The kykNET Silwerskerm Festival will have a different format this year. It will be transformed into an informative webinar with a focus on production, short film development and other exciting and relevant industry issues.

“The impact of the pandemic has delayed the production of all new films that were to be screened at the festival”, says Karen Meiring, Director of M-Net: kykNET Channels. “As a result, we had to reconsider all our projects and our approach to this year’s festival. With these challenges we also saw some opportunities, and we are excited about the international partners that we have secured to collaborate, inspire and share valuable industry knowledge with our South African filmmakers.”

The webinar will take place from 2-4 September 2020 and include guest speakers and facilitators from around the globe. The webinar will focus on international partnerships, funding and new ways of working in the film and television industry. Speakers will include representatives from SXSW, Berlinale, The Sydney Film Festival, The British Film Council and Fremantle Media, Australia.

The full programme will be available on Wednesday 12 August 2020. Registration for the three- day webinar will cost R150 and include access to all the international sessions, exclusive viewings of work by South African filmmakers, breakout rooms for intimate question and answer sessions and a workshop about funding facilitated by WESGRO. The DStv film platform BoxOffice will also host two exclusive premieres of local films.

The 10^th annual Silwerskerm Film Festival was originally scheduled to take place in Camps Bay during August. Due to the new approach, the short film competition has been extended with a new focus on script development. Other festival initiatives will also continue with later submission dates.

One of these projects is the Draaiboeksoek competition that was launched at the 2019 kykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival – an initiative that focusses on the development of new scripts.