south africa exposed
Cannes Lions 2006
18 - 24 June
Public Meeting - 31 March 2006
By
Oliver Nurock
Executive Producer, Reel Africa
venue
SASANI STUDIO
V&A Waterfront
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Cannes Lions 2005 - Commercial Producers Perspective
In my opinion, probably the most important aspect of our presence at the Cannes Lions ‘05 was the fact that for the very first time, we as individual South African Commercial Producers were seen as a significant presence in Cannes – a collective of individual SA producers, who although competitors were prepared to cooperate together and jointly present the brand under the banner of “South Africa Exposed”. For the first time as a group, we were seen to have “credibility” in Cannes, through the manner in which we set about the above.
The fact that we were seen to be actively co-existing together in such a positive and open manner was highly gratifying, exciting, and something to be proud of – yet not unexpected albeit possibly unusual, in the eyes of the worldwide advertising fraternity.
This display of joint commitment to selling the “South Africa” brand under the umbrella of “SA Exposed”, both as a source of talent and as a production destination, sent out a strong and significant message; namely that we, the 10 x Platinum Sponsor Prodcos participating in this initiative at the Cannes Lions ‘05, could co-exist in a competitive, yet very personable mature manner, as we fully bought-into the concept – indicative in many ways of how the SA Commercial Production business (both “Director-based” and “Service”) has evolved and matured over the years.
Equally significant was the fact that we were seen to be personally ‘selling and funding’ the concept of South Africa as a group of individual privately owned companies, together with the support of the various film commissions, as opposed to relying upon direct government-support, unlike a number of other countries that have traditionally enjoyed such support.
Sure there were things that could be improved upon, with some valuable pointers for the future being learnt and put into motion, as will be visible at “South Africa Exposed” in Cannes this year - however as an initial effort, I believe it was extremely successful and valuable, as in no small measure this display of a combined passion for our country and what we have to offer, went a long way towards reversing the worrying trend of recent years, where we’ve been experiencing a significant movement of production work away from South Africa.
I would without question recommend this as an initiative that deserves all of our positive support and active participation – as after all it’s merely very visibly and impressively reinforcing what we’ve all been individually working towards – establishing SA as the world’s leading source of creative talent and international production destination choice!
  Who is the Cape Film Commission?, Bianca Mpahlaza, CFC, PR
south africa exposed, Janette De Villiers, Groundglass
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