ISSUE 09 | 2014
+ LOVE THE ONE YOU LOVE The Callsheet Interviews The Darlings of DIFF
+ POST PRODUCTION WIZARDRY Experts Speak Out On SA's Skills
+ LOERIES CREATIVE WEEK Creative Minds Collide
CONTENTS | 01
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
2. IMC Announces SA as 2015 Tour Destination
4. Jameson First Shot Films Premiere at YouTube Space LA
10. Creative Minds Collide at the Loeries
14. Post-Production Trends 18. In Production: Find out Who is
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Loeries Creative Week
Post Production in SA
The Callsheet brings you a preview of Africa’s most exciting celebration of creativity.
The top dogs spill the beans on why SA’s post production skills in hot demand.
Filming What and Where
22. Growing East African Film with Documentaries
26. A Chat with Chi Mhende and Jenna Bass
28. Pick up and Shoot – ARRI Launches the AMIRA
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In Production: Bursting at the Seams! Check out our new expanded In Production pages.
THE LOERIE AWARDS, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
FILM & EVENT MEDIA, WILL AGAIN HOST THE CREATIVE WEEK EXPO, TAKING PLACE FROM 18 - 20 SEPTEMBER IN CAPE TOWN.
Love The One You Love Director Jenna Bass and Lead Actress Chi Mhende sat down for a candid interview about their incredible film.
30. Spotlight on Uganda 32. Love the One You Love – Review 34. Rehad Desai - Talks Miners Shot Down
35. The Callsheet Tests the Geniatech ATV3200 Android TV Gold
36. Associations 38. Events
LOERIES EXPO Exhibitors will be exposed to South Africa’s creative community, thousands of advertising agency VIPs, international delegates attending the Loeries International Seminar of Creativity as well as 3000 award ceremony guests who will be registering at City Hall. Please email Taryn Fowler at taryn@filmeventmedia.co.za to have a presence at the Loeries Expo.
02 | NEWS
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IMC Announces SA as 2015 Tour Destination Courtesy of Kimberly Huggins
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nternational Media Concierge, the first of its kind, combines personalized services and travelling for independent media professionals. Located in one of the most iconic cities for filmmaking in the world, Chicago, Illinois, IMC resides in the Willis Tower (formally know as the Sears Tower). After realizing that many filmmakers and content creators were not receiving exposure to valuable resources, opportunities, and working within their comfort zones to create content in familiar territories, IMC was created to facilitate independent media professionals to become stronger contenders in the market. All to often, media professionals struggle to get their content out to the market due to over saturation and limited opportunities. The entertainment business is an industry that involves a lot
of hard work and investing in your craft before actually seeing results. As an artist and businessperson, investing is an ongoing process that must occur throughout one’s career. We believe participating in our tours is one of those investments that will help to educate, and increase the opportunities for success. There are several emerging distribution platforms for artist to exhibit their content and we want to show artists how to do so. Managing Director Kimberly Huggins says, “By carefully selecting countries and cities that offer funding, great shooting locations, professional crew, and collaboration opportunities that are cost effective, we introduce our customers to key players in the industry that on their own would not be accessible, and especially in a short amount of time. Once our customers have seen the untapped possibilities of the selected territory, their opportunities can be expanded to create projects, and distribute content within the selected territory and elsewhere. It’s important to us to learn as much as possible about our participants and their goals so that we can help them get the most out of their experience. Our company maintains global relationships in order to be a valuable asset to participants and help them grow as much as possible. It’s also important to us to see more productions produced in selected territories from our tours. These are our partners and we want them to grow from international connections as well. We carefully explore all of the resources that a country has to offer and how they can best be utilized so that everyone benefits.” Sometimes filmmakers become stuck in their ways by using the same crew members to shoot their projects. On our tours, participants have the opportunity to build relationships with other participants and professionals in the selected tour destination. After connecting with individuals a relationship can be established and trust can be built. This may involve crossing some physical, political, and psychological borders,
but the knowledge gained surpasses the challenges. So by experiencing selected territories on our tours, our goal is to inspire, educate, connect, and facilitate our participants to create compelling content for the world to see. Besides exposing professionals to media potentials, IMC also finds ways to use travel to inspire participants. Travelling can offer a life experience that no amount of internet research can bring, because individuals are not only seeing the world, but get the opportunity to taste, smell, touch, and live in the moment. Life experience makes a writer more capable of describing the world in a way that readers can almost experience it themselves. Good writing always puts the reader into the moment, and into the location. IMC is excited to announce that we have selected South Africa as our 2015 tour destination. Besides South Africa being one of the oldest film communities in the world, dating from the beginning of the 20th century, South Africa offers a plethora of opportunities for our customers. Since money plays a major part in the development and execution of a project, our primary reasons for selecting South Africa is the advantageous currency exchange rate and the affordability of local productions that offer great savings. There are no unions in South Africa compared to the tradition of the American and British bodies. Unions can be beneficial for the protection and best interest of crew members, but have the tendency to become a tedious process for independent filmmakers when considering expenses, negotiating and rallying crew together. Although unions are not a consideration in South Africa, there are skilled and highly professional crews readily available, along with state-of-the-art studios that can cater to all scales of production. Quality postproduction facilities, first-rate logistics, service support, unique landscape features, and beautiful weather make South Africa a definite international location of choice.
