submissions, with finalist projects screening in Berlin at the European Film Marketplace. Designed to offer filmmakers in emerging regions of the world an opportunity to showcase their creativity, NEFTI welcomes stories in a 3 to 5 minute short film format with the subject embodying the NEFT principles of inclusion, diversity and humour. The top three proposals will receive a $3,000 grant each to produce their projects, and the winning contender will be awarded a $5,000 prize. More details here

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 31st December 2022.

  • 18th Annual Vancouver Island Short Film Festival Opens for Submissions and filmmakers are invited to submit short films up to 15 minutes in length. The festival welcomes all genres & seeks to promote the work of diverse filmmakers. More Details here

           APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1st February 2023.

EST

Electronic Sell Through is referred to the digital sale of film where consumers pays a one-time fee to download the film for unlimited viewing and are able to watch it without needing a internet connection for e.g. while traveling on plane.

Important to note: EST is different to an illegal download! The film can only be watched within the streaming service and not shared with others and therefore safe against piracy.

Sinemite Newsletter #4

The 12th edition of the Kalasha International Film and TV Awards took place on Saturday night, recognizing the best in film industry in the country.

This year, Kalasha Awards had 39 categories with the addition of nine new categories that include; Best regional film, Best Documentary (Short), Best Documentary (Feature), Best Makeup and Hair Stylist, Best Costume Designer, Best Supporting Actor in a TV Drama, Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama, Best Viewer’s Choice (Feature) and Best Viewer’s Choice (TV Drama). (Standard Media)

Nickelodeon Africa has announced that “SpongeBob SquarePants” will run in South Africa’s local language ‘isiZulu’ from 5 December 2022.

Available on DStv, the pay-TV service said the show offers a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to learn and be entertained in a local language by the funniest sponge under the sea.

The channel hopes to move the needle on promoting and preserving local language through pop culture. (BROADCAST MEDIA AFRICA)

To wrap up its Originals slate for the year, Showmax has released the trailer for A Familiar Christmas, Kenya’s first-ever Christmas feature, to premiere on 15 December 2022.

First announced in March, A Familiar Christmas is the second Showmax Original film in Kenya after the coming-of-age drama Baba Twins – nominated for eight awards including Best Feature Film at the 2022 Kalasha Awards. (CHETENET)

GSDF is open to applications from all parts of the world, for documentary projects up to 30 minutes, either in production or post-production, with existing footage. 16 filmmakers will be selected to attend a series of online workshops, mentoring, and one to one pitches. More details here

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 13th December 2022.

The new edition of Cinema without Borders taking place at the Movies that Matter Festival 2023 in The Hague, the Netherlands. The five-day workshop and networking programme on how to organize a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project will take place from 25 – 29 March 2023.

We will bring together starting and more experienced film festival professionals from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. More details here.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 8th January 2023.

DCP (Digital Cinema Package) is a digital film copy. It is used for screening in a cinema, whereby the image and sound data are available in a special data format.

The specifications for this were laid down by the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives), an association of major Hollywood studios in the “Digital Cinema System Specifications”.

The goal was to prevent a format war during the transition into the digital age to avoid high costs for film distributors & protect films against piracy.

Since the standard is open, no license fees are charged, and it offers high quality and security, it became the standard for digital cinema worldwide.

Read more about Digital Cinema System Specification here .

Sinemite Newsletter #3

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The Kenya Film Commission unveiled the 2022 nominees for the 12th edition of Kalasha International Film and TV Awards.

This year, the number of submitted films went up to 217 films compared to 149 films submitted in 2021.
During the ceremony, StarTimes Media, renewed its strategic partnership with Kenya Film Commission to leverage on technology through the company’s mobile application platform – StarTimes ON to be the exclusive screening and public voting platform for the nominees. Public screening and voting on StarTimes ON kicks off today 10th November to 24th November. Click HERE to Vote  2022. 

The 12th Edition of Kalasha International Film and TV Awards is scheduled to take place on 3rd December 2022.

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First-ever Malawi Film Festival to support its filmmakers who are ‘not considered important’ as country’s first TV series is prepped for a January 2023 debut on OneZed on MultiChoice’s DStv and GOtv. (TV with Thinus)

Kenya and South Africa sign visa-free travel deal. Film makers welcome lifting of visa restriction between Kenya, South Africa. The agreements also gave a boost to filmmakers in both countries, with one particular memorandum of understanding allowing for members of the creative film and TV industries to work together. (DW )

  • Realness Institute in partnership with Netflix, the world’s leading entertainment streaming service, has opened the calls for submissions to its 2023 Episodic Lab and Development Executive Traineeship (DET) programmes which will take place from 30 April to 30 July 2023. More details here

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10th December 2022.

  • The IDFA Bertha Fund is now accepting submissions for IBF Classic, the flagship grant program that supports documentary projects in development or (post-) production with €7,500 and €25,000 per project respectively. More details here

  APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10th December 2022.

