Case Study - Digital services for South Africa’s national film foundation

The client

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is the statutory body mandated to grow and develop South Africa's film and video industry, and an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. From funding emerging filmmakers to promoting South African stories on international stages, the NFVF's work touches every corner of the country's screen industry, and its digital presence is how much of that work reaches the public.

The demands of public-sector digital work

Building for a national institution is a different discipline from building for a startup. The audience is the whole public, which makes accessibility a requirement rather than a nice-to-have. The information published (funding calls, application processes, industry reports) must be findable and reliable. And as a public entity, everything operates within the frameworks that govern state information: POPIA for personal data, and the transparency obligations that come with public accountability.

Hotfix delivered web development for the NFVF within exactly those constraints: standards-compliant, accessible, and built to serve high-traffic moments like funding-cycle announcements without falling over.

What it says about our work

Public institutions choose suppliers through formal procurement, so being selected and delivering is a vetting process in itself. It is work we are proud to stand behind, and it shaped the public-sector capability we bring to software development engagements across South Africa today, including for organisations in Pretoria and Tshwane where that world is concentrated.