Aletta Shikololo
WINDHOEK – Interest in locally produced films has grown and continues to grow in leaps and bounds, Gideon Kamati has said, commenting on the growth of the local film industry over the years.
Kamati, a producer with the Namibia Film Commission (NFC), told Entertainment Now!: “We receive a huge number of applications and the audience has grown tremendously, which proves that there is hope in local films,” he said.
Asked about the average number of people that submitted proposals this year, Kamati said, the current 2019/2020 callout they received was 36 proposals for feature films, documentary films, upcoming shorts as well as experienced short films.
Among the film projects done in previous years are ‘The Hidden Sky’, ‘Wind on Your Skin’, ‘Untitled’ web series, ‘The White Line’ and ‘The Ritual’.
NFC has supported over 60 films and film-related activities over a period of 10 years, Entertainment Now! has learnt.
When asked where local films go when produced, Kamati said the films are showcased in local theatres.
Under the Ministry of Information and Technology, NFC receives a budget allocation of N$ 3 million annualy.
Namibia filmmaker and producer, Leon Mubiana, who has produced around seven short films and multiple music videos, pointed out some of the challenges of a filmmaker in the country, and among them was a lack of resources.
“A lot of people get discouraged to shoot movies because there are no resources and the support they get locally is also not sufficient. Being a fulltime filmmaker in the country can’t make one a good living and also doing it part time requires a lot of time and hardwork that you will end up abandoning other things,” Mubita explained.
Mubiana, is planning to produce a full-length movie in future, said with the little resources that NFC provides, filmmakers can produce short films while building themselves.
So far, 209 short-films were produced and 189 video and film screenings conducted. One hundred and one foreign films were produced in Namibia since the inception of the film commission.