FILM LONDON PUBLICITY FUND FOR BLACK FILMS

We're about to present our first couple of reports in the Durban and KZN Film Industry review to the DFO and KZNDED. As part of this slate of activities, we've begun looking at some of the most innovative and dynamic programmes used by Film Commissions and Film Offices around the world, which could perhaps be introduced in SA to change the dynamic for locally made movies.



Here for instance is a fund operated by Film London to promote and increase the impact of Black film exhibition in the city. It provides funds specifically for additional publicity and marketing support, in order to both raise the profile of Black film talent, broadly defined, and attract larger audiences, from across all communities.

Examples of fundable activity might include:
• employing a professional PR company or individual
• a targeted advertising campaign in the press, radio, print or online
• enhancing the PR and audience potential of an event by inviting a film-maker or film-makers to attend
• innovation in online marketing
• adding venues to an existing screening programme
• cross-fertilising an event by bringing in another artform, for instance adding a live music element to a film screening event
• creating and running an ambassador or similar community outreach scheme.

The Fund supports additional promotional activity only and really hopes to enable Black film exhibition activity to ‘punch above its weight’ in the capital’s crowded media market. In South Africa, where local films struggle to maintain a cinema presence and often sink without trace after a week, I thought this was pretty cool.