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, which began on October 9 and runs until October 12, Deepixels launched 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 introduced 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 experienced 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 enterprise 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.
