Film Production Bursaries in South Africa

Film is the best-funded discipline in the arts in South Africa, but almost none of that money is a student bursary. The state funds productions, not students: rebates and incentives go to the film being made. What reaches students comes through the national film agency and the provincial film commissions, and there is far less of it.

Understand that split before you plan. The way most people get paid to learn film here is by working on someone else’s production.

State film funding

• The National Film and Video Foundation is the national agency and runs the largest student scheme. Its 2027 round closed on 31 August 2026 at 17:00.
• The Gauteng Film Commission funds students from Gauteng.
• The KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission closes on 31 October each year, which makes it one of the few arts deadlines you can diarise.

Industry schemes

• The Netflix Creative Equity Scholarship Fund runs in cycles rather than annually. No round was open when we checked in September 2026, so watch rather than wait.
• The Film School Africa Tell Your Story bursary funds training at the school itself.
• The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has funded film, though its last confirmed round was for 2024.

General scholarships that fund film alongside other fields: Allan Gray Orbis Fellowship, Canon Collins Tom Queba Scholarship, NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund, Bridgestone, the Absa Fellowship and the Canon Collins Thekgo bursary for outstanding debt.

See also our journalism and media bursaries and interactive multimedia bursaries pages.