By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
In his view, the Wild Cinema International Film Festival is getting bigger and better with each edition and it promotes the brand of Windhoek and Namibia in a manner that encourages international tourism to the city and country.
This is the view of City Councillor, Hangapo Veico, who last week delivered a speech at the gala opening of the 6th Windhoek International Film Festival at the NTN.
“It is important to mention that the Namibian film industry is entering a very exciting and positive stage in its development towards becoming a fully-fledged, economically viable industry. Some of our humble film offerings have gained international recognition at other film festivals, and we are seeing more and bigger budget international productions coming to our region,” he said.
According to him, 2007 sees also the official debut of the Namibia Film Awards.
“This is an internationally recognized reward for Namibian filmmakers which has been sorely lacking, and will no doubt contribute immensely towards the industry’s productivity as a whole. The marketing and networking opportunities of a platform like the Windhoek International Film Festival cannot be over-emphasized, and we trust all industry-players will take full advantage of harnessing the opportunities of this event,” he said.
In his view, the festival is preparing to ride a wave of constructive development.
“With the advent of this 6th Windhoek International Film Festival, the City of Windhoek is now officially on board as a stakeholder of this prestigious event.
A relationship can only urge the Namibian corporate world and private sector to do likewise and pledge their support for this industry, which will not only see the creation of hundreds of jobs every year, but also the positive kick-back of financial reward and wealth-creation.”
The local film industry’s contribution to our economy helps both directly and indirectly to lift our people out of the misery of poverty.
“As a city council, we pledge our commitment to supporting the industry, now and in the future. We therefore look forward to a long-term association with the Wild Cinema Film Festival Trust, and are determined to support efforts that are geared to making the city a film capital of note in Africa, as we gradually develop our own world-class film industry,” he concluded.