The 8th Joburg Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, capping a busy week in which organizers attracted a record 700 submissions from around 100 countries. This is a testament to our continued efforts to transform this growing event into the premier film platform on the continent.
But at JBX (Joburg Xchange), a three-day industry event held alongside the festival, the atmosphere was less lively. In contrast to the raucous energy around the Sandton Convention Center this week, attendees were stunned by the announcement that Canal+ would be shutting down its Showmax streaming service, which the French media giant acquired last year as part of its $2 billion acquisition of South Africa’s MultiChoice.
Africa’s largest homegrown streaming platform has been a lifeline for many producers, especially in South Africa. This news only made the dire situation for the host country’s film and television industry even worse. For the past three years, the industry has been in a battle with local governments over the nascent rebate system.
But as clouds rolled in over rainy Johannesburg this week, many filmmakers remained optimistic. Or at least determined to struggle in a way only African creators know how.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s Joburg Film Festival and JBX Market.
South African industry in freefall
There was another sense of déjà vu at this year’s Joburg Film Festival, with South Africa’s film and television industry once again pleading with the government to bail out the kickbacks in crisis. Three years of prolonged payment delays have left the industry in freefall, with more than R660 million ($40.4 million) still owed by the Department of Trade and Industry Corporation, which administers the embattled incentive scheme. “It’s really scary,” said Luke Routh, an actor and producer who serves on the executive committee of the Independent Producers Association. Local industry experts are not sitting idly by either, with hundreds marching on Congress in January to demand immediate action.
In the weeks since then, there have been signs of productive dialogue that could eventually lead to a path out of the quagmire. But Leon Forde, from film consultancy Olsberg SPI, said: “Investor confidence has definitely taken a hit.”The government needs to act now to rescue the local film industry, said Joel Chikapa Phiri, executive chairman of South Africa’s leading firm Known Associates Group, who said Hollywood’s recent glamor offensive had studio chiefs worried that Rainbow Nation was falling “off the map”. “They love South Africa,” Phiri said. “They’re ready to come back.”
Canal+ impacts Showmax
Ever since Canal+ completed its $2 billion acquisition of South African pay-TV giant MultiChoice last year, there has been an ominous feeling throughout the local industry. Suspicions were rife that French media giant MultiChoice was making post-merger plans and that cost-cutting measures were being considered. The other shoe finally dropped this week when Variety broke the news that Canal+ was officially pulling the plug on its own streaming service Showmax.
Looking at the numbers, the move made sense. Since relaunching the platform with NBCUniversal in 2024, MultiChoice and its Comcast partners have poured a total of $309 million in equity funding into Showmax, primarily to fuel content production. But ultimately, nothing came of the streamer’s aggressive growth and subscriber acquisition goals. Just two months ago, Canal+ CFO Amandine Ferré claimed that the platform’s losses were “unacceptable” to her company given the streamer’s fate. The writing was already on the wall.
The news didn’t go down easily at the JBX market this week, with one producer confessing to being “sickened” by the announcement and another lamenting that the move effectively “decapitated the only African streamer”. What’s next for Canal+’s streaming strategy on the continent remains anyone’s guess. However, one industry source summed it up: “(South African) producers are making a fuss.”
What’s next for distribution in Africa?
“Streaming was seen as the great democratizer, especially in Africa,” producer Paul Buys lamented in Joburg this week. But Canal+’s decision to shut down Showmax comes two years after Prime Video scaled back its own ambitions to become Africa’s biggest player, effectively exiting the market. While Netflix says it remains committed to the continent, the lack of competition will only weaken African producers. There are fewer and fewer places to rely on. Commissioned budgets for both private and public broadcasters have been decreasing in recent years. “Show me a buyer,” said one South African industry official.
If there’s a silver lining to this week’s rainy Johannesburg, it’s that African filmmakers have long prided themselves on being resilient and resourceful. While the loss of Showmax was a bitter pill to swallow, calls continued throughout the week for more partnerships, more collaborations and more efforts to develop cross-border revenue streams in everything from theaters to free-to-air to the burgeoning diaspora market. “What can we do as Africans now that the distributors are gone?” said Milton Reddy of Johannesburg-based Known Associates Distribution. “We have to think outside the box.”
Can Africa benefit from the microdrama boom?
No one is saying that African content creators should scale back their ambitions, but is it time for them to think… small? With more than a billion mobile phones on the continent, many of which serve as the main screen for consumers, Africa could be the next untapped market for the microdrama industry, which is expected to grow to $26 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Cape Town-based production company Both Worlds, which this week announced a partnership with America’s Freeli Films to co-produce a series of vertical series and films, is betting on it by building its distribution strategy around partnering with major companies. Mobile phone companies across the continent. Meanwhile, Viu’s South Africa country manager Elouise Kelly said the Asian streaming giant has already begun dubbing Korean microdramas into indigenous South African languages such as Zulu as it looks to expand into the African market. “What’s the next iteration?” she said. “We need to think about how to customize it for South Africa and Africa and make it our own, because I think there is an opportunity there.”
With fewer buyers in the market, African content creators must be willing to meet consumers where they are. “There are many places where your storytelling fits,” says Thandeka Zwana of South Africa’s indigenous film distributor. “Adapt. Think differently. Broaden your horizons. Adapt to a changing world. Look at how consumers are changing. Because consumers are not stagnant. You can’t tell the same story in the same way and expect your audience to keep watching.”
Politics in the spotlight
Opening days after debates over free speech and censorship nearly wiped out the most controversial and politically charged Berlinale in memory, with Israeli and US attacks on Iran escalating into a regional conflagration, and Zamo Mkhwanazi’s Apartheid The Joburg Film Festival certainly hasn’t shied away from difficult subjects, whether it’s the era’s opening film, The Laundry, or Cirilo Waha Mjira’s timely migration documentary, Little Black Man From the Little Black Man. Congo,” or “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” directed by Oscar-nominated Kauser Ben Hania.
“This festival takes place at a moment when the world is less nuanced, a moment when artists are being asked whether to speak or remain silent,” festival curator Nhlanhla Ndaba said on opening night. “The Joburg Film Festival has always been a place where politics and art meet, where the African continent and the world connect, and politics is just another story,” Ndaba added, referring to the heated debate (in Berlin) over whether filmmakers should be involved in politics. Where storytelling doesn’t pretend to happen in a vacuum. ” Meanwhile, South African producer and festival juror Kate Pansegrau argued on the red carpet that “cinema is inherently political,” adding, “People don’t think enough about the fact that freedom of expression is in real danger with the rise of fascism. We should absolutely say everything we want to say and ask the very tough questions.”
The Joburg Film Festival will be held in Johannesburg from 3rd to 8th March.
