Mandela International Film Festival Builds Strategic Partnerships

The 1st Annual Mandela International Film Festival, being held in Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, has begun laying the groundwork for a successful launch by forming strategic alliances with film festivals and industry leaders in the US and abroad.

Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Benson Fihla, who was imprisoned under Apartheid alongside Nelson Mandela, is one of the Festivals Ambassadors and traveled to the US last week to meet with producers, directors, and the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) organizers about programming and the 2015 kickoff. Filmmakers Spike Lee and Robert Townsend were among those offering support for the Mandela Festival scheduled for December 3rd-12th, 2015. As part of the Festivals promotion during ABFFs annual Founders Breakfast, sponsored in part by KWVwines, a trip for two to the Eastern Cape was raffled off. Derek Dingle, Black Enterprise magazines Editor In Chief, took home the top prize.

Rumored to become one of the worlds most important film festivals in the world and the largest on the African continent, the Mandela International Film Festival has already elicited excitement and support among industry insiders including the organizers of the Tribeca and Cannes Film Festivals, the Eastern Cape Park and Tourism Agency, and His Royal Highness Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela aka Chief Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela and heir to his Legacy.

We are thrilled to have the support of well known organizations such as ABFF (American Black Film Festival) and The Tribeca Film Festival as we prepare to launch the Mandela Festival next year, says Mandela. This is one way in which to honor the legacy of my grandfather whose contributions to the transformation of South Africa have led to us becoming a place where creativity is expressed and new industries, like film, have begun to flourish.

The Mandela International Film Festival was created to celebrate, and stimulate, a brave new world of filmmaking dedicated to improving both the craft and business of film in South Africa. The festival will attract not only locals, but people from all over the world and act as a launch vehicle for Port Elizabeth to become the custodian for international film and television production on the continent.

Mandela Bay, South Africas only river port in Port Elizabeth, is a gateway to the countrys Sunshine Coast to its south and the Wild Coast to the north, offering not only an exceptional venue for the film festival, but an opportunity for attendees to see one of the gems of the South African coastline.

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