The 17th Durban FilmMart (DFM) will put the business of animation, the craft of impact producing and the future of wildlife filmmaking at the centre of its Industry Programme.
The market runs from 9 to 12 October 2026 at the Southern Sun Elangeni and Maharani hotels in Durban.
This year’s theme is Shifting Worlds- Turning Towards Ourselves.
The Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF) will host Animation Day.
It deals with a hard question for the sector: how to build an animation industry that can sustain itself.
Doc Society and its partners will present Doc Day: Impact Edition.
The session treats impact producing as a serious discipline.
Organisers say it demands the same rigour as directing or financing a film.
Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) will run the Beyond the Wild sessions.
These push natural world storytelling into new territory.
Filmmakers will look at spirituality, authorship and who owns the stories told about nature.
International partnerships run through the programme. The most visible are the Canadian delegation and a panel marking the 25th anniversary of the Cross Continental Forum.
DFM says these partnerships reflect its core mandate. It wants to be the place where shared interests across continents turn into projects built together.
The market describes itself as Africa’s premier co-production and film finance market. It brings together filmmakers, producers, funders, distributors, broadcasters and sales agents from Africa and the Global South.
Delegates can buy a full pass for R2,000 or a one-day pass for R500. Both prices include VAT.
This year’s edition is presented in association with MultiChoice. Principal funding comes from the National Lotteries Commission.
More than 50 funders and partners back the event.
They include eThekwini Municipality, the Durban Film Office, the Ford Foundation, the National Film and Video Foundation, Netflix, MTN Group, the Industrial Development Corporation, the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority, the Gauteng Film Commission, the Canada High Commission, France’s CNC and Berlinale Talents.
The full Industry Programme is available at durbanfilmmart.co.za
