Despite the pouring rain and cold weather, a record number of delegates at this year’s Cannes Film Festival attended the South African Networking Event. The function was sponsored by a group of South African film industry and related companies. The hosts of the evening that were able to attend were Jannie van Wyk (Media Film Service), Charl van der Merwe and Tracey Williams (Refinery Post Production), Leon van der Merwe (Cape Winelands Film Festival) and Nico Dekker (Cape Town Film Studio).  The networking opportunities were invaluable and much buzz was evident as projects and plans were shared and discussed.  

Cannes, this year attracted over 3000 more delegates than last year. South Africa had over 130 attending this year representing all aspects of the industry and doing their part to promote the country as a preferred filmmaking destination. The South African Pavilion, run by the NFVF, was a great venue for events and meetings and provided a much needed SA "zone".

The quality of material shown during the festival was staggering with a lot of hype and curiosity around the star studded casts and much speculation abounded about the winner of Palme d'Or.  The coveted award this year went to Amour directed by Michael Haneke.

Issued by Tracy van Wyk