The Black Filmmakers Network

The Black Filmmakers Network, herein referred to as “the network or BFN, was formed by a group of filmmakers in May 2003, this after they realized the need for networking as well as advancing the course of the previously disadvantaged within the Film Industry. We are a non-profit organisation that is run by black filmmakers on voluntary basis. BFN has over 30 production companies and over 250 individual members working in the audio/visual industry.

Our website, which serves as a networking vehicle, can be accessed at www.blackfilmmakers.co.za
A while ago BFN requested a meeting with Yvonne Kgame, but only met with Kamschilla Naidoo, to formally introduce the Black Filmmakers’ Network (BFN) and highlight BFN’s deep concern at recent industry developments regarding issues of accurate and authentic representation in a number of strategic industry meetings that have been taking place between SABC and some recently formed film and television associations that appear to be separate entities who are independent of each other, but, on the contrary, are actually controlled by the same minority group of people. Unfortunately the meeting was a failure.
BFN wanted, and still, to set the record straight that this group of people, largely dictated to behind the scenes by a group of privileged white companies and led particularly by Rehad Desai, does not genuinely or always represent, as it would like SABC to believe, the full sentiment of the majority black film practitioners.
BFN would like to also seriously question the generally dismissive manner in which Rehad Desai has addressed the concerns of indigenous filmmakers, especially as a representative of SASFED and IPO.
It is worth noting that, while BFN agrees on some issues with SASFED/IPO, but BFN differs fundamentally with Rehad Desai’s group on the issue of industry transformation, interpretation of BEE policy, transformation in an African context, as well as within the scope of NEPAD and AU thinking. BFN has always argued for a viable and embracive policy on the issue of indigenous IP and other numerous issues. Not only that, but BFN is adamant on the fact that in South Africa the African perspective is being deliberately undermined, compromised and sidelined for selfish economic gain. This, among others, is reflected in how film and television training and development initiatives, as well as festivals, are based exclusively on the western white ethos, never involving even the most of the most experienced African film practitioners in the continent.
BFN is very concerned at how the South African film industry in its current make-up deals with issues of accountable transformation, intellectual property rights, ownership and access to film resources (especially film finances) in an industry that continues to be white male driven. Ultimately the solution is in how as fellow South Africans collectively and sincerely negotiate these concerns. The concerns have to be interrogated beyond the limited self interest of an elite minority. BFN does not want to see a continuation of the master narrative dictating yet again how, where, when and with whom a democratic and fundamental transformation of the film industry should happen.

It is BFN firm belief that transformation of the South African film industry includes giving full credit to indigenous intellectual contribution, initiatives and property rights. BFN acknowledges the fact that both black African and white African practitioners need to work together to develop and transform the industry into one that is robust, dynamic, reflective of South Africa’s authentic cultural diversity.
The film industry has to be accurately representative in its growth and economy, sustainability and benefits thereof for all South Africans without any racial prejudice to black Africans. BFN does not have, and never had, a problem with this view-point.

However, it is an undeniable fact that the lack of a meaningful transformation of the minority white dominated industry has a direct and negative social impact on black filmmakers. Because they bear the brunt of its racism, it then goes without saying that it is the black practitioners who have to take control and ownership of, as well as lead the struggle and fight to transform the industry. It simply cannot be left to the whimsical of the ‘master narrative’. This is where organisations such as BFN play a very crucial and necessary role by being at the forefront of these transformation struggles, give voice to, and genuinely empower black film practitioners. Without this approach accountable transformation is never going to happen, period. This does not in any way pre-exclude the participation of South African white practitioners. All that BFN is saying regarding their participation is that white practitioners, because of the nature of the industry’s current make-up, cannot fairly be expected to be the exclusive class of decision-makers and drivers of transformation processes that exclusively bear a direct impact on black filmmakers.

It is very racist to expect black practitioners to confine themselves to only the craft of making films when these historically-related industry imbalances impact negatively on their creative and intellectual work, its relationship with and impact on the South African community, and to ignore the fact that they are (-not only in the past-) the majority victims of the current historical-based industry’s cultural prejudice.

In the new South Africa today, where political correctness in some areas of our society seems to amount to people being in a state of perpetual denial we are witnessing the industry oligarchy re-inventing and positioning itself as it tries everything in the book to re-legitimise its industry strangle-hold in the new South African political dispensation. It does this by, among others, aligning itself to both the genuine grievances of black film practitioners, and the insecurities of practitioners desperate for work.

Surely in a country with a history such as ours we have to wonder why is it that some of our brothers and sisters are quite happy with the current industry status quo and initiatives that propagate the racial stereo-type illusion that black people are perpetual victims who are incapable of advanced thought processes, of being able contributors to both intellectual and academic thinking, of being capable of intelligent rationale or opinion-setting capabilities, for example, on issues of justice, equality, democracy and transformation issues.

