I didn’t go to the Cannes Film Festival this year and I am more than a little envious of those who made it. Does it show? It’s a big deal for film people. I have not met a filmmaker who doesn’t dream of taking their work to Cannes.
Before my first time there, I had not properly grasped the idea of what a festival that size represents. My first time almost a decade ago was a bit of a party trip rather than a film pilgrimage. The younger me was simply there to mingle, wine, dine and tick the festival off my bucket list. I did not even watch a single film that year. This was before I turned my career focus decidedly in favour of film rather than television soap operas.
Once this happened, I started to have a keen interest in film events for film’s sake and not for the frills. I became more interested in the market matters and began to ask more questions about African film’s place in the grand scheme of things.
I am a big lover of the African story. I am biased towards African storytellers who make the most beautiful films with close to zero budgets, made with a lot of heart. This is one of the things that made Godwin Mawuru’s Neria one of my most favourite African films. I’m also a big fan of Darryl Roodt’s Faith’s Corner and Yesterday, both with Leleti Khumalo playing the lead. I cheer every time I see a well told African story.
This might have a lot to do with the fact that as an actor I have worked on a number of projects made in Africa but not necessarily African. For far too long we have relied on non-Africans to lead the direction of our films in an attempt to be accepted in their spaces. So we find ourselves in perpetual trial and error mode as we try to come up with a language and identity that is true to our nations while being acceptable for the colonial master’s table.
I was a fly on the wall recently as fellow film-makers discussed South African film and what they think would lead to better performances at the box office. Many of the voices mostly focused on the need for integrating a marketing strategy at the onset of the production cycle. I paid close attention as more points were made about the need for bankable stars and big-name marketing. I waited for the part where someone would talk about a national film identity - I missed it.
We don’t often talk about how we try too hard to find a formula for selling films that we end up betraying the story. We are also still stuck on romantic comedy and gangster films because at some point we heard these tick the right boxes for funding. At another industry gathering a few years ago, I remember my confusion when a panellist carried on about the need to make films that tick these prescribed boxes. I questioned this then as I still do now. Whose boxes are we ticking? Whose stories are we telling? And, most importantly, who are we making films for? South Africa has many stories yet we seem undecided on the DNA that we want to imprint on our films.
As I became more involved with film I became bothered by a deeply unsettling pattern. How much space is there for diversity in world cinema spaces like Cannes? Is there space for African films on their screens? How have African films benefited on big stages where they pay a small fortune for inclusion?
We could well be looking to make an impression where we think it matters most while ignoring the people we should be aiming to touch with our work, Africans themselves.
Also, while film generates great business and drives job creation, the business of making films is not one that brings big returns for the creators. Our films are still battling at the box office and we continue to rely heavily on grant funding to make them.
Which brings me back to my earlier question. Who are we making our films for? Is it to make box-office records at home? Is it for international festival acclaim? Is it for the film-making community?
Our colleagues and friends, basically. In the past two years, I have watched South African films in Cannes with the same faces I see at events at home. We have a crazy case of South Africans burning holes in their pockets to go to foreign shores to show films to each other. Is this not supposed to be a platform to showcase our work to the world?
A painful honest fact that we don’t visit much is that these are not official programme screenings. Not the red carpet arrivals that you would imagine our films get when they exhibit there. There is honour in being part of a festival’s official programme. There is honour in being the film that gets the Cannes red carpet. That’s not how South African films feature at Cannes. We pay. A costly presence that we probably should take a hard look at and evaluate the benefits, if any.
I’m not convinced seeking to belong on these main stages is a worthy battle. Perhaps it’s time to focus on working together on the continent to promote our films among each other as African states. The Africa Audiovisual and Cinema Commission should become a reality sooner rather than later. We aren’t going to build a thriving industry while we stay focused on spaces that don’t belong to us. We need to show up for ourselves and our films on our own continent.
Perhaps my next festival commitments for African films should be for the Zanzibar International Film Festival and the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou. Expecting an African footprint at non-African spaces is too much to ask. Let’s not even try.
* Masebe is an award-winning actor, a creator and producer of television and film content. She is the author of The Heart Knows.