South Africa Named EFM 2027 Country in Focus

The Berlinale's European Film Market (EFM) named South Africa its 2027 Country in Focus on May 18, succeeding Morocco, which held the slot at EFM 2026. South Africa becomes only the second African country selected since the program began in 2017, after Mexico, Canada, Norway, Chile, the Baltic States, Italy, Spain, and, of course, Morocco.

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), South Africa's statutory film agency, is leading the country's preparation in partnership with the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture. Acting NFVF CEO Onke Dumeko credited "many years of effort by the National Film and Video Foundation team" for the designation. Minister Gayton McKenzie called it "more than recognition... an invitation," adding that the government's task is to ensure that resulting partnerships and co-productions "foster growth for all involved." McKenzie also acknowledged that "challenges that have affected our filmmakers' ability to produce at scale" need to be addressed.

South Africa enters the slot with one of Africa's most established production-service infrastructures and a film sector with sustained presence at major international film festivals, including the Berlinale. However, matching domestic feature output has been uneven. The local streaming and exhibition landscape has been turbulent. What the country needs to convert in Berlin is foreign production capacity into homegrown production volume.

The Morocco Template

Across the week of February 12–18, 2026, Morocco's EFM program ran across multiple tracks under support from the Ministry of Culture and the Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM): a Moroccan Producers Spotlight at the EFM Producers Hub with 10 producers presenting projects, a Berlinale Series Market session on February 16 titled "Moroccan Series on the Rise: From Local Success to Global Ambitions," and a Berlinale Classics restoration screening of Ahmed Bouanani's Mirage (1979).

CCM Director Mohammad-Reda Benjelloun led the delegation. Morocco also amplified its 30 percent cash rebate for foreign productions and its co-production treaty network to international counterparts.

On February 15, mid-EFM, Benjelloun met Senegal's Secretary of State for Culture, Creative Industries, and Historical Heritage, Bacary Sarr, to reopen negotiations on the 1992 Morocco–Senegal co-production agreement, with Dakar prioritizing post-production, distribution mechanisms, training, and the proposed establishment of a legal and technical body.

Four weeks before EFM, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid announced in parliament that international productions had spent roughly MAD 1.5 billion (about USD 150 million) in Morocco in 2025, triple the pre-COVID baseline of MAD 500 million or less. The Berlin designation became the global-facing complement to that domestic announcement.

In essence, "Country in Focus" is more of a visibility instrument than a deal-signing summit.

We will eventually learn South Africa's playbook for 2027. The release's language — "connect South African talent, projects and companies with international buyers, financiers, producers and platforms" — suggests a similar framing. McKenzie's emphasis on "co-production and investment" matches.

The EFM Criteria

Looking at the countries and regions selected since 2017, EFM's Country in Focus has consistently gone to mid-sized national film industries with established public film bodies, existing co-production treaty networks, internationally recognized directors, and production-service capacity that can absorb foreign shoots. Mexico, Spain, Italy, Norway, Canada, Chile, the Baltic States, Morocco, and now, South Africa all fit that profile.

By that implicit standard, the African countries most plausibly positioned for a future slot are limited. Egypt has the production volume and history. Nigeria has the volume and global cultural reach via Nollywood, though its infrastructure and co-production treaty network is thin. Senegal has the directors and critical standing but lacks production-service scale. Kenya has growing streaming infrastructure and a maturing public film body in the Kenya Film Commission (KFC), though feature output is modest. Tunisia has the auteur tradition and festival history, but limited production and service capacity. None presents the combined profile that Morocco and South Africa each bring.

Finally, the EFM release names two South African films: Mark Dornford-May's U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and Imran Hamdulay's The Heart Is a Muscle. U-Carmen won the 2005 Golden Bear, the first South African film to take the festival's top prize. The Heart Is a Muscle world-premiered in the 2025 Berlinale Panorama, was selected as South Africa's submission for the 98th Academy Awards' Best International Feature race, and opened theatrically in South Africa on March 6, 2026.

EFM 2027 runs February 10–16, alongside the 77th Berlin International Film Festival.