by Thinus Ferreira
As 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees launched as a hybrid-event - the year's first major film festival of the calendar as South Africa starts to return to a semblance of what once was - there's a collective sigh of relief under attendees from across the local film and TV industry who had to survive the past two years under unimaginable circumstances.
With both in-person screenings and panels, as well as virtual streaming taking place, the individually QR-coded, proven double-vaxxed and lanyard-clad crowd - smaller and more subdued than in previous years - are darting since Wednesday from Rotunda sessions and short films screenings to feature film discussions and breakaway catch-up coffee dates.
A sense of relief permeates The Bay Hotel as attendees - ranging from the country's top TV and film execs to producers, directors, actors, distributors, film commissions and industry bodies are allowing themselves to slowly exhale.
Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for kykNET channels, says he's immensely looking forward to "what the lockdown period released in filmmakers".
"I'm also looking forward to take a guess as to which of the short film filmmakers within a few years will end up as the producers of big feature films and which of them will achieve success in television".
"The Silwerskermfees film festival remains an incubator of new talent and people who go on to achieve breakthroughs on the small screen on kykNET, and on the big screen- and you never know who they'll be."
The 10th Silwerskermfees is also the first time that Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming is attending.
"For me, as long as I've been in the industry I have been, I've not been to the Silwerskermfees - my first interaction with it was during Covid, it was remote; so I'm really looking forward to be interacting with everybody, and from a partnership point of view to reassure our providers that we're here and we're looking forward to working with them."
She says local South African film festivals like the Silwerskermfees are crucial to grow and maintain the country's film and TV industry. "It's part of our industry development because it's a platform to showcase some of the content that we would ordinarily not see".
"As a broadcaster you're often focused on certain things and sometimes you might miss the gems. Forums like these allow you to tap into spaces where you wouldn't ordinarily. And it's also the interaction with people and networking and building our industry."
'Boere-Cannes'
The veteran South African film critic Leon van Nierop who has been part of the Silwerskermfees since the very first edition with just 18 people that started in Prins Albert screening 6 older films in the Jan Rautenbach Schouburg, says the Silwerskermfees has morphed in the "Boere-Cannes", taking place the past few years at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town a bit like the Cannes Film Festival.
"It's for Afrikaans people but also South African people and Karen Meiring [former kykNET director] had the insight and vision to bring the Silwerskermfees to this fantastic setting. The short film initiative is also fantastic: You first learn, and you're mentored. And some of those short films then become feature films."
"That's why the festival is important because it's also a learning school - with all different kinds of conference sessions and workshops."
Leon says he's looking forward to watch a movie with a cinema audience.
"Not a lot of films have been produced the past two years. So, to suddenly see what was made like Gaia, made in 2020 for the big screen and waiting since then for a release date - I'm looking forward to seeing that."
"And just the atmosphere that is here - it's a networking atmosphere, so you can network with the people who you couldn't see and was impossible to do the past two years. It's great to see all of the familiar faces."
Seeing people in person
Paul Venter, manager director and producer at Homebrew Films, says "I think what we're all looking forward to the most is seeing people in person".
" It's about sitting down and making connections because you can Zoom and you can email and you can do what you want, but there's no substitute for grabbing someone by the shoulder after a film and saying 'Let's quickly catch up' and the next minute you're going to make another film."
"So it's that kind of energy and dynamics that we miss and which is the advantage of a film festival".
He says it's important for something like the Silwerskermfees to exist because "it's a decade later and they've done 50 feature films, they've done more than 100 short films - it's just a boon for the industry as whole; it gives jobs, it helps develop new talent, it makes people excited, especially if you look around you and see the diversity and age: The young people coming in - that's why film festivals happen."
SA's film industry is stronger together
Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, says she's also looking forward to seeing everyone in person and "connecting with people and chatting with them. It's been sorely missed".
"Why something like the Silwerskermfees is important is the networking - this is how people make deals and form partnerships and build relationships and think of their next big story. We've all missed this. You don't get the same vibe with a virtual event."
Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment at kykNET, says "the most important thing about this year's Silwerskermfees is that it really showcases the tenacity of the South African film industry".
"While many other countries saw their film industries shut down completely for Covid our producers did not and our crews worked and we all invested in getting these films out. The films here - while they are slightly smaller and filmed under very difficult conditions - show just the absolute willpower and the growth of our industry and how strong we are together".
She says she's looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to Indemnity, the Travis Taute Gambit-produced film starring Jarrid Geduld as a proudly South African action film, as well as Stiekyt set in the world of drag artists and produced by Homebrew Films.
