JOHANNESBURG: The fifth edition of DISCOP Johannesburg came to a close today, with a noted increase in the number of delegates and an ample lineup of sidebar sessions, with the growth of the market serving as \u201ca reflection of the state of the industry in Africa,\u201d according to Patrick Jucaud-Zuchowicki, the CEO of Basic Lead and founder of the DISCOP markets.<\/p>\n
Jucaud-Zuchowicki told World Screen Newsflash <\/em>that the media industry in Africa continues to improve. \u201cThere are still plenty of challenges, meaning that there is room to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite these outside challenges, there is growth\u2014and that\u2019s important.\u201d He noted that this growth could also be seen at sister event DISCOP Abidjan this year.<\/p>\n With a revamped layout, placing all the distributors once again on the same floor, the Sandton Convention Centre seemed busier this market compared to last. \u201cThere were more buyers and more platforms\u2014and the buying companies and platforms sent more people,\u201d Jucaud-Zuchowicki confirmed. \u201cThat\u2019s very important to us, because it means that the program-acquisition departments are growing. A comment that has been made to me by a lot of our clients is that there were more serious buyers here, who know what they want and how much they can spend. It\u2019s no longer exploratory meetings; they want to do business.\u201d<\/p>\n And this meant that deals were being closed over the last three days here in Johannesburg, said Jucaud-Zuchowicki. \u201cAfrica today has the ability to make deals. It\u2019s a growing marketplace that has to be taken seriously. We feel that there has been, indeed, a big change since last year, in the sense that it is really on the fast-track.\u201d<\/p>\n DISCOP also ramped up its lineup of conferences and workshops, a move that Jucaud-Zuchowicki said is part of the organization\u2019s aim to nurture independent producers. \u201cThese producers are the future [of the industry],\u201d he told us. \u201cWith our program, we brought knowledge-transfer opportunities, expertise, the possibility for producers to get visibility for their projects. We had pitching competitions, and the jurors who took part felt that they got to see really good, strong projects. We want to build up the future of this industry and to do so, you need to provide information, resources and networking opportunities for young producers. That\u2019s why our sidebar program is as important to us as the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n Next year\u2019s edition of DISCOP Johannesburg will be held from October 25 to 27, which is a week earlier than usual. Jucaud-Zuchowicki explained that the move better positions the event in between MIPCOM and the American Film Market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JOHANNESBURG: The fifth edition of DISCOP Johannesburg came to a close today, with a noted increase in the number of delegates and an ample lineup of sidebar sessions, with the growth of the market serving as \u201ca reflection of the state of the industry in Africa,\u201d according to Patrick Jucaud-Zuchowicki, the CEO of Basic Lead and founder of the DISCOP markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":1645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-1644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-discop-johannesburg-2016"],"yoast_head":"\n