Western Cape promoted as filming destination at international festival

The Western Cape tourism agency Wesgro is on a mission to show off the province as a global filming destination.

The agency’s Film and Media Promotion unit hosted a presentation panel at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Texas this week.

“The Western Cape is an internationally competitive film and media destination thanks to our beautiful and picturesque locations, our unique talent and our world-class expertise,” said the Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier.

“We welcome the opportunity to showcase Cape Town and the Western Cape to the international film market attending the South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival so that we can attract international creators and investors to take advantage of our unique offer and support our creative industries which have been hard-hit during Covid-19.”

Cape Town and the Western Cape is open for filming

Actress and former Freshlyground lead singer Zolani Mahola hosted the event. The panel of speakers included Gambit Films CEO Bradley Joshua.

Gambit is currently filming the second season of its hit Netflix series Blood & Water in Cape Town.

Also on the panel was Todd Brown, who composed the musical score for the Academy Award-nominated documentary My Octopus Teacher.

The unit debuted a short promotional video showing off the Western Cape’s various landscapes and behind-the-scenes footage of productions filmed here.

You can check out the video below:

Blockbusters such as The Dark Tower and Maze Runner: The Death Cure have been filmed in the Western Cape.

Cape Town Film Studios, located in Somerset West, has hosted series such as Black Sails and Doctor Who.

Gaia, a horror film directed by Jaco Bouwer which also debuted at SXSW, was filmed in Tsitsikamma and along the Garden Route.

Recently, the province played host to Ridley Scott’s Amazon Prime series Raised by Wolves. The production had the biggest budget of any series filmed in South Africa.

Feature image: Unsplash/Thomas Bennie

Read more: Q&A: SA director Jaco Bouwer on ecological horror in new film ‘Gaia’