Joint Dutch, South African fund launched

The Netherlands Film Fund and the National Film & Video Foundation (NFVF) in South Africa have launched a co-development fund to jointly provide script support for film and documentary projects.

Bero Beyer

The Thuthuka fund aims to support projects that are potentially of high cinematographic quality and of interest to cinema audiences in both the Netherlands and South Africa, as well as to international cinema audiences and film festivals.

A total of four projects will be supported each year in the animated feature film and documentary genres. The annual budget of the fund is €160,000 (US$190,000), with each party contributing half.

Bero Beyer, CEO of the Netherlands Film Fund, said: “The word ‘thuthuka’ means growth and development. We are trying to foster creative collaborations between the South African and Netherlands film teams to develop their ideas.”

Makhosazana Khanyile, CEO of the NFVF, added: “We see this as an opportunity to strengthen the treaty relationship but also enable films from the two countries to have an opportunity to reach global audiences.”