South African-born Lauren Atkins, founder of the New York City Webfest, is celebrating the 11th anniversary of the digital storytelling and innovation showcase in November.
Submissions for web series, short films and pilot episodes opened this week.
The three-day festival brings together creators and industry professionals with panel discussions and content from around the world.
Jury members have included local comedians David Kau and Marc Lottering and actor Tshepo Ramasia.
International jury members have included Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy, Emily in Paris) and Victor Williams (King of Queens). This year’s jury members include Emmy- winner P Frank Williams, TV director Cylla Cenii, actor Jack Maxwell and actress Meredith Thomas.
“When we first started over a decade ago, the internet was still very much in its ‘wild, wild west’ phase in terms of content creation,” Atkins told the Sunday Times. “People of colour and the LGBTQ+ communities were creating episodic series and putting them up on YouTube because they didn’t see themselves in film and TV.
“We’ve forgotten how much has changed in 10 years. Issa Rae had the popular web series The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl, which went on to become Insecure on HBO. Various web series were taking off and finding audiences online, and the industry was paying attention.”
Cape Town-born Atkins was influenced by her family, who worked in media.
“My father is a retired journalist, he started his career at the Cape Argus, and my siblings and I were encouraged to pay attention to current events and watch the news. My dad went on to become foreign editor at the Toronto Star, I was five when we emigrated to Canada. I recall being enamoured with how stories were told and how they reached people,” Atkins said.
One of the benefits of living in Cape Town, Toronto and New York, has been the opportunity to be open to different types of art forms from around the world
— Lauren Atkins
“One of the benefits of living in Cape Town, Toronto and New York, has been the opportunity to be open to different types of art forms from around the world. In our 10-year history, filmmakers have flown in from across Canada and the US, the Middle East, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Argentina, South Africa and Brazil.
“I was always creating. I was in the choir at school and took dance. I would gather my friends around to put on plays for the kids in our town house complex where I would act and direct. Around 2009, while commuting between New York City and Toronto, I began working with New York comedian Mike King, and produced some comedy pilots we were pitching to TV networks.
“One of them was re-edited into a web series, and we entered it into the LA Web Fest in Los Angeles, which was the first-ever web series festival. The following year, I started the first web series festival in New York.”
Atkins conducted several market research studies first. “We began small, with a one-day event in 2014, and by the second year, people were flying in from around the world. We’ve since expanded to a three-day showcase, with industry panels, an awards gala, and now we also screen pilot episodes and short films.”
The festival’s director of programming is Zerelda Nothnagel, a fellow-South African who Atkins met through a mutual friend.
“Lauren and I clicked, especially us being fellow-South Africans in the film industry working in New York,” Nothnagel said. “Lauren is the cog in the system that makes the festival special and unique. She has built such a wonderful relationship with many of the filmmakers past and present. [The event] is a true home for artists, visionaries, with some of the most creative and brilliantly made content.”
Atkins has been impressed with the quality of submissions year after year. “Content creators have learnt to edit thanks to TikTok, Instagram reels, and editing apps on their smartphones. The quality of cameras on phones has improved, while the prices of Bluetooth mics, tripods and lights are much more accessible if you shoot on your phone. You don’t need to be a film school graduate with expensive equipment to achieve a professional look. The ability to tell a story is key though, no matter what you’re using to shoot your film.
“We’ve had many filmmakers go on to have big careers and have their content picked up by Netflix, the BBC and HBO.”
In 2017, South African filmmaker Lara Toselli (née Lara Lipschitz, presenter on SABC1’s YoTV) won best actress for her web series Chin Up! which later screened on Showmax.
Atkins hopes to bring the NYC Webfest back to her birthplace one day. “I had begun meetings in February 2020 when I was home visiting about a possible festival back in South Africa, but just a few weeks later, the world shut down due to the pandemic. I’m absolutely open to revisiting this idea again.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.