The 17th Durban FilmMart kicks off Oct. 9 with a stacked, four-day program of talks, panels, think tanks and conversations that will spotlight some of the challenges and opportunities for the African film and TV industries and set the agenda for the continent’s filmmakers for the year ahead. A highlight of every edition is the influential DFM Pitch and Finance Forum, the continent’s top launching pad for films searching for financing and distribution. Since its inception 16 years ago, the co-production forum (alongside DFM platforms Talents Durban and Jumpstart) has been the catalyst for more than 100 films.
To celebrate that track record, this year’s DFM will open with a screening of Rwandan debutante Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’Imana,” which won the Caméra d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Durban FilmMart Institute director Magdalene Reddy says the film — a co-production forum alumnus — was selected to highlight the event’s outsized impact on the African filmmaking community. It was pitched at DFM two years ago, and they were able to win two awards at Cannes [including the FIPRESCI prize],” says Reddy.
Obasi; and “Carissa,” from South African directing duo Devon Delmar and Jason Jacobs, which premiered in Venice’s Horizons strand. This year’s forum features 35 projects that will be pitched to producers, financiers, sales agents, broadcasters, distributors and film funds from across Africa and the rest of the globe. The final tally includes eight animation projects, 10 fiction features, 10 documentary features and seven series, all in varying stages of development.
Fourteen African nations are represented, while 28 of the 35 projects have women in key creative roles. Creating a balance between established and emerging filmmakers. Gender balance is also very important.” She adds: “The other balance is to make sure that there’s arthouse and commercial projects.” To that end, in addition to the Pitch and Finance Forum, this year’s DFM will include a showcase of five projects from the African Producers Accelerator, an initiative launched this year to help connect commercially viable African projects with potential investors.
Highlights include “Borsel,” the latest from “Carissa” filmmakers Jacobs and Delmar, whose last feature, “Variations on a Theme,” won at Rotterdam in 2025; “Galatians,” from director Michael Omonua (“Juju Stories”) and producer Abba Makama (“The Lost Okoroshi”), of Nigeria’s Surreal16 Collective; “A Fantastic Tale,” from Kenya’s Vincho Nchogu, which follows on the heels of her Venice premiere “One Woman One Bra”; and “The Return,” a Ghana-U.S. co-production from Zoey Martinson, whose debut “The Fisherman” also bowed in Venice. Partnerships with the Palestine Film Institute, Climate Story Labs and Habesha Creative will also give a boost to additional projects looking for partners. As this year’s event gets set to begin, here are 10 DFM Pitch and Finance Forum projects we’ve got our eyes on: Bitter WineDirector: Pablo Pinedo BóvedaProducers: Protagonist Studios, Everywhere Films Basque filmmaker Bóveda (“Noma”) partners with South African producer David Franciscus — best known for Ryan Kruger’s reboot of the 1987 cult horror-comedy “Street Trash” — on this story of a firebrand trade unionist whose life in Spain is upended after a strike goes horribly wrong.
Regrouping on her friends’ vineyard in South Africa, she soon feels a call to action as she realizes that their workers are being bitterly exploited. Bóveda/Franciscus: “Bitter Wine” is the story of neo-slavery experienced by South African wine farm workers, revealed through Pablo’s work with disenfranchised communities for over 16 years. The perspective and agency of the protagonists shift, motivated by their desire for justice and reparations.
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