COMPETITION WINNER ANNOUNCED AT DURBAN FILMMART RECEIVES $5,000 GRAND PRIZE
The Five All-Star Filmmakers Will Participate In Panels & Masterclasses At The European Film Mart And Will Screen Their Local Competition Winning Film
The 5 Countries Represented In The NEFTI All-Stars Competition Are: Ethiopia, South Africa, Eritrea, Botswana, and Nigeria.
NEFTI All Stars is the culmination of all the NEFTI Competitions to date. The winner from each of the Competitions will vie for the grand prize. Each of the 5 NEFTI filmmakers will be given $3000 to create a completely new film with which they will compete for the NEFTI All Stars $5000 grand prize. The 5 films will be screened, and the winner announced at the Durban FilmMart, in Durban, South Africa, July 2024. There will also be a $2000 audience choice award. The 5 countries represented in the NEFTI All Stars Competition are, Ethiopia, South Africa, Eritrea, Botswana, and Nigeria.
The 5 filmmakers have been given funds to shoot a 4-minute profile on themselves which will be screened in Berlin along with their local competition-winning film. The filmmakers will also present a Masterclass on their work and involvement in the NEFTI Competition as well as participating in EFM panels.
Following the Berlinale, the films will be presented in Cannes in the Marché du Film along with a seminar with NEFTI Competition Founder and Administrator Paul Robinson.
Finally, in July 2024, at the Durban FilmMart, following a gala screening of their newly completed film, the NEFTI Competition winners of the $5,000 Grand Prize and $2,000 Audience Award will be announced. The All-Star Filmmakers will again participate in panels and a session highlighting the NEFTI Competition.
The NEFTI Competition in collaboration with the Berlinale/EFM & Durban Film Mart have forged a partnership to challenge filmmakers in emerging economic regions, internationally, to showcase their innovative and creative skills, expand the filmmaker’s reach into regions that may otherwise not have been available to them and to showcase the diverse creative process of filmmakers from a variety of backgrounds and environments.
Contestants for the local competitions were selected to participate by international submissions via the International Emerging Film Talent Association’s global alumni and from the Berlinale/EFM and Durban Film Mart network of filmmakers.
Of those many applicants for each of the five to date competitions, 10 were selected to present a zoom pitch of the concept for their film to a panel of judges consisting of 3 leading film industry professionals – Acclaimed Actress Vivica A Fox, Academy and Tony Award winning producer Bruce Cohen, and President of Post Production 21st Century Fox/Disney Ted Gagliano. These 10 were then narrowed down to 3 finalists who had 30 days to complete and submit their films. There are no storyline requirements except that it must be non-violent and non-political.