Government vows to throw weight behind film industry

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies addressing stakeholders at the launch of the revised film and television incentives guidelines. Picture: Supplied by the dti

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies addressing stakeholders at the launch of the revised film and television incentives guidelines. Picture: Supplied by the dti

Published Jul 23, 2018

Share

Durban - Minister of trade and industry Rob Davies said on Monday that the South African government was committed to supporting the film industry in order to ensure that it continues to contribute to the country’s economic growth, creating jobs and telling South African stories to the world. 

"As a department, we recognise that like in other sectors, one cannot be a successful player in the film industry if there are no incentives to support the industry. In order to ensure that our incentives are competitive and relevant to the needs of the industry, we have conducted a review to see what revisions were necessary," Davies said.

"We assessed the incentive programme, with extensive participation from industry and partner stakeholders in government, in order to try to be competitive, and to ensure that the incentives support the development of sustainable value chains and inclusive ecosystems. We are looking forward to seeing more new productions, including productions that will find their way onto the world stage."

Davies was speaking at the launch of the revised guidelines of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (the dti) film and television production incentives which took place at the Durban International Film Festival.

The revised foreign film and television production and post-production incentive facilitates growth of the sector, building on shooting location advantages as a quality service provider for both local and international shoots. The new guidelines will be effective from 1 September 2018.

African News Agency (ANA)

Related Topics: