Ninety-two films from 50 countries are being screened at commercial venues and community centres.

The 10-day festival runs until this Sunday.

Durban International Film Festival Manager Andrea Voges says it’s high time that African produced films be premiered on the continent.

She says this will help ensure the growth of the industry locally and help sustain jobs.

“I think our filmmaking is getting better and better. But I think the part that we are struggling with is that we don’t premiere our own content and we don’t own the right of our content. What that means is that we are making our own films and African films are having the premiers in Europe or in America. So, they see our content before we do. That I think is a serious problem and then we have to negotiate with sales agents for example, primarily in Paris or Europe, to get permission to show African content in Africa to be the first.”

--SABC--