Hello, Hola, Zrdavo.
I’m Martin – also Max – a British-Serbian-South African writer, producer and creative industries exective. I was born in rural Norfolk, England back in the Dark Ages. As a teenager I grew up in Spain and Zimbabwe, before moving to Cape Town, South Africa, the city I still call home. I also lived in Denver, Colorado and worked a lot in LA and New York. I currently reside in Belgrade, Serbia with my Sealyham Terriers Freddie and Alfie. I speak French and Spanish passably well, I stagger through Afrikaans, German and Serbian and I’ve forgotten every single word I every knew of Welsh and Swahili. Bore da. Jambo. Yeah.
What inspires me? Well I spent 30-odd years in various governments all over the world, trying to create opportunities for filmmakers and other creatives. And I’m finally applying the lessons I once taught to my own creative journey. I’m an avid traveller – 65 countries and counting – and I maintain an abiding passion for history, architecture, books, art museums and gastronomy. This has morphed into a creative process that not only embraces the development of original content in the form of books, tv and films, but of vivid transmedia extensions that amplify the content’s stories and messages in the real world.
I’m former Executive Director of the Association of Film Commissioners International (Los Angeles), the Colorado Film Commission (Denver), the Cape Film Commission and Cape Town Film Permit Office (South Africa) and the former Chief Operating Officer of Sithengi, the Southern African International Film and Television Market. I co-founded the African Film Commissions Network and established the Department for International Participants at Expo 2027 Belgrade. I was also the Senior Advisor for Creative Industries to former Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, throughout her terms in office.
Recently, I established another venture – KiWIMA – a start-up media-tech platform streaming original language vertical content to large-language African audiences. This product is a solution to a challenge I’ve been trying to solve for 15 years: how to create a direct link between African filmmaking talent and their massive potential audiences at low cost and high volume.
So that’s me in a nutshell. Let’s talk.