The KZN Film Commission has dropped Umlazi International Film Festival at the last minute.
Sunday World can reveal that KZN Film Commission had initially committed to fund the film festival. However, on Friday, November 22, they were told that there will be no funding for them.
Verbal agreements drew suspicion
“Our application for funding was initially rejected. But we appealed, and that’s when we were promised funding. We needed about R300, 000, and the KZN Film Commission committed to sponsor us. But we became suspicious when they failed to commit on paper. All the agreements were done verbally, no documents were ever signed,” said the source.
“We had our doubts, but we were desperate for funding. They also kept assuring us that we’d get funding. We were informed on Friday, two days before the event, that there’d be no funding for us. They even suggested that we cancel or postpone the film festival for next year. We refused, because we were far too gone with the preparations,” said one of the event organisers who asked to remain anonymous.
Never received any funding from commission
Another event organiser said they have never received any funding from KZN Commission.
“This is our third edition, and KZN film Commission has never funded us. They always make empty promises. As a result, we had to dig deep in our pockets to make this one happen. We are hurt and disappointed by KZN Film Commission,” said another event organiser.
Spokesperson for KZN film Commission, Pinki Radebe, said the application was never considered in the first place.
“The application was received and it was not considered. That’s because the budget allocation for festival funding for the current year had been depleted,” said Radebe.
Commission says communication was shared in time about lack of funds
“An email was issued to the applicant in this regard indicating that funds were depleted. Therefore the proposal was not presented to the Film Fund Committee. Email communication to the applicant was shared on 15th October 2024. It indicated that the entity would not be able to consider the application for this time around. Due to reaching the cap for this category of funding. The entity hoped to collaborate with the application in the future,” Radebe continued.
“The proposal was never tabled to our committee due to lack of funding. We would welcome the festival organisers to engage the entity when the RFPs are issued for the 2025-2026 financial year,” Radebe continued.
Umlazi International Film Festival started on Tuesday, November 26 2024 at kwaMax, in Durban. It is scheduled to end on Friday, November 29.
