Cape Town is like South Africa’s own Hollywood. Take a walk through parts of the city centre on the right day, and you’ll easily spot a few roads blocked off due to shooting, a huffing and puffing director making their magic and a few interesting costumes that sometimes look like they’re from another world (costume designers are the underrated magicians!).
My favourite encounter with Hollywood’s movie magic in the making, was seeing a man in a green suit do a sprint on Long Market Street four or five times, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt. He nearly knocked the wind out of me, but it was brilliant (and a little funny) to enjoy the unpolished behind-the-scenes moments live.
Our city is Hollywood’s secret weapon when it comes to epic location shoots. Some of Netflix’s top films like The Kissing Booth used Cape Town as a setting, and we’re rumoured to see Tom Cruise on our turf soon too for Mission Impossible 8.
As the City of Cape Town happily records, other international productions that have enjoyed the Mother City as a setting have included:
- The Woman King
- Venus Flytap
- Project Panda (Netflix live action One Piece)
- Warrior
- BBC’s Noughts and Crosses
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Boy Kills World
- Raised by Wolves
Beyond international movies, the local film industry in South Africa is ready to have its moment in the sun once again, free of the pandemic’s endless restrictions. It felt like we were in a weird science fiction movie for the past two years, but now it’s time for other genres that we as the public hopefully won’t be the characters in.
Cape Town has and will host numerous local productions, including:
- Blood & Water
- Arendsvlei
- Shaka Zulu
- Projek Dina
- and Recipes for Love and Murder
The City notes that its Film Permit Office received more than 7000 permit applications, from the strictest times for movement in the country to the ease-up era.
However, the City has decided to do the film industry one better, giving Hollywood and other movie magicians a reason to love the Mother City:
From 1 July, the City’s freeze on all Safety and Security tariffs has come into effect, meaning that filming can run a lot more smoothly and without a lengthy procedure just to get the perfect take. As part of the tariff freeze, costs for Traffic Services, Metro Police and Law Enforcement will all be included.