by Thinus Ferreira
Another (
postponed!) Durban FilmMart (DFM) has come and gone, but a really serious question that needs to be asked is where the actual coverage is from this film market - what was said there, happened there and discussed - from within South Africa.
The 17th Durban FilmMart, traditionally and historically held in July, was this year moved to October due to a funding crunch, combined with sudden structural shifts in major financial partnerships.
But the 17th Durban FilmMart, considered the number one film market in South Africa and the broader African continent, did take place.
It just wasn't covered comprehensively and incisively by the actual media and film trade press in South Africa.
It's a really big problem and a serious concern that everybody does lip service about how they want South Africa's film and TV industry to grow, but how does that happen without actual reporting and coverage of it - so that those working in it, can read or see or hear what's happening, changing, challenges, and opportunities?
When this year's Durban FilmMart wrapped its 17th edition earlier this week, the atmosphere inside the Southern Sun Elangeni in Durban was apparently "electric".
With over a thousand film professionals who gathered, prizes awarded and millions of rands in development funding promised to be distributed, you'd think there would be reams of articles and stories.
Yet, if you do a Google search or pick up a local newspaper, scroll through major South African news sites, or turn on the evening television news, you would barely know it happened.
While the glitz of the Joburg Film Festival and its JBX industry programme in Johannesburg, or the blue carpet of the kykNET Silwerskermfees film festival in Cape Town capture headlines and attention, the same can't be said for the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) or the DFM.
This lack of comprehensive coverage is sadly not just a missed PR opportunity. It points to something broader, more systemic, and some type of blind spot or inability of the DFM and DIFF to get the same type of media buy-in or the same type of South African media to these weeklong events as the JFF, MultiChoice for the Silwerskermfees, or even MIP Africa/Fame Week is able to galvanise.
Not knowing what is really happening at the DFM and DIFF due to a lack of broad South African reporting and in whatever local trade press exists, damages South Africa's film and creative industry.
The Durban FilmMart is primarily a business-to-business platform.
It is a space where filmmakers pitch unmade scripts to international co-producers, legal experts debate copyright laws in the wake of AI, and distributors negotiate broadcast rights.
It is an environment of intense panel discussions, legalities, and financial structuring.
Because it lacks the immediate visual shorthand of a celebrity on a red carpet, mainstream South African editors routinely dismiss it as "too niche" or "too dry" for the general public. But covering it is still important because that gives oxygen to the entire industry.
Local reporting gives an opportunity for film professionals who are not there and those who can't attend a window into what the trends are, who said what, what is happening, and what opportunities and networking exist.
Bizarrely, the Durban FilmMart would proudly on banners display "in association with MultiChoice", with one of MultiChoice's PR companies that put out a press release entitled "MultiChoice puts the SA creative industry first at Durban FilmMart 2026".
What else was there? Nothing.
Renee Jacobs, head of content, was there and headlined a panel discussion on the support and funding of local content in South Africa. Tebogo Matlawa, Canal+'s head of scripted content, was there and spoke. Willington Ngwepe, MultiChoice CEO was also there.
But what did they actually say? We don't know. No interviews were pitched. There were no transcripts or recordings or press releases. Which begs the question: How are South Africa's film biz who are not in Durban supposed to know or find out or hear?
What did the KwaZulu-Natal Film and Tourism Authority (KZNTA) actually say about unlocking opportunities for youth-led film and TV business? What did Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT) speak about?
How does South Africa and Africa's film biz truly build their audiences? What did the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) share this week speaking about performers as co-creators? What progress has the Save SA Film & TV Jobs Coalition made so far?
You were either there and heard it personally in one of these panel session, or not at all, since there's nowhere that film industry professionals can get any comprehensive coverage from within South Africa about all that happened there. And it's a loss. For yet another year.
I also found it personally ironic that one of the category prizes at the 2026 DFM Awards was again the so-called "Talents Press Award" presented by CIFF and FIPRESCI.
This year its flights 5 nights' accommodation and accreditation for the Cairo International Film Festival 2026 for the winner who must be an "emerging African film critic or journalist".
All good and well. Now please - anyone - point to the prize or award, anywhere in South Africa, for actual existing film critics or journalists to also enter and win access to film festivals and markets.
It's all fine and very laudable to help new entrants who are covering the TV and film trade, but how are existing practitioners who are covering, or trying to cover, the biz supported?
What are the strategies and plans and support by film markets and film festivals to get the actual existing press and trade journalists to their physical festivals and markets and events to cover it - something that's win-win for all concerned?
Most certainly support and lift up the new.
But what happens to all yesterday's "new" who become establishment media? It's great that early-career African and South African critics, bloggers, and journalists are supported to help tell the stories of the film industry. But what after that?
The theme of this year's DFM was "Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves." It was a call for African and South African filmmakers to look inward, leverage local talent, and build sustainable internal ecosystems.
Although few, the dedicated South African journalists and press and platforms who would cover the DFM and DIFF, as they do other similar markets and festivals, surely do exist.
Somehow, ways need to be found to practically and functionally integrate them more for coverage to blossom.
Possibly the DFM and DIFF can take a page from the JFF, JBX, Silwerskermfees festival and others who do it more effectively, and somehow put more effort and new strategies into place, to reach out, to work with local South African media to broaden their coverage by turning effort "towards ourselves" as South Africa.
