Sinemite Newsletter # 11

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African pay TV giant MultiChoice Group and Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky unveiled a partnership that “will bring some of the world’s best content and technology to streaming customers across MultiChoice’s 50-market footprint in sub-Saharan Africa at a time when Africa is approaching an inflection point in terms of broadband connectivity and affordability.”

They will form the new Showmax group, which will be 70 percent owned by MultiChoice and 30 percent owned by NBCUniversal. “It will build on Showmax’s success to date and aim to create the leading streaming service in Africa,” the companies said.

“Powered by Peacock’s leading, globally-scaled technology, Showmax subscribers will have access to an extensive premium content portfolio, bringing African audiences the best of local and international programming.” Continue Reading

The Festival des Cinémas Africains-FCAT, whose 20th edition will be held from April 28 to May 7, 2023, will host a new edition of FCAT LAB , the post-production workshop, which will offer another year one-to-one meetings and a project market, and will award a total of €25,000 in cash prizes and post-production services, to support the development of African film productions.

If we can notice, in recent years, an increase in the production of African films, it is also important to underline the great interest that these works arouse in the main international festivals, as shown for example by the first prize won at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2023 by Cameroonian director Cyrielle Raingou’s documentary, The Specter of Boko Haram . Yet, compared to film production in many other parts of the world, African cinema remains underfunded and suffers unfairly from lower visibility. Continue Reading

The Heritage Management Organization (HERITΛGE) is launching a new call for concept notes for small grants ($5000-$50000) for organizations, groups, and individuals working with heritage in Africa.

They will fund projects that focus on the protection of and/or promotion of local heritage for socio-economic development in the continent.
DEADLINE: 31/March/2023.

APPLY HERE

The IDFA Bertha Fund is now accepting project submissions to the IBF Europe – Minority Co-production funding scheme.

With this call, the Fund seeks to encourage European producers to participate as a minority co-producer in high-quality feature-length documentary projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. IBF Europe – Minority Co-production caters to documentary projects in all stages of production, offering a maximum contribution of €40,000 per project.
DEADLINE: 01/April/2023.