Cornubia's informal settlement becomes a movie set, creating jobs and opportunities

The Blackburn informal settlement in Cornubia, north of Durban, has not only been transformed into a movie set for an international production company but also provided much-needed jobs. 

The movie production team requested that the names of the film and the actors not be disclosed, but were happy with the location that they had chosen to film the second season of the series in Durban.

The site at Blackburn Informal Settlement was used for six days with a camera crew, stagehands, and security personnel on site.  

Rory Macpherson, eThekwini Ward 102 DA councillor, said that nine out of 10 movies are filmed in Cape Town, and he had hoped that with Durban’s climate, scenery, and hospitality, it would become the preferred choice of filmmakers. 

He said the community worked alongside professional make-up artists and camera crews, and added that 100 temporary jobs were also created, adding that the economic spin-off was remarkable.  

“Gratitude must be shown to the residents and community leaders to ensure the guests feel at home. Some of the residents live from hand to mouth. Recently, many of the residents were employed in the construction sector that was taking place around them, so that itself is a motivating factor. This opens doors for skills development,” Macpherson said. 

“It goes to show that when we pull together, we can produce more. There are many lessons we can take from this and replicate them elsewhere in Durban going forward. This is what councillors are elected to do, and that is to bring business opportunities into the ward,” he added.   

The technical team, who could not be named, said they would recommend using this sort of location for future productions.

Patrick Phembela, ward committee and community leader at Blackburn informal settlement, said he also had a minor role to play in the movie on Tuesday.

Phembela said residents were ecstatic to learn about film-making and the behind-the-scenes production that goes with it.

According to him, the majority of the movie extras were taken from the informal settlement for various scenes. 

“The school children who are on holiday saw this as a learning experience and might have been motivated to take up this sort of career. This sort of exposure greatly assisted everyone here.”  

Phembela said a local church tent was also utilised for the crew to set up their operations. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za