DFM Business Lab 2025: Durban FilmMart Opens Call for Creative Entrepreneurs
Lights, camera… business!
If you’re a filmmaker, creative entrepreneur, or aspiring content producer with dreams bigger than your current budget — the Durban FilmMart Institute’s (DFMI) Business Lab is calling your name.
Applications are officially OPEN for the 2025 edition of the DFM Business Lab, a powerful programme designed to turn film creatives into filmpreneurs.
What is the DFM Business Lab?
The Business Lab is a 12-week online skills development programme aimed at emerging producers and filmmakers from across Africa. Think of it as an entrepreneurial bootcamp for the screen industry — designed to build solid business foundations, develop funding strategies, and equip participants with the tools to run a sustainable creative business in film, TV, or digital content.
The programme focuses on:
- Business development
- Financial planning and management
- Marketing and packaging your content
- Navigating local and international funding opportunities
- Building professional networks that last
It’s intensive. It’s strategic. And it’s exactly what many creative talents need to move from “passion project” to “professionally produced.”
Who Should Apply?
DFM is looking for emerging producers and filmmakers across Africa who:
- Have at least one completed short film, documentary, or narrative work
- Have a project in development or early production
- Are hungry to understand the business of storytelling, not just the craft
- Want to network with peers, mentors, and investors across the continent and beyond
And yes — KingClip talent and alumni working behind the scenes are encouraged to apply.
Application link: https://durbanfilmmart.co.za/
Why It Matters
South Africa’s creative industry is brimming with talent — but without the right business knowledge, great ideas can fizzle out before they ever hit the screen. The DFM Business Lab is about changing that.
It’s not just about making films. It’s about making careers.
KingClip Says…
We’re excited to see initiatives like the DFM Business Lab shaping the future of African cinema. If you’re a talent with a project or vision — don’t sleep on this opportunity.
The next big producer, showrunner, or film financier could be you — and it all starts with taking that first step.
Apply. Learn. Grow.
And remember: the business of film is also an art — and you can master both.Read more and apply here:
