By Thinus Ferreira
Hundreds of filmmakers, TV and film executives, distributors, actors and media converged on the Theatre on the Square to watch the sold-out festival opener Laundry, written and directed by Zamo Mkhwanazi as a searing Apartheid-era drama.
In the audience were Nigeria, Japan and France's ambassadors to South Africa, as well as executives from Canal+ after its recent acquisition of MultiChoice like Laurent Sicouri, head of cinema and series for Canal+ International.
Around 138 films will unspool this week, of which many carry political themes and have evocative titles like Tshililo waha Muzila's documentary A Little Black Man from Congo (Negrito Del Congo).
"Of course, this festival happens at the moment when the world feels anything but nuanced - at the moment when artists are being asked: Should you speak or should you stay silent?" said Nhlanhla Ndaba in his opening remarks on stage before the screening of Laundry.
"At the Berlinale we witnessed a fierce debate about whether filmmakers should engage in politics. It was suggested that artists should stay away from politics because films are a counterweight to politics."
"The Joburg Film Festival has always been a space where politics and artistry meet, where the African continent and the world connect, where politics are just but another story. Where we don't pretend that storytelling happens in a vacuum."
"The moment we stop reflecting the world in all its beauty and in all its brokenness, it's the moment we stop being relevant."
"This past year the South African film industry has faced a crisis that tested out very foundation. As of January 2026 the department of trade, industry and competition (DTIC) owes our industry over R600 million in outstanding rebates."
"The last adjudication panel meeting took place in March 2024, that's two years ago. Two years of camera operators, grips, sound engineers, producers, make-up artists staring atapproved projects and payments that have simply not arrived."
"Just weeks ago, hundreds of filmworkers marched to parliament under the banner 'Save SA film jobs' and at the state of the nation address, the creative sector was barely acknowledged. President Cyril Ramaphosa made no mention of the film rebate crisis. No plan to rescue investor confidence, no timeline for intervention," Nhlanhla Ndaba said.
"While rebates have been delayed, our spirit has not. While international productions have abandoned South Africa for Malta and Portugal, where incentive programmes function efficiently, our filmmakers have not abandoned their craft."
"While we wait for a system that seems to have forgotten us, we keep telling stories," Nhlanhla Ndaba noted.
"It's an industry, told that they don't matter, who are standing here, refusing to die. No amount of bureaucratic dysfunction can ever take that away."
Tarryn Joffe, JFF manager, said the festival "recognises the courage of filmmakers to create work, staying with the story through uncertainty, bringing it to an audience".
Nicola Auret, MultiChoice's executive head of programming, caused a jolt when she shrieked on stage after swatting away a flying insect that landed on her hair and said "The world is restless and reshaping itself in real time".
"Globally, the entertainment industry is under enormous pressure. Markets are shifting, traditional business models are being rewritten, and the rise of AI is changing everything for us. It's changing how stories are made and its changing how people view our stories and discover them."
"We cannot control these pressures, but I believe African filmmakers know how to find rhythm in chaos. We know how to create despite of it, and sometimes because of it and that matters right now."
"Africans are creative. We are resilient, and we have a sense of community that surrounds us that makes things possible that cannot be done elsewhere."
Producer Cait Pansegrouw and JFF jury member, told TVwithThinus alongside Tuesday's red carpet that "for me, film is inherently political".
"People don't give enough thought to the fact that with the rise of fascism, freedom of expression is in real danger and we should absolutely be talking about everything that we want to talk about and be asking really tough questions".