These individuals would like us to believe that racism in the South African film industry does not exist and therefore we need to move on with our daily filming lives and just make films and more films, especially for the overseas western audiences with whom they have such a deep sense of infinity connection, more so than the African peoples whose stories they continue to tell and exploit.

They are quick to say – “…just make films and learn the craft of film making”. These individuals like to indulge in mischievous ploys that deliberately go out of their way to confuse a ‘debate about racism in the industry’ and a ‘debate about lack of genuine transformation in the industry’ with pretentious utterances about the debates being about the craft of film making. However, BFN is very clear on the fact that filmmaking and learning the craft thereof does not just happen in a social vacuum.

It is, therefore myopic and simplisticly naïve, if not downright stupid, to reduce the importance of film making purely to ‘just straight-forward business’, this is problematic for the majority of black film practitioners. As much as film should be seen to contribute into the gross domestic product, there are also cultural imperatives to be prioritised, we come from a film industry that was driven by white cultural supremacy, as a result serious cultural damage has been done and that these cultural and economic imbalances need to be redressed for real.

For most indigenous people whose identity, dignity, history and believe system was stripped and demonised by centuries of slavery, colonialism and apartheid oppression, this has not changed much in the post-apartheid South Africa. The reluctance to change this scenario in the post apartheid is a clear indication that the white controlled industry, whilst pretending to embrace change is actually in denial of the democratic changes or it is simply not prepared to acknowledge and respect the culture and the history of indigenous communities.

Against this history coupled to the backdrop of white resistance BFN is very concerned that all the film and television skills training programmes are conducted exclusively by white companies. Why has this been allowed to continue for so long?
Black film practitioners are convinced that these skills development training initiatives and their funding are being manipulated such that they remain perpetually a very exclusive terrain of white trainers. This is yet another form of racially stereo-typing black people as people who are incapable of possessing intellectual and academic, as well as years on the job experience credentials that qualifies experienced black practitioners to participate in the training initiatives as equal counterparts to white trainers.

This undermines black film practitioners’ potential to make meaningful African driven contributions to a much needed accountable transformation process of the industry. It also undermines indigenous knowledge and contribution to the intellectual, the academic, the science and technology world.

It is unacceptable that the stories told are African situated, but told through the filters of a white minority value system to the majority and the international community. Not only does this perpetuates the white hegemony, but deeply undermines black filmmakers’ need for fair and equal opportunities to build quality relationships with and be mentored and empowered by experienced and willing fellow African film practitioners, story-tellers and mentors.

It is BFN’s firm belief that black filmmakers, are also responsible and participative members of our cultural diverse South African community, who have a duty and a critical role to play in rebuilding confidence in the identity of, and the restoration of black people’s dignity through, among others, Afro-centric story telling. The white dominated industry often responds by saying no one is stopping black people from telling their own stories how they want to. But we all know that it takes huge resources to make a film and these are often easily accessible to most white companies who are systematically, economically and structurally advantaged.

As part of a meaningful transformation process it is critical that film and television skills development training programmes are formulated such that they also liberate filmmakers from the clutches of white monopoly companies and training initiatives that deliberately limit the creative, the growth, the intellectual and economic potential of black film practitioners.

Government interventions, in conjunction with SABC and independent black practitioners, have a responsibility to create viable and inclusive environments to grow and empower black film producers to be confident enough to produce African film stories, as well as to successfully run film businesses and schools that are not dependent on white companies for their survival.

In as far as realizing these objectives BFN appreciates the fact that both black and white South Africans have a duty and responsibility to work together in order to realize an industry that is truly and positively representative of South Africa’s cultural diversity. For this reason BFN will not shy away from entering into strategic work relationships and partnerships with, inter alia, white South African and international film practitioners and organisations who respect BFN’s objectives and philosophy for transformation.

It is important to realise that responsible transformation is critical to our long-term national economic development and national reconciliation.

Consequently, BFN wants to see strong and decisive interventions that help to fast-track transformation and, given our past history, real empowerment of black practitioners in the South African film and television industry.

It is against this backdrop BFN would like to categorically express its full support for the IP workshop, Nov 2006, which FEPACI, South Africa, is convening. We appreciate that this will be an opportunity that brings South African film practitioners closer to their fellow film practitioners from around the Africa continent as opposed to always looking to only western approaches for answers.

Furthermore, African filmmakers had called for such a workshop in 2003. They yet again requested and supported the idea of such a broad workshop at the African Film Summit, as well as the 7th General Congress of FEPACI, that was hosted by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) of South Africa in association with the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), in Tshwane, South Africa, in April 2006. (please see the African Film Summit 2006 Report)




The following is an extract from the African Film Summit 2006 Report to use and highlight the need; the call and support for such a workshop.

