Deepixels launches WiC, a new audience infrastructure initiative for
African screen content, at Durban FilmMart 2026
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA: African cinema has spent decades building
filmmakers, films, festivals, markets and production capacity. Yet one
fundamental challenge remains: how do African films consistently
find, grow and sustain paying African audiences?
At Durban FilmMart 2026 (9-12 October), Deepixels launched its WiC,
Watch in Community, an audience infrastructure initiative designed to
help build new audience markets for African screen content.
The launch forms part of a broader proposition Deepixels is bringing to
the industry, that every film is made for someone, and the challenge is
to find them.
WiC is being developed in response to the persistent gap between the
creation of African screen content and the systems required to connect
that content with audiences over time.
“Across African film, we have invested substantially in creative
development, production capacity and market access,” says Toni Monty,
Co-Founder of Deepixels. “The missing discipline has been sustained
audience development. WiC is designed to help address that gap by
building practical routes between content, audiences, transactions and
exhibition, so that more African stories can find viable markets over
time.”
WiC connects digital discovery and ticket acquisition with physical
exhibition, enabling screen content to reach audiences through a network
of programmable venues and community-based cinema environments. The
model brings together content discovery, programming, ticketing,
exhibition and audience intelligence, creating a system through which
audience relationships can be developed over time rather than ending
with an individual screening or release.
“WiC is not simply a screening initiative or a streaming product,”
says Ross Joughin, Co-Founder of Deepixels. “It is a connected
technology system that brings content discovery, ticket acquisition,
programming, venue operations, payments and audience intelligence into
one operating environment. That integration is what enables the model to
be tested, measured and refined as it grows.”
WiC does not position itself as a replacement for existing cinemas,
festivals, broadcasters, streaming platforms or distributors. It is
intended to create additional audience pathways and exhibition
opportunities within the wider screen ecosystem.
The launch session explored the gap between content creation and
sustained audience access, and introduce Deepixels’ approach to
connecting content, communities, exhibition spaces, transactions and
audience data within a new distribution and exhibition ecosystem.
The presentation was led by Ross Joughin, with Deepixels co-founder Toni
Monty and Content Partners Helen Kuun, Indigenous Film Distribution and
Paul Robinson, NEFTI Films, joining the session for discussion and
audience Q&A.
During the DFM delegates have been able to experience WiC through a
pop-up WiC Cinema, a dedicated screening venue presenting a curated
programme of African screen content, and at the Deepixels / WiC
exhibition stand, where they can engage with the platform and the wider
audience-infrastructure model.
The WiC Cinema programme featured selected films submitted directly to
WiC with titles presented in collaboration with WiC content partners
Indigenous Film Distribution and NEFTI Films. NEFTI contributed a
curated short-film showcase, while Indigenous Film Distribution has
brought selected titles from its catalogue into the programme, alongside
a broader selection of African screen content.
Building beyond Durban FilmMart
Durban FilmMart marks WiC’s public introduction and an important stage
in its pilot development.
“WiC is also an industrial-development proposition,” says Molise
Ramaili, Co-Founder of Deepixels. “It creates a framework through
which local venues, operators, content owners and partners can
participate in a new entertainment economy. The opportunity is to
develop commercially viable community exhibition infrastructure,
mobilise investment around it and build an enterprise model capable of
expanding across markets.”
Following DFM, Deepixels plans to continue testing the model through a
South African pilot rollout, working with content partners, audiences,
venue operators and other industry stakeholders to refine its
commercial, operational and technical model. The longer-term ambition is
to build scalable audience infrastructure capable of connecting more
African stories with audiences across multiple markets , in southern
Africa, and further afield in Africa as it attracts investors interested
in enterprize development and the creative economy.
“Deepixels invites the industry into a larger conversation: if we want
sustainable African cinema, we have to build sustainable African
audiences,” concludes Ramaili.
For more information about WiC go to www.wicstream.com.
For more information about the Durban FilmMart go to:
https://durbanfilmmart.co.za/
