It is that time of the year when the film and television industry prepare for the biggest event in the film calendar, The South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs). The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), South Africa’s custodian of film is calling on all local production companies to submit their entries for the 9th Annual SAFTAs.

As announced by the NFVF CEO Ms. Zama Mkosi at the Durban International Film Festival’s press conference, the entries opened on Friday 18^th July 2014 and will close on Tuesday the 19^th of August 2014. “The industry hosted a very successful 8^th SAFTAs in April 2014. We anticipate another spectacular event that would honour, celebrate and reward South African talent on and off the screen. We therefore urge eligible productions to submit their entries before the closing date,” says Ms. Mkosi. NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GRANTED. To allow feature films that will screen later in the year an opportunity to be submitted at the right time, the SAFTAs committee has provided producers ample time to enter the SAFTAs. The closing date for the Feature Film submission will be the 30^th of October 2014. 

Ms. Mkosi further highlighted that, “We are proud to announce that the committee has decided to honor presenters by creating a Best Presenter in TV Non-Fiction award. In addition, we have answered to the call to separate youth and children categories by creating the Best Youth award and Best Children’s award. This will ensure that the best talents are honored in the right categories.”

The SAFTAs, managed under the custodianship of the National Film and Video Foundation, are an industry initiative governed by the SAFTAS committee and the body of industry representatives comprising of the broadcasters, SASFED and other key stakeholders.

Only television and film programmes that have been produced and publicly exhibited or broadcast between 1st of Aug 2013 – 31 July 2014 and feature films produced & publicly exhibited between 1st of Jan 2014 – 31 December 2014 will be considered. Only productions that are entered will be eligible for consideration.

The SAFTAs give recognition to individuals and productions that have excelled in the following categories: TV Non-fiction, TV Fiction, Feature Films, Short Films, Student Films and Animation. The awards also celebrate film and television industry legends who have long served in various fields of the industry through the Special Lifetime Achievement award.

For the 9^th Annual SAFTAs complete rules and entry guidelines visit www.saftaregistration.co.za.

The submission of entries will be followed by the filtration judging process, which will then be followed by the final judging process. The nominees will be announced in February 2015.

The main awards ceremonies will be held on the 20^th and 21^st of March 2015 in Johannesburg where all winners will be announced and be presented with the official SAFTA trophy, the Golden Horn.