QUOTABLE QUOTES
If this is to be the African century we aspire to, that aspiration must be under-girded by our willingness to encourage, affirm and support Africa’s creative artists…. We see this Summit as an opportunity to promote and encourage a conducive environment and a renewed energy towards better coordination and alignment of our vision, plans, policies, actions, approaches and implementation strategies within individual states and across states regionally and continentally. This gathering marks an important milestone towards the development of the African Audio Visual and Cinema industries. After it, there should be no excuse why any African government and institutions should not recognise the importance of these media in the social, economic and cultural development of our nations,”
Dr Pallo Jordan Minister of Arts and Culture (South Africa)

“The overall purpose and specific objectives of the Summit are in line with the African Union Commission’s action lines for the field of Culture, the Commission endorses the Summit as an opportunity for film practitioners and relevant institutions to begin working towards the launching of the Pan African Audio Visual Commission”
H.E Adv. Bience Gawanas, Commissioner for Social and Cultural Affairs, African Union

The African Union (AU) can assist with the objectives of the Summit. However, In order to assist, the AU would need to have details of the plans, the statutes, the foundation documentation and the mechanisms, including the roles of the regions. This would give the AU a clear understanding with which it could move forward towards the establishment of the African audio visual and cinema commission and fund”
Dr Kamel Esseghairi Director at AU Social Affairs Commission

“The Summit and the 7th Congress of Fepaci were indeed an astounding success; the challenge ahead is the immediate implementation of the various resolutions and recommendations. “
Seipati Bulane Hopa Secretary General of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI)

“We strongly believe that institutions such as the African Union and programmes such as NEPAD need to be decisive driving forces of African audiovisual policy and are also convinced that their commitment to the implementation of the above instruments is a fundamental precondition for development and growth of the audiovisual industry across the continent”
Mr Eddie Mbalo CEO of the NFVF and Chairperson of the Summit Steering Committee

For over a decade, the world has been evolving under the profound effect of globalisation with numerous economic, social and cultural consequences for all countries in the world. This evolution is picking up speed consequent to and influenced by today’s information and knowledge society and the massive development of new technologies, digital equipment and capacity and the circulation of images and sound without any frontiers. The creation of the Commission and the Fund aims at creating conditions that allow the audiovisual and cinema sectors to contribute to the development of Africa. Mr Jacques Behanzin Former Secretary General of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI)

For most indigenous filmmakers, the critical challenge is still the quest to tell stories, their stories, through their own eyes, in their own filmic language. But the industry’s lack of a truly meaningful transformation, makes this a difficult task to realise. To this end, we need to engage in dialogue that will enable us to create our own film agenda, and we see the FEPACI workshop as providing one of the many necessary building blocks that provide an opportunity for people of the African continent to talk to each other, share areas of common purpose while learning from each’s diverse experiences and forms of African story-telling.


BFN is now very concerned that SASFED and IPO have been hijacked by a group of individuals who are conspiring to undermine and/or even sabotage the FEPACI workshop. One of the key reasons is the group’s fear of a strong and experienced independent African contingency on whom SASFED and IPO have no monetary-based influence and the anxiety that such a contingency will not endorse its overall Euro-centric driven strategies.

BFN is deeply appalled by the tendency of this group within SASFED and IPO …especially by those individuals who claim to be representative of black South African filmmakers but are in actual fact pushing for a model that does not address concerns of black Africans…to tend to reduce black practitioners’ concerns and initiatives to mere narrow Africanist ‘rantings’ It is almost as if indigenous people are invited into these structures ‘to legitimize concerns that are not really ours’ – and possibly as future trainees to fund the initiatives. We have to ask - who do they really represent with their double-speak approach? It seems our concerns are coming from very different perspectives – and while the craft of filmmaking is important – the race and identity debate as perceived by black film practitioners is of paramount importance.

It is against this background that BFN feels the need and a sense of duty to support an African initiative as BFN has absolutely nothing to fear from such a workshop, but a lot to gain.

Lastly, whilst we acknowledge and applaud SABC for its positive transformation progress and achievements both past and current, the broadcaster still needs to sort its logistical problems out and really put their money where their mouth is in terms of successfully empowering a new wave of filmmakers who will manifest an authentic indigenous narrative AND REAL TRANSFORMATION.

However, and despite these continued teething problems BFN is very mindful not to fall into the same trap, as we have witnessed with alarm, the tendency of some of these recently formed alliances’ attempt to undermine indigenous representation, its struggles, and efforts within the scope of SABC for transformation which whilst not excluding anyone, but is guided by the basic necessity to reverse social imbalances and a determination to succeed. BFN will always support SABC in striving for an all embracive solution to problems. BFN does not agree with the privileged minority’s extreme and wholesale attitude aimed at portraying indigenous representation at SABC as enemies of independent film and television producers.

It is in this spirit that BFN would like to meet with SABC to discuss these matters further at the soonest possible date. We’ll appreciate it if you can grant BFN an appointment to do just that.

We look forward to a meeting with you.

Best regards

Sipho Singiswa
Black Filmmakers’ Network
NPO reg No: 050-147
Enquiries: Thapelo Joy Pelo (secretariat)
082 532 7223
thapeloj@webmail.co.za