Durban Art Gallery is inviting film and documentary makers to attend a briefing at the gallery on Monday, August 17 at 9 am to find out more about a project which DAG is initiating in which filmmakers are invited to pitch to make short documentaries of some of the city’s top art makers.  “The intention is for all the films to be distributed among all the eThekwini public libraries, in addition to those of all our sister cities that include, Bremen, Leeds, Daejeon, Chicago, New Orleans, Rotterdam, Bulawayo, and Curitiba,” explains Mduduzi Xakaza director of the Durban Art Gallery.  “If the project is completed early enough, these films may be screened during the Durban International Film Festival before they are distributed among all our sister cities.

“Given the current reality that our visual artists often leave Durban to explore other cities which are perceived to offer better opportunities, and that, in actual fact, the art market here and elsewhere in the country is not always sustainable, the Durban Art Gallery has decided to deal with this situation once more by commissioning film makers to make documentaries of some of our city’s arts luminaries.

“It has started a similar process with the Outdoor Public Art Initiative (from this initiative flowed the eThekwini Art Prize Competition and resultant projects in our urban spaces).”

The DAG is searching for the best film production companies that have capacities to produce ten 54-minute documentary films on the lives and works of selected artists.  These films must document artists’ lives within the socio-political context of South Africa pre- or post-apartheid eras.  The concept is inspired by Visual Century: South African Art in context 1907 – 2007, edited by Mario Pissarra and published in 2011.

Public members who know local visual artists with rich profiles and artistic credentials may suggest names for consideration for the next phase of this project to Mduduzi Xakaza via email at Mduduzi.Xakaza@durban.gov.za

Mduduzi Xakaza, director of the Durban Art Gallery.