04 | NEWS
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Courtesy of Jameson First Shot Courtesy of Jameson First Shot
Producer Dana Brunetti, Kevin Spacey and Uma Thurman at YouTube Space LA, Courtesy of StreamDaily.tv
Jameson First Shot Films Premiere at YouTube Space LA
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evin Spacey and Uma Thurman paid a visit to YouTube Space LA to premiere short films shot by the winners of the 2014 Jameson First Shot Competition. Sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey and Spacey’s Trigger Street Productions, the contest gave filmmakers from Russia, the US and South Africa the opportunity to shoot their own scripted short films with a Hollywood star. Spacey starred in the competition’s inaugural year, followed by Willem Dafoe in 2013 and Uma Thurman this year. Winners were Jessica Valentine from the US, who wrote Jump, Ivan Petukhov from Russia (The Gift) and South African scriptwriter Henco J. Henco’s film, The Mundane Goddess has been the most-watched so far, with over 300,000 views since it was uploaded on 26 July. “It is probably the greatest opportunity for a young filmmaker to have,” Henco told Between 10 and 5 recently. “A professional production
team, under the guidance of Kevin Spacey with an A-list actor. What more can you ask for?” He went on to say that he wrote the script with Thurman in mind. “I had Uma in mind the whole time, which actually makes it easier and more focused. I wanted to give her a strong female character and thought, ‘what is stronger than a goddess?’ We all struggle with life and try to be happy. It is a universal theme. This film is about being yourself, which is crucial to being happy. I just found it funny that a goddess would talk about her problems to a therapist.” The competition required 7-page script submissions based on one of three themes – ‘legendary’, ‘humorous’ or ‘a very tall tale’. Scripts were then judged by a team including Thurman, Spacey and Trigger Street President, Dana Brunetti. Twenty candidates were shortlisted and asked to shoot a scene from a script provided by Trigger Street, as well as send them a director’s treatment. Winners were
Henco J, scriptwriter of ‘The Mundane Goddess’
chosen in April based on those results. The three lucky winners were flown out to Los Angeles where they shot their films with Uma Thurman. Trigger Street assisted with everything from casting and wardrobe to final score and posters. Since 2002, Spacey and Brunetti have been working with unrepresented writers and filmmakers to help them showcase their work and receive feedback through Trigger Street Labs. In addition to this, the company has also produced Hollywood blockbusters including The Social Network, Captain Phillips and the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey. For more information on the Jameson First Shot Competition or to view the short films, visit www.jamesonfirstshot.com.
NEWS | 05
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Lights, Camera,
he Lights, Camera, Africa! Film Festival is back for a fourth time from 25 September to 1 October 2014. Celebrating and broadcasting Africa’s rich heritage through film, the festival is intentionally synchronised with Nigeria’s independence holidays. It is organised by The Life House, an arts, culture, wellbeing and lifestyle centre based in Lagos, Nigeria, whose objective is to provide a nurturing environment for creative expression. The Life House acts as a catalyst for cultural expression and education through entertainment and exchange in Nigeria through the production of events and programmes.
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The theme this year is ‘Legacy’, which looks in retrospect and prospect, reviewing classic works of film and television.
Lights, Camera, Africa! was launched in 2011 in partnership with African Film Festival (AFF) New York in order to share the best and most exciting productions of African cinema. It is also meant to stimulate discourse on issues rooted in the African experience in an enjoyable multi-day, citywide programme. Script-writers, producers, directors and industry professionals are involved in film screenings, panel discussions, workshops, musical showcases and industry networking events in different venues throughout Lagos. The theme this year is ‘Legacy’, which looks in retrospect and prospect, reviewing classic works of film and television. According to one of the festival organisers, Ugoma Adegoke, “The festival contextualizes the work of filmmakers as a part of a larger tapestry of African storytelling as a whole. But this edition comes at an especially historic year for Nigeria which marks the centenary of the amalgamation of its southern and northern
protectorates. Film, as well as television, has been key to documenting that journey, taking stock of where we are today, and foreseeing where we’ll be in the future. That is why we are digging deep into the archives to put into [the] spotlight noteworthy television references, while the bulk of our programming remains dedicated to the best of independent African film.” Part of the festival’s mission is to maintain the educational side of the film industry. “We also continue to pursue our education agenda through film-making workshops and panel discussions with industry experts. Plus, you can expect visual and musical showcases, and fun after-parties during our packed sevenday programme,” says Adegoke. “This year, Lights, Camera, Africa! Film Festival celebrates many firsts! It’s the first time special focus will be paid to television,
Courtesy of Lights, Camera, Africa! Film Festival
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Africa!
our first seven-day festival, and our first international outpost screening event tagged ‘The Heart and Light of LCA 2014’, which will allow audiences in London or New York to enjoy our selection also in October 2014.”
06 | NEWS
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© AP
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igerian film producer, Victor Okhai, believes that the Nigerian film industry is “growing due to the gradually increasing appetite of Africans for Nigerian movies”, CNBC Africa said in a recent online article. “We usually talk about African cinema and that’s what Nollywood typifies right now,” he said, “The reason for that is simple, when you watch a Nigerian movie and you’re a Tanzanian, for example, you probably thinking of your uncle or being reminded of your cousin in that story. What’s interesting is that Nigerian movies are doing what I call cultural neo-colonialism of the African continent.” Based on this demand for intrinsically African content, investors are beginning to turn towards Nollywood as the next big money maker. Popular Tinsel actor Victor Olaotan has urged Nigerians to invest in Nollywood as there are great returns on investment to be had. “I can tell you that Nollywood has more gross earnings than the oil industry but many people don’t know that, so people need to come and invest in Nollywood,” he told the Daily Independent recently. Okhai says that investment in Nollywood should pick up even more, thanks to Half of a
Nollywood
Yellow Sun, which will be released in August. “Half of a Yellow Sun, for example, is coming out now in cinemas and is expected to break records. We expect it to do very well and if that happens, I’m sure it will make a lot of investors take a lot more interest. However, while Nollywood may be gaining in popularity, the industry continues to face a number of challenges such as piracy and insufficient funding for film projects,” he explains. Although the Federal Government of Nigeria has allocated around US$200 million towards the creative industry, Victor Olaotan says that this is not enough for the country to begin making films like those in Hollywood. Still, there is progress. The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Ibinabo Fiberesima, hinted over two months ago that the draft of a long-awaited Motion Picture Practitioners Council of Nigeria Bill (MOPPICCON) would soon be returned to them for review and possible approval. But this move has also been met with disapproval from the industry, with the President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers, Alex Eyengho, saying that the AGN president should be worrying about the guild instead. “The draft bill is older than Ibinabo in the
industry. Therefore, she has no right to represent the interest of the industry as far as the MOPPICCON Bill is concerned,” he said. Other local producers are equally wary and disillusioned with the government’s lack of involvement in the industry, with some saying that the bill was drafted over twelve years ago – and that it should have been up and running by now. If passed into law, MOPPICON will become a “working manual of the industry” and will no doubt help raise the standard of Nollywood productions and encourage further investment in the sector.
