FAME Week Africa 2021: When all the stars aligned in Cape Town

The recently concluded FAME Week Africa was an incredible success – we see why.

In an African continent first, RX Africa in partnership with the Host City of Cape Town gathered the Film, Arts, Media and Entertainment (FAME) industries from 3-5 October in an exciting and diverse few days of creativity and networking.

FAME Week Africa Event Director Judy Goddard, says she couldn’t be more pleased with this inaugural event. “The feedback from all who participated was extremely positive, which bodes well for FAME Week becoming an annual event.”

“From the City of Cape Town’s Emerging Artists Workshop that provided talented artists with the knowledge and skill to market themselves and their artwork to the Emerging Artists Exhibition were 36 of Cape Town’s talented artists showcased their skill and offered some 80 artworks for sale at the V&A Waterfront, to the FILM, ART and ENTERTAINMENT Bus Experiences with CitySightseeing, FAME Week Africa which gave participants a ‘Through the heritage lens’ view of South Africa’s commitment to preserving cultures and sharing stories, this was among the most exciting events ever on African soil.”

Goddard adds, “We rolled out the red carpet to welcome our guests to the FAME Week Africa’s welcome cocktail function. It was the perfect setting for the industry to come together to eat, meet and reconnect with industry friends and peers”.

Goddard says the exclusive premiere of the local film, 2 Thirds of a Man, at the Labia Theatre was much-lauded, and the case study afterwards that focused on “Bringing your film to life and identifying opportunities in the ecosystem” was also highly praised.

JP Smith, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security agrees, saying, “This week has been a fantastic reminder that the creative industries are alive and kicking in Cape Town as well as the rest of the country. It has also been an experience that has reinforced that partnerships and collaboration is the only way we can ensure the creative industries recover from the pandemic. While 2021 has provided a taste of things to come, as the City of Cape Town we are looking forward to a much bigger safari of events in 2021.” 

Bringing cultural heritage to life

Also well-received was the FAME Week Conference, which comprised keynote panel discussions and seminars dealing with, among other things, the importance of supporting artists to return to energetic cultural life post-Covid19; bringing short film content ideas to life; and Women in FAME was fully booked months prior to the event.

Martin Hiller, FAME Week Africa’s content + creative director, says another highlight was The FAME Reel Talent Showcase, where the spotlight fell on talent and creatives across all industries. “The red-carpet gala brought the best African artists and creatives together to showcase their work to industry stakeholders and explore possible opportunities with industry leaders.

“FAME Week is proud to have brought this opportunity to the immense talent on our continent.”

MIP Africa 2022: A perfect fit

During the week, MIP Africa was launched. “MIP Africa is a perfect fit for FAME Week Africa and will form the pillar for the film sector,” says Carol Weaving, CEO of RX Africa.

“MIP Africa’s launch means great things for our film industry,” she says. “Bringing everything from blockbuster programming to groundbreaking partnerships to our shores, MIP’s history with global and international buyers like Multichoice and Showmax makes it an invaluable part of the African movie scene and we are excited to welcome MIP Markets on board.”

Industry Creatives have their say as to their experience at FAME Week Africa:

Keitumetse Madisha, Primedia Broadcasting: “Thank you to FAME Week Africa for providing a meaningful platform in celebration of Africa’s talent, innovation, creativity and inspiration by various powerful speakers. I am honoured and privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to attend the event that allowed me to network, connect with industry professionals and creatives through an amazing well thought exclusive weekend schedule. The experiences included an epic bus tour to various locations with a rich history in Cape Town and of course amazing views. I am very passionate about photography, production and few locations that stood out for me were the Roodebloem Studio’s which was the first stop. A quick opportunity to take lots of selfies hahaha. I was blown away by each studio look and feel, the work that went into those studios, how passionate the team are and the kind of events they host. The Cape  Town City Hall with so much history with some local movies that were shot there and the Cape of Good Hope. A lunch at the President Hotel, great conversations with stunning views and a very exclusive welcome party followed by a conference the next day with woman panellists sharing some of their powerful industry experiences. I was truly empowered and thank you FAME Week Africa for recognizing local talent in the industry and celebrating them, this gave me hope that after what the events, arts and entertainment industry went through due to Covid-19, things will go back to normal. I will definitely do this again next year. See you in 2022”.

Sarah Kozlowski, Actor & Producer: “Amazing moderators and eclectic industry individuals made the event really unique. I gained amazing perspectives from fellow artists wearing different hats. Incredibly well organised, no details were spared or neglected. As someone who has recently moved to Cape Town, the event was invaluable for me. It was such a comprehensive and clear overview of the entertainment industry and I have left inspired.”

Tecla Ciolfi, Editor Texx and The City: “The inaugural Fame Week Africa achieved what it set out to do by sparking much-needed conversations across the entertainment industry after such a bleak period of lockdown. I’m looking forward to seeing the future expansion of RX Africa’s events in Cape Town and the opportunities that this will mean for the arts.”

Manuela Dias De Deus, One-Eyed Jack: “The FAME Week Africa conference was superbly curated and included a great mix of both industry experts and youngsters that are clearly making their mark.  It’s not often that you hear spontaneous applause from the audience, or a ‘hell yeah’ from the moderator, which is a great indication that the panellists were comfortable enough to speak from the heart, and that audience was totally engaged with meaningful content clearly resonated with them. I made a lot of great connections businesswise too, it was a great networking opportunity”.

Antos Stella; Managing Director: Content Connect Africa: “What a pleasure it was to be part of the inaugural FWA a much-needed initiative for the entertainment business by the RX Africa.  FWA is a great networking opportunity for all businesses both here in Africa and globally.”

Click here to view visuals from FAME Week Africa.

FAME Week Africa 2022: Save The Date NOW
As the organisers look back on FAME Week 2021, it is with pride and gratitude. ”We are looking forward to returning to the Mother City from 24-26 August 2022 for the next instalment of FAME Week Africa,” concludes Goddard.

About FAME Week Africa

Launched in 2021 in partnership with the Host City of Cape Town, FAME Week Africa is the continent’s unrivalled cornerstone of business development for the Film, Arts, Media and Entertainment industries. Bringing the creative sector together, FAME Week Africa is the go-to place for industry professionals on the African continent. FAME Week Africa provides an opportunity to forge, enrich and strengthen business relationships. FAME Week Africa will take place from 24 – 26 August 2022. www.fameweekafrica.com

About MIP Africa

Launched at FAME Week Africa in 2021, MIP Africa, is the newest addition to the MIPCOM and MIPTV Group, and will be the continent’s leading event for business development for the creative industries.

MIP Africa offers a unique experience of pre-scheduled one-to-one matchmaking that guarantees meetings between Distributors, Producers & African Buyers and Commissioners to support programmes sales and co-production partnerships. It’s a thrilling opportunity to unwrap your freshest Film and Television content to African and International Buyers.

Designed to connect with TV industry leaders, MIP Africa will form the film pillar of FAME. Exhibitors will be pan-African-based and enjoy a platform created specifically to showcase the skill and capability of the continent.

Click here to access the launch video.

About RX Global

RX Global is a leading global events business. It combines face-to-face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors, attracting more than 7 million participants.  Our events leverage industry expertise, large data sets and technology to enable our customers to connect face-to-face or digitally and generate billions of dollars of revenues for the economic development of local markets and national economies around the world.   RX Africa is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.reedexhibitions.com

About RELX

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.  The market capitalisation is approximately £33bn, €39bn, $47bn.*

*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at www.relx.com/investors