The French Embassy and the French Institute in South Africa have announced an initiative to springboard African creatives in various multimedia fields and award the best with R50 000 for their project.
Digital Lab Africa, launched at the beginning of June in partnership with film and TV festival, DISCOP AFRICA and entertainment channel, TRACE, is targeted at artists, producers, startups, developers, students in the media and creative industries.
“DLA is a platform dedicated to the African digital content of tomorrow. In the age of digital convergence, TV, film, music and video game content in Africa is increasingly consumed on internet and mobile phones, like everywhere else,” Frédéric Chambon, Regional Head of Media, Film and Music at the French Embassy in South Africa, and producer of DLA, said in a statement.
Participants must submit an innovative project in any of the four following categories of multimedia production:
- web creation/transmedia
- virtual reality
- video games
- digital music
Selected finalists will take part in a pitch competition at the DISCOP AFRICA Johannesburg festival from 2nd to 4th November 2016.
The winners in each category stand the chance of 3 000 € cash prize (R50 476) and a incubation at Digital Lab Africa for up to six months in 2017.
The incubation programme will include local residence, mentorship and project development support from French reference partners, such as Make Games SA and the Tshimologong precinct in Braamfontein, for each category, as well as incubation in France and the chance to network and be exposed to the French mulitmedia industry.
“The objective of DISCOP AFRICA is to contribute to the growth of the African TV content market but also to care for producers and content of tomorrow at the digital age. That’s why we support multimedia dedicated initiatives such as the Digital Lab Africa platform,” said Patrick Jucaud-Zuchowicki, founding manager of DISCOP AFRICA.
Applications for Digital Lab Africa are open on the website and close on 31st August 2016.
