Film & TV Industry Prepares for Biggest National March Yet 

Film & TV Industry Prepares for Biggest National March Yet . – South Africa’s film and television industry is mobilising for its largest national protest to  date, as thousands of workers prepare to demonstrate under the banner SAVE SA FILM JOBS on the 28th and 29th of January 2026 in Cape Town and Pretoria.

Organisers confirm the January demonstrations will be significantly bigger than the February  2025 protest, with wider national participation and unprecedented unity across the entire  industry, as the crisis caused by the DTIC Film and TV Incentive deepens.

Industry setbacks

Nearly a year after the first protest, adjudication meetings have still not resumed. Approvals remain stalled for almost 2 years. Productions continue to collapse. Pushing the sector to the brink. Hundreds of millions of Rands in foreign direct investment (FDI) remain bottlenecked because of the department’s mismanagement.

“The scale of this march reflects the scale of the crisis,” says the Save SA Film Jobs Coalition. “This is an industry fighting for survival after months of inaction and silence from the DTIC.”

Unprecedented Unity Across the Industry

For the first time, producers, actors, writers, directors, animators, crew, post-production  professionals, agents, managers and service businesses will march together in a coordinated  national action.

We are appealing to all citizens to join the demonstrations to protect the ability for South  Africans to tell and watch their own stories.

The demonstrations are organised by a growing coalition including Animation SA (ASA), The  South African Guild of Actors (SAGA), Independent Producers Organization (IPO), South  African Guild of Editors (SAGE), Personal Managers Association (PMA), Independent  Directors Association Africa (IDAA), South African Performing Artists Managers Association  (SAPAMA), Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA) and the South African Screen Federation  (SASFED), representing thousands of workers across the value chain.

Participation has expanded significantly since February 2025, with confirmed mobilisation  from Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and other production hubs.

“One week out from the demonstrations – the question is where is the DTIC in this time of crisis? ” the coalition says. “We will not be ignored, the industry will speak with one voice.”

Why the Industry Is Marching Again

Despite repeated engagements with the DTIC, there has been no meaningful progress on  fixing the incentive system. The continued paralysis is driving job losses inside and outside  of the sector, business closures, and the flight of international productions to competitor

countries. The coalition warns that without urgent intervention, one of South Africa’s most  important creative and export industries faces deindustrialization and the reversal of  transformation.

March Details

What: SAVE SA FILM JOBS – National Film & TV Industry March

Tagline: Fix the DTIC Film & TV Incentive

28 January 2026: Cape Town – Outside Parliament

Time: 07:30 – 11:00

29 January 2026: Pretoria – DTIC Head Office, Sunnyside

Time: 10:00 – 14:00

Dress Code: Black