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I can tell you that Nollywood has more gross earnings than the oil industry but many people don’t know that, so people need to come and invest in Nollywood.
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Investors set their eyes on
NEWS | 07
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
MagnaTude Studio offers multi-camera production facilities to Cape Town’s broadcast industry by Illana Gordon Courtesy of MagnaTude Studio
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elevision production has traditionally followed a long and intensive process. Beginning with shooting of the required footage on location or in a studio; this typically involves the hiring of multiple pieces of equipment at steep prices. Rushes are then recorded, followed by weeks of editing after which still more time is required to bed down the final audio mix. All of this is costly and time consuming with the final product often taking weeks, if not months, to show a return. “The opportunity costs of lengthy post production can add up and, in our fast-paced industry, become prohibitive,” says Illana Gordon, studio manager, MagnaTude Studio, Cape Town’s first permanent, high definition broadcast studio. “Multi-camera production offers a cost-effective, professional and immediate alternative to the traditional way of doing things,” continues Gordon. “What sets an integrated multi-cam studio apart is that all the equipment is already in place, inter-connected and brought together in real time to create a start-tofinish programme,” says Gordon. What this means is that by the time you leave the studio with your hard drives, your programme is 90% complete. “The studio is also able to broadcast live to any location in the world via its 24/7-fibre uplink, with simultaneous online
streaming if required,” adds Gordon. Talk shows such as Oprah, 3-Talk or Graham Norton are all recorded in an integrated multi-cam studio. Some are broadcast live, while others are recorded “as live” and then edited to either correct mistakes or shortened to fit the allocated time slot. “From recording to broadcast, this process can take less than two days resulting in an almost immediate turnaround and huge savings in both time and money,” says Gordon. Previously only available in Johannesburg, the opening of Cape Town’s MagnaTude and Post Studio has brought with it the opportunity for local production companies to make use
of multi-cam production facilities. “On the surface, what may appear to be just another television studio is in reality an integrated network of broadcast tools coming together in a convergence of purposeful technology,” says Gordon. “We are able to offer local companies the same time and money savings previously only enjoyed by their Johannesburg counterparts, whilst simultaneously continuing to service international news and entertainment clients.” For production companies who are wondering how to make the transition from the traditional “shoot-to-edit” to multi-cam, the process is a lot less painful than one would think. Due to the vision mixer being integrated into the studio’s control room, it is easy for the technical director to do a live “line-cut” which entails switching live between the cameras. This “line-cut” can be recorded together with a mixed audio feed. Take that into the edit suite, along with your individual camera recordings, and you have most of your programme completed. In addition to being able to stream its studio output to the web, enabling clients to access multimedia platforms around the world, MagnaTude is currently innovating systems to enable the integration of social media platforms with its live graphics system.
08 | WORLD COURIER
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WHILE YOU SHOOT WE DELIVER “REEL” FAST From wherever, to wherever, we do it faster. For most businesses, on-time delivery is important. In the TV, film and advertising industries, it's simply crucial.
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ews or sport footage that arrives late is mostly useless. Rushes that get delayed can wreck a production schedule – as can urgent props or equipment that fails to arrive when required. Clients for music videos or promotional or corporate videos won’t just wait for them to turn up. And booked airtime won’t be put on hold for the arrival of material. In short, failing to deliver on time can get very, very expensive. These are just some of the many reasons which necessitate the support of a courier company that understands these problems and offers a standard of service that takes care of them. That’s why you need World Courier.
Specialist service for critical consignments World Courier offers a specialized kind of courier service. It’s based on treating every consignment on an individual, priority basis. So, unlike our competitors, we don’t operate a fixed
pick-up schedule or wait to consolidate shipments to a particular destination. Instead, we arrange collection the very moment you call, and dispatch every package on the first out. We also have specialized knowledge of customs and import/export regulations, which minimizes delays. And we know just how to pack fragile items – making sure they arrive safe and sound. Once dispatched, we individually monitor your consignment at every stage of it’s journey, so your precious material is always in safe hands. Naturally, we also notify the sender by phone the minute it arrives.
You’ll find we’re extremely flexible too. As you might expect from our emphasis on individual service, we’re more than ready to tailor a solution to meet your exact requirements. With World Courier, international service is just a local phone call away. So next time you find yourself depending on a time-critical delivery, give us a call. From rushing rushes to and from labs, to getting replacement equipment to a distant location, you’ll be able to relax in the knowledge that the job couldn’t be in faster, more dependable hands.
