BY promoting what it calls ‘film tourism’ in this area, Ugu South Coast Tourism might well have found a lucrative way to boost the local economy.
Last week tourism invited the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission’s chef executive, Carol Coetzee to the South Coast for a sightseeing tour and a brainstorming session.
The mandate of the new KZN Film Commission, a public entity based in Durban, is to source and secure film and television productions both nationally and internationally as a way of increasing economic development in the province.
Its brief encompasses the making of all sorts of audiovisual projects, from commercials, documentaries, stills and television series to feature films, in KwaZulu-Natal. This is no small undertaking. The long-established Cape and Gauteng Film Commissions have a strong foothold in the minds of filmmakers worldwide.
“This is one of the most exciting challenges I have taken up,” said Ms Coetzee. She served as head of department for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development for more than five years, working on budgets of close to R1.4-billion and managing nine public entities, including the Dube Trade Port.
“I feel that we are now ready to take on this challenge. We understand what it takes to attract investment into a destination and the film sector is an untapped gem,” she added.
After extensive research, the film commission’s strategy was geared to meet global demands.
“We have recently returned from Hong Kong where, along with Wesgro, our Cape Town counterparts, we were the only representatives from Africa. We will be attending Cannes in the next few weeks and have also secured visits from leading Hollywood stars. We believe this is an excellent beginning of great things to come,” she said.
Ugu South Coast Tourism chief executive Justin Mackrory was also positive about this development.
“For a long time now I have wanted to put film tourism as a key driver into changing the face of seasonality in the greater South Coast area. As a destination, we have so much on offer,” he said.
Exciting news is that the first lead generated through the film commission was looking very promising in that the South Coast could soon host a multi-million rand television production, he added.
