Brace yourselves, film fans!

Cape Town’s film industry is about to get a real boost as the internationally renowned Tribeca Film Festival, started by Robert De Niro ten years ago, is set to come to Cape Town each year for the next five years.

The Cape Film Commission has teamed up with espAfrika – organiser of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival – to bring the New York-based festival to South Africa. The festival also started visiting Doha in Qatar three years ago, in an arrangement with the organisers of the festival in New York.

espAfrika CEO Rashid Lombard said yesterday:

The opportunity this creates for the local and African film industry is very important as the festival will create a much-needed international platform for our local filmmakers and industry.

A trade delegation will travel to New York again to discuss how the Cape Film Commission and Tribeca might develop mentoring and training programmes, which form part of the festivals in Doha and New York.

The Tribeca Film Festival was established by Robert De Niro and two other entertainment industry partners in the wake of the tragic 9/11 attacks on New York City. The Festival was initially located in the TriBeCa area of Manhattan to try revive business and culture there, but has since become a high profile and reputable festival on the international circuit.

espAfrika’s Lombard said the directors of the company that runs and promotes the Tribeca Film Festival attended the Cape Town jazz festival in 2011 and had made the approach to host their festival in the Mother City.

Dates for the festival’s debut in Cape Town have not been released yet.

The Tribeca Film Festival in New York (above) and Doha regularly attract the movers and shakers in the international film industry, not to mention thousands of curious film fans.

[Source: Times LIVE]