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SPOTLIGHT | 09
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Andrew Human Unpacks
LOERIES CREATIVE WEEK
Andrew Human addressing the crowd at The Loerie Awards 2013 © The Loeries
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he Loeries is one of the year’s most anticipated awards, with thousands of delegates converging in Cape Town to celebrate creativity, innovation and culture – and to experience Creative Week. The fifth annual Creative Week gives visitors an opportunity to experience the city’s vibrancy and diversity, culminating in The Loerie Awards, a showcase of the best brand communication campaigns in Africa and the Middle East. The Callsheet sat down with Andrew Human, Chief Executive Officer of the Loeries, to find out what’s in store this year. How did you first get involved in the Loeries? I worked in New York City as a strategic director and creative director for a digital agency, marchFirst. Part of my work involved developing Internet-based systems to optimise business processes. During this period, I worked with several advertising awards, including the Art Directors Club, Andy Awards, the One Show, and the London International Advertising Awards. Around 2005 the Loeries were undergoing a major transition and I was asked to get involved. The rest is history and here I am… Since becoming CEO, what have your goals been to ensure that the Loeries grows better with each year? I would say that my main focus has been to promote the value of creativity. Not simply pretty pictures – but how ideas and innovation can add real business value that impacts the bottom line.
What kind of legacy do you hope to leave? A Loerie is without a doubt the most difficult industry award to win in our region, and commands a lot of respect. It has become a measure of success, and I hope that this respect will continue to grow, both in South Africa and across our continent. Where do you see Africa’s brand communication industry in the next 2-5 years? Africa is growing off a relatively small base, and disposable income must still grow for brand and product growth to follow. At the moment the biggest advertisers are the mainstay FMCG products (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), beverages, telecommunications and finance – I expect this will gradually change as the economies grow. Many industry professionals have said that Africa has not yet found its own unique, creative voice. What’s your opinion? Advertising, or brand communication, has a simple role and that is to fulfil the brand’s aims. There is no need for a “creative voice” merely for the sake of it. Rather, localised advertising can tailor a brand message to its intended audience and that’s where a relevant voice is important. If one takes time to review the recent winners at the Loeries, it’s clear that there is actually very strong localisation of our advertising – at least when looking at the best examples. This is perhaps something that other brands can learn from. Which parts of the Loeries Creative Week
programme are you most looking forward to? The big change in Creative Week has been the growth in the programme outside of the actual awards. Perhaps what I look forward to mostly is the DStv Seminar of Creativity which offers such a fascinating and unique opportunity to listen to world leaders. Also, the ability to network with the entire industry – including the many marketers who now attend – is a definite highlight. Ensuring that such a massive event like the Loeries runs smoothly is stressful, no doubt. What are your secrets for success? I think keeping everyone inspired and excited is important. We work with so many partners now that it’s really critical that they each put everything they have into their activities. This year we have the DStv Seminar, Unilever Brunch, Egg Films Judges Wrap, Chairmans Party with YFM, Google Pop-up Restaurant, Facebook Workshop, Channel O Party, Adams & Adams Student Portfolio Day, The Times cocktails, Wolves of Long Street Party, and even the Loeries Expo with a number of exhibitors – just to name the official events and excluding the actual awards ceremonies! Each of these is an event on its own with our partners; so each one relies on a separate input and stimulation to make it successful. Of course a nearmaniacal attention to detail doesn’t hurt. Any last words? From 15-21 September, anybody who’s anyone in the industry should be no other place than at Loeries Creative Week Cape Town!
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CREATIVE MINDS COLLIDE At The Loeries 2014
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ll things creative collide this September at the annual Loeries Creative Week Cape Town. Across the continent people are leaving their boardrooms and cramped offices to converge on the city. Some come looking for inspiration, while others are bringing their innovations with them, eager and hopeful to earn a coveted Loerie Award for excellence in brand communication. The Loeries is the biggest celebration of creativity in Africa and the Middle East, with an eclectic programme that incorporates a variety of speakers from across the globe, the latest thinking from Facebook and Unilever, the best new work in the industry and much, much more. Andrew Human, CEO of the Loeries, travelled to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana earlier this year both to educate the brand communication industry and to encourage more entries from further afield. “The Loeries African Roadshow has definitely raised awareness of the Loeries across the continent,” he says “I expect that we will have more delegates from outside South Africa attending this year, and each year going forward.” Creative Week will see award finalists announced every day from the 15th 18th September, with the Loeries Expo opening on Thursday the 18th. There are 14 categories this year, including a new one called Branded Content. This category includes the integration of a brand into a content platform – either pre-existing or created specifically for the purpose of promoting the brand. This could be through feature films, mini-series made for television, cinema releases, DVDs or online releases, and includes all genres. Google, the world’s most valuable brand, will also be joining the party this year for the first time. Google will be sponsoring the Digital and Interactive Communication category and has also launched the Loeries to Loeries YouTube Ads Leaderboard – a celebration of the most popular ads on
The Loeries Exhibition 2014
DStv Seminar of Creativity
Egg Film Judges Wrap
YouTube since the last Loeries. Judges are also looking forward to being part of the Loeries this year, with a unique variety of people hailing from brand communication agencies from around the world. Gareth Leck, Managing Director of Joe Public, will be leading the Effective Creativity judging panel, and Patrick Baron, Executive Creative Director at McCann Australia will chair the Radio, Television, Film and Video panel, while Caroline Pretorius, Group Creative Director
at VWV, will head up the Events and PR category. The Loeries Digital and Interactive Communications judging panel will be chaired by the Emmy Award-winning PJ Pereira, Chief Creative Officer at Pereira O’Dell in San Francisco, while Stephen Doyle of New York-based agency Doyle Partners will lead the Communication Design panel. A new highlight for this year is that for the first time ever, all delegates will receive a complimentary one-year access to the Loeries Archive. The archive
FEATURE | 11
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All Images © The Loeries
Judging at the Loeries
The Loeries Exhibition 2014
Loeries Awards on display
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The beats will resonate through the rest of the weekend and set the tone for a celebration of truly African innovation.
