eThekwini Film City
A film city, rising on Durban's beachfront.
On the former Natal Command site at the north end of the Golden Mile, twenty one hectares are set aside for a film, tourism and leisure city, the first of its kind in South Africa.
development value for the film city
on the former Natal Command site, Durban Golden Mile
precincts, from sound stages to the beachfront
of South African production behind it
The vision
A South African E-Complex, built where the city meets the sea.
It is Videovision's long held dream to make Durban a significant player in the film industry. Anant Singh identified the Natal Command site, beside the Suncoast Casino and within sight of Moses Mabhida Stadium and the Durban International Convention Centre, as the ideal home for world class film studios, set within a public destination of hotels, residences, markets and leisure.
The aim is to build something iconic: a benchmark for the city's future and a new economic engine for the province. It is designed to drive tourism, create jobs and restore a distressed stretch of the beachfront, with film studios at its centre and a live, work and play district built around them.
The master plan
Five precincts, one city.
SCHEMATIC SITE PLAN · HOVER OR TAP A PRECINCT
The beachfront
Ocean Drive
A hotel and residential beachfront zone on the Golden Mile, with the Ocean Drive Hotel, beachfront apartments and the Ocean Park Residences. The historic Natal Command building is retained and given a new life, anchoring a promenade of cafes, pools and public space along the sea.
- Ocean Drive Hotel
- Ocean Drive Apartments
- Ocean Park Residences
- Restored Natal Command building
The case
Built for Durban, and for the industry it can carry.
The South African government has named film a strategic industry, already contributing billions to the economy. The master plan is phased to the economic climate, with job creation focused on historically disadvantaged communities, the uplift of the beachfront around it, and the country's first true entertainment destination at its centre.
Comparables
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town Film Studios, developed and chaired by Anant Singh, founder and CEO of Videovision Entertainment, proved the model at home. It drew large budget international productions to the country and showed what a purpose built studio can do for a South African city.
Los Angeles, California
A century of film and television built an economy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and draws millions of visitors a year. The industry did not follow the city; the city grew around the industry.
Now
A plan that has evolved, and is moving into its final approvals.
The film city has been fought for across decades, through approvals, objections and the long work of assembling the land and the will. The vision set out here is the plan as it has been drawn, and it continues to evolve as it moves forward.
Today it is closer than it has ever been. The City of eThekwini has backed the project, and the President of South Africa has publicly called for it to be built. The next chapter of the group is not only a slate of films, it is a place.
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