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SAA To Screen African Films On Long-Haul Flights

SAA To Screen African Films On Long-Haul Flights

South African Airways this week started screening African films on long-haul flights in an effort to expose an annual audience of 2 million international passengers to African film making, the airline said in SouthAfrica.info.

South Africa’s film industry is booming and competitive, FinancialTimes reported in September. The country is becoming a destination for many of the world’s top filmmakers.

But there is a growing focus on fostering local productions and local filmmakers, and making the sector less dependent on the whims of foreign projects.

SAA says it launched the African Choices Film Festival based on encouraging feedback from passengers who got to watch in-flight African films during a test phase.

African films will be screened by filmmakers from Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, according to a prepared statement.

In three years, South Africa’s film industry created more than 35,000 jobs and contributed 5 billion rand ($404.7 million) to the economy, according to Garreth Bloor, a Cape Town tourism, events and economic development expert.

“More than just showcasing the talent we hold on the continent, African Choices will serve as a photobook of African location potential for international filmmakers as well as indicating that the necessary support services are available, indirectly creating new opportunities both for skills development and sharing as well as commercially,” said said SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.

In July, SAA passengers can watch these South African films: “Die Windpomp (The Wind Pump),” “Elelwani,” “Traitors,” “Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux (Send Greetings to Mannetjies Roux)” and “Die Spook van Uniondale (The Ghost of Uniondale). Other films include “Des Etoiles” from Senegal; “Mke Mchafu” from Tanzania; and “B for Boy” and “The Entrapped” from Nigeria.

Other movies to be screened include U.S.-Nollywood collaborations: “When One Door Closes” and “Shameful Deceit,” as well as the South African TV series, “Ashes to Ashes” and “The Mating Game.”

“There is a myriad of talent in Africa,” said SAA spokesperson Tlali, “and as a carrier with global reach and a platform to showcase the continental film industry, SAA is well positioned to support Africa’s immense cultural wealth.”

Cape Town Film Studios is a 5-year-old, $35 million state-of-the art complex that is part of South Africa’s version of Hollywood.

Its CEO, Nico Dekker, told FinancialTimes he had to turn away 32 projects in less than a year including the fourth season of the U.S. TV series “Homeland.”

“Sony’s head was here,” Dekker said. “Paramount, Disney, Warner — they beg me to build more studios.”

But even the best local films struggle at the box office, according to FinancialTimes. South Africa had 780 cinema screens as of a year ago – the equivalent of 1.47 per 100,000 people. “This is partly a legacy of apartheid, when movie theaters only served the white minority. Even today, the most successful local films are Afrikaans productions,” the FinancialTimes reports.

The plan is for SAA to screen African films throughout the rest of 2015 and seek out titles from all its African destinations, according to SouthAfrica.info.

Beyond attracting new audiences, in-flight screening of African films has the potential to contribute to local economies, Tlali said.

Sectors such as tourism, catering, logistics and hospitality will benefit. “The importance of developing audiences while also propagating the attraction of producing titles in Africa holds widespread benefit, particularly small to medium enterprises, while a well-developed industry affords several employment opportunities.”

SAA’s African Choices will screen in flight on all wide-bodied planes for incoming and outbound international flights from this week through the rest of 2015.