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is a great resource for anyone looking to review winning campaigns dating back to 1978, but also for those looking for added inspiration in years to come. Friday the 19th will see the muchanticipated DStv Seminar of Creativity take place, with a “stellar line-up” of speakers. These include Facebook’s Rob Newlan, who heads up Facebook Creative Shop in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Unilever Nigeria’s Managing Director, Yaw Nsarkoh, will be speaking about Afrocentric approaches to marketing, while other speakers will offer compelling insights into the link between creativity and the impact on business results. Others on the bill include McCann Sydney’s Executive Creative Director, Patrick Baron; PJ Pereira, CEO and co-founder Pereira and O’Dell, San Francisco; the indomitable Stephen Doyle, Creative Director, Doyle Partners, New York City, and Ali Ali, the acclaimed commercial’s director from Egypt and former Executive Creative Director and Founder of Elephant. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Delegates can shake off any stress accumulated during the week at the unmissable YFM Chairman’s Party on Friday night. According to the Loeries, the beats will “resonate through the rest of the weekend and set the tone for a celebration of truly African innovation”. On Saturday the 20th the creative industry’s rising stars will introduce themselves at the Adams & Adams Student Portfolio Day, which takes place at Cape Town City Hall. Visitors will have one last chance to see the Loeries Expo before heading off to the V&A Waterfront for the Unilever Brunch. Saturday evening will see the first Loerie Awards announced at an official ceremony at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) complete with live music, canapés, cocktails and an exciting red carpeted entrance. The awards will culminate on Sunday the 21st, allowing delegates some time for rest and recovery from a busy weekend
before another evening of partying. Both nights have legendary programmes, with exclusive access to Saturday Night on Long for Creative Week ticket holders. As the name suggests, it will take place in Cape Town’s renowned Long Street, featuring a variety of VIP events and local venues like Julep, SGT Pepper and Fiction. Sunday evening’s ceremony will be followed by the unforgettable Channel O Party at Shimmy Beach Club – giving delegates the chance to connect one more time.
12 | NEWS
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SA Eyes Hollywood and Lowers Incentive Bar
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ollowing Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies’ successful visit to Hollywood in early in August, he announce that the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be leading a delegation of South African filmmakers to Los Angeles to engage with major studies. Speaking to reporters in Pretoria on 12 August, he said that his visit had sought to “strengthen ties” between the country’s film industry and studio moguls like 20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal and Disney, and to showcase SA as a location of choice for future filmmakers from the US. Davies went on to say that the industry had made strides in recent years, including hosting a number of foreign films “which are using South African technicians, camera crews, actors, film stages, locations, as well as post-production services like animation capacities.” He noted that the government had helped support
Cape Town Film Studios’ construction when it was initially erected in 2009, and had made a further R6 million available to them in 2012 for the construction of a water tank facility that’s currently being used to shoot Starz’ Black Sails. “To date, more than 10 productions, including Safe House, Chronicle, Judge Dredd and The Borrowers, have utilized the studio facilities, creating in excess of 30,000 job opportunities,” he said. Although the studios are a beacon on hope for the African continent’s film industry, this does not really help the average independent or mid-sized production. As a result of this finding, Davies also announced that the threshold for filmmakers to qualify for the DTI’s incentive scheme would be lowered from R10-million to R500 000 in order to enable smaller entrants to break into the industry. Last month the DTI, together with the
Buzzfeed
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he website that’s given countless employees a boost of fun on a dreary working day has announced a bold move. BuzzFeed, whose claims to fame include news “listicles” and highly popular cat videos, has raised $50-million (ZAR 535-million) for expansion that may include making films, according to media reports on 10 August. Leading Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz contributed the capital to the company, with the investment valuing BuzzFeed at about $850-million (ZAR 9-billion). Whether BuzzFeed can maintain its agility and skills as a start-up while still building a larger media company remains to be seen, says Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder and Chief Executive. “As we grow, how can we maintain a culture that can still be entrepreneurial? What if a Hollywood studio or a news organization was run like a start-up?” he told the New York Times. He plans on doing exactly that with the fresh cash flow, including the introduction of new content sections, creating an in-house incubator for new technology and potential acquisitions. But that’s not all – Peretti plans on
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), announced at Durban FilmMart that they had launched a new, R90 million Emerging Black Filmmakers’ Fund. Over the next three years, the fund will bankroll the full R5-million marketing and production budget of six qualifying feature films that are directed and produced by black South Africans. Davies said that improvements made to the DTI’s rebate scheme in 2008 had resulted in an increased number of films produced in South Africa – from 49 to 398 projects. “Of the 398 projects, 256 were South African productions, 77 co-productions and 65 foreign productions, which in total led to the generation of total qualifying South African production expenditure of R8-billion, with the incentive pay-out of R2billion.” He said that this growth was a clear indication of the potential of the industry.
