DiscoPro forum in South Africa draws 426 TV, film producers

The latest DiscoPro, a forum that brings together film and TV producers, recently was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, drawing record attendance, as well as 426 producers from 31 African nations.

"This past edition of DiscoPro saw a diverse selection of excellent pitches with huge international potential," Wangeci Murage of Media Pros Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya, the company that organized DiscoPro, said.

A highlight of DiscoPro is the pitching sessions, during which 30 TV series, web series, comedies, animated films and documentaries are presented to a panel of programming and commissioning executives, advertisers and potential investors.

“Designed to stimulate co-production and distribution opportunities between Western, Eastern and Southern Africa, these expansion plans underscore the critical importance of intra-African trade to develop and strengthen sustainable content production and distribution industries across the continent,” Gert Botes, DiscoPro's Johannesburg project manager, said.

Exhibitors at DiscoPro came from all over Africa, including the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana.

The success of DiscoPro has prompted organizers to schedule two satellite events. One will run May 31-June 2 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in conjunction with DiscoPro Africa Abidjan, an event for representatives of the TV and online content industry. The other satellite event will run Aug. 24-26, during the Kalasha Festival, a TV and film-market event in Nairobi, Kenya,