R450m film studio for Cape Town
11 February 2004
A consortium led by acclaimed South African film producer Anant Singh has been chosen to build the country's first major, Hollywood-style film studio in Cape Town.
Dreamworld Film City has been confirmed by the Western Cape provincial government and the City of Cape Town as the successful bidder to develop the multi-million rand film studio to be built on the Vergenoegd Farm in Faure off the N2 just outside Cape Town.
Cape Town has a vibrant film industry worth an estimated R20-billion, but growth has been constrained by lack of capacity.
Dreamworld plans to invest R400-million in developing the studio, while the Western Cape provincial government and the City of Cape Town will contribute R60-million over three years towards the project. The Development Bank of South Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation have also committed to help finance the studio.
In an interview with News24's DistrictMail last year, Singh said
the studio would do for Cape Town what the film industry had done for Los Angeles. "I certainly believe our film city can be a unique and strong catalyst for the development of business and industry in the area."
The studio site, in Faure about 10km outside Somerset West, was chosen on the advice of an international and local consulting team, including international studio experts from the US. According to Dreamworld, the setting "strongly links it with the 'Cape magic' of the mountains and winelands, and has been designed as a 'Cape Village', drawing inspiration from the streets and squares of the Western Cape.
The studio will overlook the Stellenbosch, Makasa, Khayelitsha, Bluedowns and Eerste River areas, and, says Singh, "will act as an investment catalyst along the N2 corridor which will directly benefit disadvantaged communities". An economic impact assessment found that over 8 000 jobs would be created during the construction period.
Dreamworld intends to
begin construction in early 2005 and to have the studio operational by 2006.
According to DistrictMail, the first phase of Dreamworld's film "city" development will comprise eight sound stages and various production facilities, including digital facilities, on 60 hectares of land, with a further 40 hectares ringfenced for further development.
However, Dreamworld's offering incorporates more than sound stages - they aim to develop a complete "one-stop-shop" production facility to help local producers clinch deals and make Dreamworld the "home of South African production".
"We are confident that Dreamworld will provide a right-sized, world-class one-stop film city project in an appropriate location that will entice year-round growth to cater for both the current and future needs of this dynamic and growing industry segment in Cape Town," Singh said in a statement.
"The Dreamworld project has been conceptually born of the Western Cape, and our proposal aims to
profile the local film industry abilities of this region to a national and international customer base, thereby opening up South Africa's film abilities to the world."
Dreamworld has also secured the participation of the Peninsula Technikon, Kodak and other industry players in the creation of a film school to develop skills in the local film industry.
The studio will allow Singh to complete future filming in one location - unlike this year's filming of "Long Walk to Freedom", which he has to split between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
"A lot of the scenes are shot in Cape Town, but all the stage and studio shots have to be done in Johannesburg as there is nothing here to accommodate them", Singh told DistrictMail. "It would be ideal to be able to accommodate all aspects in one location."
The Dreamworld consortium includes Singh, of Videovision Entertainment, free-to-air TV station e.tv, film producer Mike MacCarthy, Phuti Tsukudu, who represents Western Cape
communities, and the Helderberg African Chamber of Commerce.
A maximum of 25% of DreamWorld's equity has been reserved for Cape Town-based empowerment companies, including an offer to the other short-listed bidders, Cape Town Motion Picture Studios and Ikapa Film City.
Singh has produced a number of South Africa's most famous "protest" films, including the screen adaptation of Alan Paton's "Cry, the Beloved Country", "Sarafina!", which starred Whoopi Goldberg, "The Stick" and "The Place of Weeping".
He also holds the film rights to Nelson Mandela's autobiography, "Long Walk To Freedom", and is currently working on a movie about Amy Biehl, the American Fulbright scholar who was tragically killed in the Cape Flats township of Guguletu in 1993, as well as "Red Dust", an adaptation of Gillian Slovo's novel about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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