Raises $50 Million
putting “far more resources towards BuzzFeed Motion Pictures”, its LA-based video arm. According to the Times, “BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, which is led by Ze Frank, a web video pioneer, aims to produce new videos — from six-second clips made for social media to more traditional 22-minute shows — at a rapid-fire pace. Initially, his team will focus on independent distribution, hosting video content on BuzzFeed.com, YouTube or other digital platforms. But BuzzFeed Motion Pictures could also look to produce featurelength films or shows, working in conjunction with traditional Hollywood studios.” Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, who will be joining BuzzFeed’s board, said that they think of BuzzFeed as more of a technology company. “They embrace Internet culture. Everything is first optimized for mobile and social channels,” he said. The company started out in 2006 as a kind of experimental media lab for viral content, focusing on its now infamous lists. The site has since grown to an unbelievable 150
million monthly users, with most of its traffic coming from social media sites like Twitter and Pinterest and most of its revenue from creating branded content through BuzzFeed Creative, the company’s 75-person unit dedicated to producing customised videos and list-style advertising for brands that look similar to its own editorial. The company is expected to generate revenue in the triple-digit millions of dollars by the end of 2014 and also plans on expanding into international markets, with offices in Japan, Germany, Mexico and India this year. Peretti says that the future of BuzzFeed might not even be on BuzzFeed.com but on other platforms. He says that through BuzzFeed Distributed, a team of 20 people will be producing content that lives entirely on other platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram or Snapchat. Although this will not offer any direct revenue immediately, Peretti is confident that it will give the company a much larger reach than traditional web page views. “We’re organizing ourselves to be a media company for the way people consume media today.”
14 | FEATURE
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Cell C ‘Convergence’© Pollen
iWITNESS © Pollen
© Conduit Productions
POSTPRODUCTION TRENDS N
ot too far away from where you live is a world characterised by computer screens. People glued to their Macs, looping the same three seconds of footage over and over, tinkering and fiddling with little bits of software to ensure that the final product is just right. Post Production was a term that people felt was inaccessible. An industry that required technology and formal training that was beyond their reach, says Marc Ziman, Executive Creative Director and MD at Conduit, a Cape Town-based post company that’s been in the business for over a decade. “I think there’s been a big demystification of the visual effects (VFX) process on an industry level,” he says, “We were sold
this image of international studios having thousands of people moving around their bespoke machinery and it’s been stripped away to understand that it’s really just a company like this.” Conduit is a typical production house with a dedicated team of professional employees that varies from project to project. Ziman says that companies like his are at the forefront of one of the biggest trends in the post-production industry: collaboration. “We started Conduit with a vision of a company that had a unique product offering at the time one that sees post production meet production house. So it’s effectively a traditional, directordriven production house and a traditional VFX production house together under one roof,” Ziman says.
by Kim Muller
Rory Mark, who is the VFX Director at Pollen, the animation and post-production arm of the Hummingbird Group, says that it’s not only production houses that are seeing this type of collaboration, but also the digital world we now inhabit. “One way of challenging creativity is augmented reality apps, where the real world merges with the digital world through a tablet or phone and where audience participation is key. We’re seeing a massive convergence of technologies to create these experiences. Traditional storytelling is being challenged. It’s becoming more diverse, but it’s turning us into better collaborators, too.” According to Refinery’s Managing Director, Tracey Williams, one of the reasons for this rise in collaboration is that there is no other
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the production quality, we either suggest a workable time frame or recommend the work to another post-production company.” Although flexibility is an important quality to have when working in the industry, Paulene Avery, Partner and Founder of Deepend Post says that there perseverance is key in editing. “Most of the really great editors locally and
alternative. “The South African post-production service industry is tough – you constantly have to change, evolve and ensure the solution is relevant,” she says, “Companies have had to become leaner, which makes for a vibrant freelancer market. It has made for a more collaborative work space, where companies now work closer together.” Cal Kingwill, Producer and Owner of Priest Post Production, says that the film industry demands flexibility. “It is always changing,
so we have been quite adept at moving with the times,” she says. This relentless upheaval has led the industry into the 21st century and, with the rise of digital technology has ushered in a new trend. “Quicker turnaround times are the norm on most projects now and that is something we have mastered,” Kingwill explains, emphasising that this should not affect the output quality. “We are always happy to accommodate client’s timeframes, but if we do feel that the time frame may compromise
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Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux © Refinery
One way of challenging creativity is augmented reality apps, where the real world merges with the digital world through a tablet or phone and where audience participation is key.
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The Ncam for broadcasting © 2014 Ncam-tech © Conduit Productions
internationally have directors that work with them permanently. The relationship between the editor and the director is that of trust and confidence – two great craftsmen or craftswomen working together towards an ultimate goal.”
Introducing the Software… and the Hardware Surprisingly enough, although the postproduction industry is in constant flux, the software has hardly changed since its initial release. This is not to say that the programmes VFX artists and designers use haven’t been upgraded for over ten years, but rather that those same programmes have maintained their skeletal system, changing only to suit the times and the technology. “We try not to let the software drive what we do but we normally use [Autodesk] Maya or [Adobe] After Effects, which is stock standard,” says Damien Manuel, Head of Animation and VFX at Conduit. These applications are so significant to postproduction that they have become entrenched in the industry, he says. There have also been some instances where smaller companies are
being bought out by larger ones like Autodesk, enabling conglomerates to house everything under one roof. “There is a big game changer on the 2D side with Cinema 4D being incorporated in the Creative Suite now and also a toolkit we use quite a lot called Element,” Ziman says of recent technological breakthroughs. “It’s a pretty awesome tool for 2D creatives to be able to incorporate fairly robust 3D capabilities into their workflow. Also in your design stages, your 2D professionals would rely on a 3D professional to put his style frames together, but now you can get a lot of 3D into your style frames, your treatments and your pictures within your 2D software.” Refinery’s Williams says that in order to get each project right, a range of software should be used. “For colour grading, we remain Baselight fans. Our main VFX system is Autodesk Flame, supported by Flint, Smoke, Nuke and After Effects. You really need a mix of all of them. Clipster has proved to be an exceptional solution for transcode, mastering, versioning and deliveries – one system able to do a huge range of deliveries. All our Avids
interface with our ISIS storage, which makes for a very efficient way to handle multiple projects and systems.” Advances in on-set technology have also impacted the post-production industry. Lidar is a remote sensing technology that combines laser light and radar to measure distance. But it can also be used while filming, says Rory Mark. “When it comes to VFX, it’s really important that the data you capture on set is accurate, from the camera angle to the environment, dimensions, etc. With Lidar, filmmakers are now scanning talent so that people who are in front of the camera have body scans with accurate representation of actors with digital doubles. You can also have visual representations of the entire set.” But Lidar is just the beginning. “If we photograph props, software allows you to rebuild the props from photos. There’s also the Ncam tracking system which attaches to a camera captures its movements in real-time. With Ncam, all the animation can be blocked out beforehand and the director can use it to overlay the pictures in the viewfinder.” In this way, he can have a visual representation of the computer generated imagery as he is filming. According to Marcelle Mouton, Editor at Deepend Post Production, trends and changes in video editing are very much reactionary. “Any on-set changes in technology invariably affects post but only so as to ensure we have the correct software to deal with it,” she says. “Post has a way of presenting solutions to questions being asked on a technical level on a regular basis.”
