City in drive to create youth jobs through filmmaking

17 May 2017

 

The Johannesburg Film Office (JFO) is to host a Film Awareness Campaign at the Nasrec Exhibition Centre, near Soweto, over nine days in June in a move aimed at drawing the youth to an industry that has a phenomenal potential to create jobs and contribute to the city’s economic growth.

 

The campaign, to be staged from Friday June 9 to Saturday June 17, will expose Johannesburg youth to various careers available in the film industry.

The JFO is a unit of the City of Johannesburg charged with the task of marketing and promoting the city as a leading global film production destination to help create jobs – especially for the youth – and grow the economy.

This is in line with the City’s 10-point plan, which seeks, among other things, to increase the local economy by at least 5% and reduce unemployment by 6% by 2021.

Several international movies have been shot in Johannesburg over the past few years and JFO Unit Head Monique Griffith says that although the city is already a popular international film production destination, there is still a need to strengthen its relations with leading filmmakers across the globe. 

“If you look at cities globally, most of them are in competition to attract global films,” Griffith says. “The reason behind that is to market the cities globally. When this happens in Johannesburg, for example, it gives global exposure to the city’s various cultures, showcases its entertainment and business sectors and promotes its tourism industry.”

She says JFO is using film production as a stimulant of the city’s economic growth. “Film production is a tool that the City can use to develop careers within the film sector. One of the things we will be educating our young people about during the campaign are the levels of employment that exist in the industry.

“For example, when people think about film production, they only think about the creative aspects of it. They often forget about the many components that accompany film projects. We have make-up artists and clothing personnel, to mention a few, and all these can be tailor-made to match the kind of characters that a film may be portraying,” Griffith says.

“You just have to count the number of jobs that are scrolled down at the end of a film to understand the contribution that film production can make to job creation.”

She says when Avengers shot a scene for Age of Ultron, for example, it presented an opportunity for many locals to gain exposure to film production.

“During the workshops, we’re going to have panels of industry players who will explain to our audiences all the aspects of the film industry so they can understand the opportunities that exist in this sector,” Griffith says.