Closed captioning (CC) is the written reproduction of all audio elements in a film. They include not only the subtitling of the spoken words but all sound effects including music, background noises, changes of voice tones etc.

They are especially helpful for deaf and hard-of-hearing making films more accessible for them. For many countries it is nowadays mandatory to have close captions for films to been released.

Sinemite is a service in cooperation and supported by GIZ

Sinemite Newsletter #2

As promised, our second bi-monthly edition of our newsletter is here. 

DISCOP will be taking place in Kigali, Rwanda from 29 November and 1 December with over500 distribution, acquisition, and production executives will be in attendance. 

DISCOP markets are compact and sales-focused events facilitating the development and global distribution of ‘Made in Africa‘ feature films, television and digital content, and live events.

A series of expert and talent-led round-table discussions, case-study presentations, hands-on workshops, and screening sessions will deliver additional networking and visibility enhancement opportunities.

Find more details here


MultiChoice has announced that a unique curated Moonbug Kids Channel is now available to DStv subscribers across Africa. The YouTube-focused pre-school entertainment  will feature exclusive, linear pre-school content from the Moonbug portfolio of much-loved shows.(Broadcast Media Africa)

AFDA is proud to announce that AFDA’s first Artist in Residence in their Masters (MFA) programme student, Vusi Africa, walked off with the Best Director Award for his work on the film ‘Surviving Gaza’ at the 18th Africa Movie Academy Awards held on Lagos, Nigeria, on the 30 October. (AFDA)


The World Health Organization invites independent film-makers, production companies, public health institutions, NGOs, communities, students, and film schools from around the world to submit their original short films to the 2nd Health for All Film Festival. More details here
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 31st January 2023.

Interested in sharing the history and growth of Rwanda’s audio-visual industry? This opportunity is for you! Learn more and apply to become a Research Consultant for the Rwanda Film Office here

Casting Call for an upcoming International Feature Film NAWI. The filming will take place in Turkana County, Kenya in February and March 2023. More details on the Posters.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10th  November 2022. More Details here

Showmax is welcoming exciting movie proposals from Kenyan producers for a Kenyan blockbuster – a movie with huge creative & commercial appeal. Concepts that will transport the audience into a world of adventure, thrills and enthralling characters. Whilst the primary audience is Kenyan, movies with an East-African edge are also be welcomed.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 21st  November 2022. More Details here


Broadcast is the traditional “analog” way of transmitting video content to the Home Television.

The Broadcasting Signal can be received either via Satellite (from Space), Terrestrial (from Earth-based transmitter) or via Cable. TV-Channels can either be received after paying a subscription Free (Pay-TV) or be received for free but financed via placed Advertising (Free TV).

As the technical process advances the transmission via a digital streaming has massively increased over the past years will replace the analog broadcast technology according to many forecasts. 

Sinemite is a service in cooperation and supported by GIZ

Welcome to Sinemite

We are excited to launch our bi-monthly newsletter highlighting news from the Pan- African film industry. Over the years we have seen the growth of the Kenyan film. In this month of October we celebrate Nairobi Half Life, a movie that put Kenyan film on the world map.
In celebration of this great milestone, the cast and crew were joined by stakeholders of the film industry at the Zehneria Portico, Nairobi for an industry day and later on for a screening at the Westgate Mall. 

We are also so excited to announce that Supa Modo and Nairobi Half Life are now available on Netflix.

Africa filmmaking agency Realness Institute has selected 15 participants for its second Creative Producer Indaba, a lab for developing entrepreneurial, leadership and creative skills among producers looking to work on the continent.(Screen Daily). 

Local content is out-competing international films in Africa as rapid smartphone penetration bring African creatives closer to audiences. 
(Nation)

The DW Akademie Film Development Fund is searching for filmmakers in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda for a one-year fellowship program. The program is designed to take proposed films through the development stage and make them ready for production.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 26th October 2022. More details here

The Durban FilmMart (DFMI) has opened the call for animation projects in development for the 2023 Pitch and Finance Forum, together with Cape Town International Animation Film Festival (CTIAF) and Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct (Tshimologong).

APPLICATION DEADLINE : 31st October 2022. More Details here.

Casting Call for an upcoming International Feature Film NAWI. The filming will take place in Turkana County, Kenya in February and March 2023. More details on the Posters. APPLICATION DEADLINE: 28th October 2022. More Details here

AVOD (Advertising-based Video on Demand) is a type of service where users must watch ads in order to view the desired content for free. The revenue for the content owner is generated through the played out ads. Beside YouTube famous AVOD-Services are like for e.g. PlutoTV, Tubi or Roku.

We think AVOD is great, since for e.g. the SVOD-Market with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney +, Showmax etc. is already very crowded and might become oversaturated in the near future. A regular streaming customer will likely not pay for 3-4 subscriptions a month. Also still many people can’t afford at all to pay for films. Therefore they rather switch to free (ad-based) platforms. People are more and more watching less films on the traditional Satellite TV, but rather more on their mobile phones or Smart-TV etc. Therefore advertising money is currently shifting from TV to online.