Peering into the Future “I really get a sense that the VFX industry in South Africa is on an international level for commercials and shorter format productions,” says Ziman. “What I find and try to promote in South Africa is more of a dialogue between the small studios. We have these almost insular backs towards each other and I feel like if we all faced each other more, there would be far more potential to start entertaining feature film finishing and scripts simply because you’re scalable – and that’s actually how it happens in America. It’s not like Toy Story is done by one massive studio, Toy Story is the work of fifteen studios down to a bespoke little bunch of guys that can just do freaking weird stuff with wood. And they do that by going, ‘Cool, we’ll all work together’. That’s what South Africa needs.” Ziman also has a passion for the youth of South Africa, saying that this is a nation of
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KKNK for kykNET © Pollen
talented creatives and we simply need to grab hold of its potential. Government should, with the assistance of corporate sectors, make it a priority to roll affordable or subsidized broadband out to schools and homes and should up-cycle second-hand computers into homes on en-masse, he says. “We’re not short of talent, not short of good training. The government would do well to step up and look at South Africa and go wow, ‘We could absolutely be raking in cash towards our GDP by developing the post production industry’.” Damien Manual agrees. “People are afraid of doctors going to Australia. They should be afraid of animators leaving because there is an army of them.” Pollen’s Rory Mark has similar sentiments. “I think as international companies experience that there are teams to deal with on-set supervision and post production their trust will grow. Shoots are coming through South Africa and we need to facilitate more post-production for these because the confidence is obviously not there yet. However we are finding trust from international VFX producers in television content – we have a number of co-productions
we are currently working on – and as we leverage this confidence into other content areas, we hope to encourage more VFX work in film. Avery puts forward a poignant question for the post industry. “We have insane talent in South Africa because it is untainted. Yes, we will grow, but it is how we grow that’s the question. How do we grow in an everchanging world of technology and still keep all those creative juices flowing without letting
technology dominate?” Tracey Williams of Refinery condenses the future of post-production into a few short, prophetic sentences: “The requirement for content will continue to grow. The high-end market will be eroded by more cost effective ways of execution. The technical specs will become more stringent as broadcasters and cinema require higher resolutions and better sound. There will be more collaboration on a global scale.”
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IN PRODUCTION September 2014 Thanks to ever-present confidentiality clauses, no one is ever allowed to officially talk about what’s in production in Africa, so this monthly section is an unofficial overview of the industry’s worst-kept secrets.
The Big Shoe Steven Shainberg, director of Secretary and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, is expected to shoot his next film, The Big Shoe, in Cape Town. Bankside Films describes it as “a daring and comedic romance about an unusual, creatively stifled shoe designer, Nate (Jim Sturgess), and his newfound muse, Delphi (Kristen Stewart), who helps inspire him to resume his brilliant designs.” Elizabeth Banks co-stars. According to IMDB, Anton Ernst will be the South African producer, with Zimbabwean-born Jeremy Reed (London Fields) as the production designer.
Breathe – Umphefumlo ScreenDaily reported that filming began in August on Breathe – Umphefumlo, an adaptation of La Boheme set in contemporary South Africa, from director Mark Dornford-May and the team behind uCarmen eKhayelitsha. Dorford-May and Vlokkie Gordon are producing, through Isango and Advantage Entertainment respectively. Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantis are the musical directors.
The Curse of Hendon / Grimsby Moonlighting is rumoured to be the South African production company on the latest film from Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen. It’s called Grimsby in the press and The Curse of Hendon on the schedules. The Hollywood Reporter says the Sony film “centres on a James Bond type, played by Mark Strong, who is forced to hide in his hometown and team
up with his English football hooligan brother, played by Baron Cohen.” IMDB also links Penelope Cruz, Rebel Wilson, Ian McShane, Gabourey Sidibe, Isla Fisher, and Annabelle Wallis to Grimsby, which is also shooting in the UK. Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) directs, with Oliver Wood (Bourne trilogy) as the DOP and Kave Quinn (Trainspotting) as the production designer.
Dias Santana ZenHQ Films starts production at the end of September on the action cop drama Dias Santana, shooting in Cape Town and Luanda. According to the ZenHQ Facebook page, “The only thing top cop Dias Santana and his brother Matias have in common is avenging the murder of their parents that ripped the Santana family apart thirty years ago. With their own lives on the edge, Dias and Matias learn that blood is thicker than water, and revenge is easier said than done.” IMDB lists Maradona Dias Dos Santos as the director, while ZenHQ’s Facebook page says Paulo Americano will star in the title role.
