The 17th Durban FilmMart (DFM), an annual film financing and co-production market for African screen professionals, opens today in Durban, South Africa, and runs until 12 October.
Organized by the Durban FilmMart Institute, a South African nonprofit supporting film development and international partnerships, the event brings together filmmakers, financiers, broadcasters, distributors and other screen sector professionals. The institute announced 36 projects for its 2026 Pitch and Finance Forum.
Under the theme “Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves,” the programme addresses alternative film financing, equitable co-production, intellectual property, distribution and audience development.
Selected projects include Nigerian director C.J. Obasi’s animated series “Juju Soccer,” South African director Lesego Vorster’s animated feature “Midnight Metro,” Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir’s fiction feature “Holy Cow,” and Tanzanian filmmaker Neema Ngelime’s documentary “The Ones With The Tempered Flowers.” A case study will examine the development and international financing of Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s “Ben’Imana,” which won the Caméra d’Or for best first feature at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in France.
The market also welcomes a Canadian delegation comprising 17 film professionals, with co-production training led by European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), a European training organization for audiovisual producers. South African pay-TV company MultiChoice and CANAL+ Africa are participating in discussions on local content financing. South African technology company Deepixels is introducing WiC (Watch in Community), an initiative combining community-based film exhibition, digital ticketing and audience development.
Dedicated programmes cover African animation financing and studio development, documentary impact production, environmental filmmaking and new approaches to reaching audiences. The edition takes place after its original July dates were postponed because of funding difficulties reported by the organizer.