The documentary industry's
untapped potential
Image Art Courtesy of Encounters Film Festival
The South African documentary industry and independent filmmakers have been struggling since the SABC started to collapse and support for documentary filmmakers dwindled. However, a recent increased general interest in documentary, new opportunities for young filmmakers and the development of online platforms might be some of the much needed solutions that could contribute to the promotion of local documentaries.
Dr Julia Cain, lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Centre for Film and Media Studies, believes that there exists lots of untapped potential in South Africa when it comes to young filmmakers
“It is exciting times, and there exist many exciting opportunities for young filmmakers that must be explored,” the experienced lecturer said. “I feel very encouraged when I hear back from former students that are doing interesting things.”
Cain, who has a keen interest in using video as a tool for social change, says that though it is still a weakness that South African audiences aren’t being reached by local documentaries, the local documentary industry has been expanding and reaching international film festivals and getting recognition.
Nonetheless, funding remains a large obstacle for many local filmmakers and production companies.
“This is the biggest issue,” says Timothy Gabb, a film producer from Cape Town. “I haven't really ever accessed a lot of money.
Every film I have been involved in was either self-funded or donor-funded. I made one film self-funded, and that took 7 years to
complete.”
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is a government-supported body that provides funding for filmmakers
through an application basis during certain periods of the year. It is supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
and is supposed to assist filmmakers from fiction and non-fiction to complete their projects.
According to Gabb, this funding is “quite tricky to access and they don’t actually award large amounts of money”.
Yolanda Ncokotwana, Production & Development Manager of Non-Fiction at the NFVF, says that the DTI has
only recently supported the NFVF consistently.
“The unfortunate reality is that most of the time documentaries do not make their money back. At least not
here in South Africa, maybe in other countries like where they get a cinematic release and everything,” says Ncokotwana.
“But documentaries are very important because they are a reflection of who we are as a society, they tell us a lot about
people, they discuss social issues, political issues, environmental issues, which are all pressing issues.”
“You cannot achieve with fiction what you can with a documentary,” Ncokotwana explains.
“Documentaries have authenticity. People’s voices being heard, the realness, the truth, the facts - this is only available in documentaries. So they are really important.”
Ncokotwana believes that there is a need for more organisations that actually fund documentaries, “because these are the stories about real people and real things and important issues”.
The funding provided by the NFVF is geared towards supporting especially filmmakers coming from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, but the funding provided will most likely not cover all the costs.
“It’s becoming more and more competitive now,” Ncokotwana says.
The NFVF’s is also not dividing its budget equally between fiction and non-fiction film. According to Ncokotwana and the NFVF’s Official Funding Policy, only around 30% of the budget goes to non-fiction funding.
However, this could mean that there is a lack of filmmakers actually applying to the NFVF to make documentary films.
According to Cain, many young filmmakers don’t realise that they can get access to government funding and that they should start taking advantage of it.
“When a filmmaker needs to tell a story, they will find a way to do it, even if it takes years. So you do what you have to against the odds. Films these days can be made for much cheaper than before - equipment and software are cheaper, online resources are abundant - you just need the will, vision, and absolute commitment to your story, else it will never be finished,” says Gabb.
Well-made documentaries that address social issues have the potential to affect social change. This is according to Cain, who strongly believes that documentaries have the potential to reach people emotionally, and therefore can have an impact.
“It’s not just about educating people but evoking empathy or feeling moved, ideally so much that you want to contribute to issue,” she says.
Cain cites Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down (2014), Miki Redlinghuys’s This Land (2017) and Aliki Saragas’s Strike A Rock (2017) as films that set out from the start to make a measurable social impact.
Timothy Gabb,
local film producer.
Director:
Aliki Saragas
A film following two women in a poor community and their hardships after the 2012 Marikana Massacre.
Address the socio-economic implications of extractive practices used by mining companies in Southern Africa.
Director:
Rehad Desai
A film about the 2012 Marikana Massacre following from the perspective of the strike leaders, addressing the issue of the extractive nature of mining.
Director:
Miki Redelinghuys
A film following a small village in KwaZulu-Natal facing forced removal due to mining development on their land.
“The term nowadays is ‘impact producing’,” she explains. “The afterlife of the film becomes the most important part, whereas hype around a film usually dies down after it screened at film festivals.”
“Being a documentary filmmaker has always been hard to make a living, so it really is a labour of love,” she states.
Gabb agrees. “You might not make a lot of money, but you will have told the story that you needed to tell.”
He adds that it's important that companies or individuals keep making documentaries because, “when they're independent and self-funded, they are usually more authentic, made only for the reason that they had to be made, no matter what.”
“The nice thing about a purely independent piece is that you are answering to no-one, and have carte blanche on how you're going to tell that story.”
He also believes that increased online platforms will potentially result in bigger documentary audiences.
“More and more, our online is filled with videos and films, and I think when data becomes cheap, we will see more and more films being watched online and made in niche environments. So maybe more noise, but potentially, more audiences.”
Cain says that the general increased interest in documentaries can be seen in the increased amount of non-fiction films available on platforms like Netflix.
“South Africa, however, has been slow to support its documentary filmmakers, so we need a shift there.”
“Another online platform that is great is AfriDocs, where local documentaries can be streamed for free, but I don’t know how many people know about it,” she says.
“Filmmakers are creatives and not usually as good at marketing themselves,” she added.
Both Cain and Gabb acknowledges that there is also an increased interest in documentary short films and that there lies a lot of potential as well.
​
“Online is a great platform for short films, and often a successful short film can find its way into a feature film,” says Gabb.
Abigail Javier, multimedia journalist at Eyewitness News (EWN), says that the future is bright for visual storytelling and that “the future is video”.
“Factual video content is important because the world is moving into the direction that favours visual storytelling and more people like learning and hearing stories through video. I feel it’s also more engaging. The news industry needs to keep up with the changes in order for them to stay relevant,” she says.
Javier says that the video landscape - in both the news and film industry - is changing rapidly.
“When you scroll down your social media you are bound to see two videos or more. Newsrooms are changing and it’s moving into a direction that requires video as an important platform to tell stories,” the keen video journalist explains.
“We’re in a time where the way we do things is mobile, I mean streaming services even allow viewers to watch a movie on their phone. Facebook and Apple are starting to make their own movies that play on their applications – they don’t need a traditional production company to make a movie anymore. In a nutshell, I think the future is video.”
Cain uses the example of The New York Times’ Op-Docs, which are free short-form documentaries, that is available online to illustrate the trend towards short, online available documentaries.
Gabb acknowledges the increased access to technology and platforms might create “more noise” which makes the future of the industry difficult to predict.
“We have more and more short films getting made, cell phones are able to produce feature films. It's democratic, and available to anyone. However, not everyone can make a film, as it takes so much dedication to complete a film, especially when there's no budget for that film.”
He remains optimistic of the potential that lies within the documentary industry and that young filmmakers should not be discouraged.
“Most people give up. The people who made it never did, and a lot of that is up to the individual. It's a very slow game, to be a master of anything takes years and years, and you just have to do what you need to do to get it done. If you need to tell a story, you will find a way. If people are going to watch it, that's a completely different question. But I think if you have the drive and keep at it, you'll get better, and you will succeed.”
