Leading entertainment providers such as Netflix, Showmax and Paramount are meeting with African content creators at the Fame Week Africa conference in South Africa this week. His three-day conference, which ended on Friday, was billed as the continent’s best business conference for the creative and cultural sectors.
A local government official, who requested anonymity, said numerous deals had been closed on the floor and predicted that Fame Week Africa would put Cape Town on the world map when it comes to film events.
Countries such as the United States, Canada and Kenya had government representatives, and film, television, animation, music and entertainment technology companies set up cubicles at the Cape Town International Convention Center.
Bonolo Madisakwane, content delivery executive for Paramount Africa, sat in one of them.
“Next week is going to be a very busy week for me and my programming team,” she said. “We have received many screeners and I am very hopeful.”
She said Fame Week Africa is the biggest event of its kind in Africa since the lockdown due to COVID-19 and people are making the most of it.
“Most of them had pre-meetings already, but as soon as quite a few people saw me, they just wanted to take a seat and sell, even if no one was sitting with me. They sell anything,” and they ask all the questions,” Bonoro said.
One man who wanted to keep up with someone like Bonolo is South African actor and social media influencer Ernest St. Clair, who has more than 67,000 followers on Instagram. New movie “2 Thirds of a Man.
“We shot this movie in lockdown and it finally got released and picked up,” he said. “I really hope it gets picked up by other channels like Showmax.”
Another attendee, Canadian singer Domanique Grant, was there to promote her company, which is involved in managing and developing brands and artists.
“We help them with everything from sponsoring vocal lessons to attending major conferences to help them get into the industry,” she said.
Having lived in Uganda, she hopes to reach more African audiences. She is also attending a conference to promote her new album “Queen/Dom”.
“‘Queen/Dom’ is about healing and self-love across generations,” she said.
Jill Casserley, Africa Sales Manager at RX Global, which hosted Fame Week Africa, said he believes there will be more events like this in the future and that a lot of business was done at the event.
“I’m sure it will continue,” she said. “People are happy to be back in face-to-face meetings. I think they’re done with virtual markets.”
The event was sponsored by MIP Africa, International Animation Festival, Muziki Africa, Media and Entertainment Solutions Africa and the City of Cape Town.
