Six South African TV Productions submitted to the International Public Television Screening Conference – INPUT

Cutting edge television from South Africa contends to be screened at the annual global INPUT conference.

The International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT) is the world’s most influential and longest running Television Conference around Storytelling in the Interest of the Audience. The conference has been held at a different broadcaster since 1976 and will return to South East Asia next year when it will be jointly hosted by Goethe Institut and Thai PBS in Bangkok from 6 May – 10 May 2019.

At INPUT, TV makers from around the globe screen, debate and evaluate productions that are raising the bar in television making. The South African National Coordinators for INPUT, Henriette De Villiers and François Smit, both from AFDA, believe the selection from South Africa stands a good chance to be screened at the conference. An impressive selection of independent production companies showcasing the most innovative TV from South Africa will be represented. Productions that screen at the international conference generally tackle international topics on a local level, and provide insight into solutions to challenges that face all TV makers globally. INPUT 2019 is particularly interested in seeing such solutions for Fiction (series and longform): Broadcasters are faced with great challenges with the development of new distribution models and are eagerly looking for content and stories that could help them steer through the challenges these new platforms bring. One thing that broadcasters do however still do better than most other media (simply due to its reach), is the growth, stabilization and development of Civil Society. At INPUT 2019, the call to the global television community was to challenges notions of investigative journalism and Factual and how it can be shown (and made appealing) to a diversified and pluralistic audience. The South African selection give great examples of world class programming both in Fiction and Factual.

The six South African productions traveling to the international selection are:

Fiction:
Lockdown – Blackbrain Pictures – Mzansi Magic
Kanarie – Marche Media – KykNet
Swartwater – Quizzical Pictures – SABC
Tjovitjo – Puo Pha Productions – SABC

Factual:
Everything Must Fall – Uhuru Productions
Someone to Blame – EMS Productions – SABC

At the German National Broadcaster – ARD, in February, after sifting through approximately 600 Productions, the Conference moderators will curate a conference programme consisting of around 80 TV Productions from around the world. The six productions from South Africa are all of remarkably high standard, challenging the audience not only with their content, but also by the craft evident in these remarkable productions.  
INPUT is an organization run by volunteers – all TV professionals who are dedicated to the medium of television and the responsibility it has as integral part of the fourth pillar of society – responsible media. The international conference has been hosted twice in South Africa. The organizational hub for INPUT in South Africa is hosted by AFDA, the School of the Creative Economy.

For further information: 
www.input-tv.org
www.afda.co.za

South African National Coordinators for INPUT:
Henriette de Villiers – Dean, AFDA Johannesburg – HenrietteD@afda.co.za
François Smit – Head of Postgraduate Studies, AFDA Johannesburg – FrancoisS@afda.co.za