By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
A filmmaker-cum-board member and the secretary of the Namibian Film Commission (NFC) last week travelled to the international Cannes Film Festival in Monaco to sign a formal agreement with a reputed agent for the distribution rights of the film, Namibia: The Liberation Struggle.
“I am pretty confident that a distribution deal on the film is in the offing with the involvement of the agent,” said Vickson Hangula, who refused to divulge the name of the agent before his departure last Saturday.
The secretary of the Namibia Film Commission, Edwin Kanguatjivi, could not be contacted.
There have been a lot of speculation and critique in the local film fraternity about the composition of the two-man delegation to the 63rd Cannes film festival, which has been overshadowed by news of the expected twins of actors, Angelina Jolie and Bratt Pitt.
Filmmakers are unhappy at their exclusion from world film forums every time the NFC sends a delegation. They feel that Namibian filmmakers should be represented in all such delegations for networking purposes with the international film industry.
Allegedly some members in previous NFC delegations primarily stayed in their hotel rooms at such film events without making and bringing back tangible film contacts for the benefit of the local industry.
Hangula is an executive member of the Filmmakers Association of Namibia (FAN) and the only representative of Namibian filmmakers on the board of the NFC. According to the Film Act two people should be representing the film fraternity.
FAN recommended a second person to the board some two years ago in the form of Advocate Essi Schimming-Chase, but she was never appointed by the ministry of Information and Communication Technology, under which the NFC resorts.
The two-man delegation is expected back in the country from the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow.