The BRICS Film Festival in Durban kicked off with an industry workshop and a packed room of filmmakers, producers and directors and people involved in the movies, debating the way forward for the industry in the five countries. Angelo Coppola was there and brings us this report.

Part of the discussion at the workshop centered on developing a treaty between the BRICS countries that promotes film production.

SYLVIA VOLLENHOVEN FILMMAKER, VISION IN AFRICA "I don't think that the filmmakers and the professional community, especially the South Africans responding, understood how enormous the potential is of this opportunity. And that if there is a treaty and if there is official co production frameworks in terms of the treaty, what it means for them in the future. What kind of markets it's going to open up."

On a practical level, delegates suggested that the way forward involved working together.

MICKY MADODE DUBE INDEPENDENT BLACK FILMMAKERS COLLECTIVE "We do not know one another at all. So how do you build to begin the notion of building bridges. There's an idea of a joint working committee that could be established that represents people from the various countries, whether they be filmmakers themselves, whether they be government people. But to also look outside of just filmmakers and government people. To look at other people like banks. There's a BRICS bank, that's been established, it exists, how did they do that. It works."

BRAZILIAN NATIONAL FILM AGENCY "There is a willingness of converging the initiatives of making a treaty, among the countries. Although it's not easy, there are barriers to overcome. But I think we can work together in order to sort it out."

There's a level of optimism about the collaboration between BRICS filmmakers, it's masked with a bit of pessimism.

PAVEL ADINIAN INDEPENDENT RUSSIAN FILM PRODUCER, PARADOX FILMS "Today's discussion, talking to the audience, not on panel, show that people are focused first of all on their own problems, on their own struggles, and prevents them a little bit from thinking a bit wider, but there is definitely there's hope."

Co-production is the first step in finding common ground and learning from each other.

GUSTAVO ROLLA BRAZILIAN NATIONAL FILM AGENCY "We are also planning to co-fund projects, and establish a committee which could manage all the interests of the countries in order to put on the table the best way to follow."

ANGELO COPPOLA DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA "The film industry is all about collaboration and also learning from other people's lessons and the path they've followed. I'm Angelo Coppola for CGTN in DURBAN, South Africa."