“Our presence at this important event constitutes the peak of our latest achievements in introducing and promoting our beautiful country to international film producers”, says Ricardo Mouton, Chief Operations Officer of NFC. He notes that while Namibia possesses all necessary features for a flourishing film industry – gorgeous landscapes, high-quality infrastructure, excellent climate, and low production costs – the sector has not reached its full potential yet. Recent years have seen several major productions as the Stone Age spectacle 10,000 BC by renowned German director Roland Emmerich or the remake of the classic Flight of the Phoenix but there are possibilities for many more international movies to be made in Namibia.

One of the major obstacles for making Namibia a preferential film location appears to be a lack of exposure. Guy Nockels, CEO of local production company Namib Film, notes that many producers have merely a limited idea of the vast amount of possibilities Namibia has on offer for filmmakers. As a result the Namibian economy has not yet benefited much from foreign movie productions. “Many producers bring their entire equipment and staff from abroad. They are not aware of domestic service providers that offer similar services of equal quality at lower rates”, Nockels says.

In order to bring the local film sector to the awareness of foreign producers, the Namibia Film Commission, three local film companies and the consulting company SMEs Compete have entered a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the German Development Service (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst, DED). Together they strive to elevate the Namibian film sector by actively promoting the country as a film location and supporting young Namibian filmmakers. Mouton of the NFC explains: “The first step was to put us on the map of foreign location scouts. To this end the NFC launched a new website last month that conveys all necessary information for the interested producer.”

Pilots Paradise, another project partner, produced and contributed an extensive location video in form of a DVD and helped developing an information brochure. Both items were in high demand during the location show. Helga Poennighaus, a director of Pilots Paradise, was very satisfied with the feedback she received during the fair. “Most visitors were very impressed by our stand and more than 260 of them showed interest in Namibia as a location for future productions. Among them were numerous big shots from Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony and 20th Century Fox. In this sense, our initiative has already been a success”. The big topic at this year’s trade fair was incentives schemes for movie producers. “Many countries promote themselves as a film location by means of strong financial incentives”, says Vickson Hangula of NFC. “We also have a system in place that reimburses VAT to foreign production companies. But so far we are not actively using this tool to attract potential productions. In the future we aim to make this instrument much more visible.” He adds that the Namibian presence at this important location trade show has been a great learning experience for all participants and they are all intending to return next year.

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