The 17th Durban FilmMart (DFM), an annual film financing and co-production market held in Durban, South Africa, concluded on 12 October 2026 with 39 awards from 30 partners, collectively valued at more than R2 million (approximately US$121,000). The four-day event, held from 9–12 October under the theme “Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves,” attracted 1,131 film professionals from 56 countries.
Several African film projects received multiple awards combining financial support, international market access and professional development opportunities.
Kenyan documentary project “The Ones with the Tempered Flowers,” produced by Ivy Kiru and directed by Neema Ngelime, received five awards, including a R100,000 Best Non-fiction grant from South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). The project also secured participation opportunities at Germany’s DOK Leipzig documentary co-production market, the Netherlands’ Movies That Matter event, the United Kingdom’s Sheffield DocFest and Switzerland’s Visions du Réel documentary market in 2027.
Nigerian project “The Boy Who Spoke Static,” developed by the Agbajowo Collective, received the NFVF’s R100,000 Best Fiction grant, a US$5,000 Red Sea Film Fund award and an invitation to Norway’s Sørfond Pitching Forum.
Libyan filmmaker Hussein Eddeb’s “The Birth of Derna” received a US$10,000 Climate Story Labs award, alongside opportunities at Morocco’s FIDADOC Pan African Writing Residency, the New Environmentalist Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) post-production residency in South Africa and Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival.
Sudanese project “Where Do I Belong?”, produced by Talal Afifi and directed by Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad, received US$5,000 each from Docubox and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, together with invitations to the Sørfond Pitching Forum and Germany’s DOK.fest München.
Among the other major cash awards, Algerian filmmaker Mouni Bouallam’s “The Thread and the Wall” received the Ford Foundation’s US$10,000 JustFilms Documentary Award. Palestinian filmmaker Fitnat Waked’s “On the Sea Road,” made with the participation of Nour Obaid, received US$10,000 from Al Jazeera and US$5,000 from TRT, alongside impact development support from Sunshine Cinema and production assistance from Women Make Movies.
Ethiopian animation project “Sunday Morning,” produced by Nahom Abiy and directed by Minasie Terefe, received the NFVF’s R100,000 Best Animation grant and an invitation to Germany’s Animation Production Days 2027.
Additional recipients included Burkina Faso’s “My Djomélé Night,” directed by Barkima Nafissatou Laguempedo, which received a US$5,000 Documentary Africa pitch prize; Tunisia’s “A Touch of Paradise,” directed by Houcem Slouli, which received a US$5,000 NEWF grant; and Egyptian filmmaker Rogena Tarek’s “Green Island Girls,” which received a £3,000 bursary from The Whickers.
Other professional development awards included a place at TorinoFilmLab for Sudanese project “Four Months and Ten Days,” Rotterdam Lab participation for the same project, and a return invitation to Durban FilmMart’s 2027 Pitch and Finance Forum for Congolese filmmaker Mélanie K. Zawadi’s “The Basement.”
Organised by the Durban FilmMart Institute, the 2026 edition was held in association with MultiChoice, with principal funding from South Africa’s National Lotteries Commission and National Film and Video Foundation, and additional support from international and regional partners.