Eye In The Sky Moonlighting is rumoured to be the South African production company on Eye In The Sky, a drone warfare thriller written by BAFTA winner Guy Hibbert and directed by South African Gavin Hood (Ender’s Game, Tsotsi). The updated cast includes Oscar winner Helen Mirren, as well as Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Captain Phillips’ Barkhad Abdi, Game of Thrones’ Iain Glenn, and Harry Potter’s Alan Rickman. Colin Firth is apparently no longer attached. The
shoot’s expected to end at the start of November. Haris Zambarloukos (Thor, Locke) is the DOP, while South African Johnny Breedt (Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom) is the production designer.
Homeland Moonlighting is the South African production company on the Golden Globe and Emmy-winning series Homeland, which has relocated to Cape Town for its fourth season, which is filming until November 2014. For season four, there’s no Damien Lewis, with the plot instead revolving around Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) returning to the Middle East as chief of station, according to Deadline. From the first trailer, it seems there’s a kill list involved. House of Cards’ Corey Stoll, Life of Pi’s Suraj Sharma and Mad Men’s Mark Moses are new additions to the cast, while Mandy Patinkin and Rupert Friend reprise their roles as Saul and Quinn. Season 4 premieres on 5 October 2014 in the US.
The Last Face Moonlighting is the South African production company on The Last Face, to be directed by Sean Penn for Lionsgate. South African Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, who’s been linked to Penn romantically, is the lead, opposite fellow Oscar-winner Javier Bardem. The Hollywood Reporter says Theron will play “the director of an international aid organisation working in Liberia, who embarks on a love affair with a stubborn and impulsive relief-aid doctor, played by Bardem. However, their mutual passion
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Mohenjo Daro Variety says Ashutosh Gowariker (the Oscar-nominated crossover hit Lagaan) will direct Mohenjo Daro, a period adventure and love story set during the Indus Valley Civilization. Disney Studios India is producing, while Hrithik Roshan and Miss India Universe 2010 runner-up Pooja Hegde will co-star. Variety expects shooting to begin in South Africa in October.
Pawn Stars South Africa The Hollywood Reporter says that Rapid Blue will be producing a South African version of History’s hit show, Pawn Stars. Set at the Cash Inn pawn shop in Hyde Park, Johannesburg; this will be the first locally commissioned series for the broadcaster in Africa. Pawn Star South Africa is expected to premiere later this year.
Penélope Cruz © Sgt. Michael Connors
for the value of life is matched by the intensity of their opposing opinions on how best to solve the conflict that surrounds them, creating a seemingly insurmountable rift.” Blue Is The Warmest Colour’s Adele Exarchapoulos and Moroccan actor Jean Reno (The Professional) also star. Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker, Captain Phillips) is the DOP, while Andrew Laws (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) is the production designer. South African Diana Cilliers (The Giver, District 9) is the costume designer.
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IN PRODUCTION September 2014 Prisoner of War According to Deadline, American Joe Miale’s feature film directorial debut is “the story of humankind’s last stand against a cataclysmic alien invasion, set in a war-ravaged African countryside.” Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit) will star alongside Skyfall Bond girl Berenice Marlohe. Karl Walter Lindenlaub (Independence Day, Prince Caspian) is the DOP, while South African Victor Botha (Wild at Heart, Die Wonderwerker) is the production designer. Production is expected to begin in September in South Africa, with Johan Kruger line producing.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Milla Jovovich’s pregnancy is pushing back the sixth Resident Evil film ten months. It was scheduled to shoot in South Africa this year with Moonlighting for a 2015 release, with Milla’s husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, directing. As Milla posted on Facebook, “This was originally going to be a post to tell you how excited I am about flying to Cape Town, South Africa to begin working on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. But… My husband Paul [W.S. Anderson, writer-director] and I just discovered that we are expecting another baby! “So after a lot of discussion, we thought it would be in everyone’s best interest to wait till the baby is born before we set out to try and tackle an RE movie. Between the stunt work and what will become my ever-expanding belly, we didn’t think pregnancy and zombie killing are the best combo! In all seriousness though, we want to make the best movie possible and that would be extremely difficult, to say the least, in my present
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The Siege of Jadotville 50 Shades of Grey and The Fall star Jamie Dornan will be coming to South Africa next year to film The Siege of Jadotville, the feature film debut of commercials and music video director Richie Smyth. Set in the Congo just after the murder of Patrice Lumumba, Dornan will play Commandant Pat Quinlan, an Irishman who led a UN battalion of 150 Irish troops that held out against a force of 3000 local troops led by French and Belgian mercenaries working for the mining companies.
Tau Tona The Hollywood Reporter says Warner Bros is in negotiations on Tau Tona, which “chronicles a dangerous rescue operation at the world’s deepest gold mine in South Africa, that turns into something bigger when an ancient lost city is discovered.” Tau Tona writers William Eubank, Carlyle Eubank and David Frigerio were behind the recent science fiction thriller, The Signal, starring Laurence Fishburne and Brenton Thwaites. William is attached to direct.
Tremors I was still in primary school when the first Tremors came out, starring Kevin
Bacon and giant worms. Moonlighting is rumoured to the South African production company on the fifth installment of the franchise, with Alan Shearer rumoured to be line producing. Shooting’s expected to start in September.
Sand Castle Sand Castle will star Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans) in a coming-of-age Iraq war drama based on the ‘inspired by real events’ Black List script from war veteran Chris Roessner. Mark Gordon (Source Code, Saving Private Ryan) is producing for Cannes Gold-winning commercials director Seb Edwards, making his feature debut. The film’s expected to shoot in October 2014 in South Africa and Italy.
Uitvlucht Regardt van den Bergh (Faith Like Potatoes) is directing Uitvlucht, a love story about set in a real farm school in the foothills of the Suurberg in the Langkloof, Eastern Cape. Vlokkie Gordon is producing through Advantage Entertainment.
While You Weren’t Looking Out in Africa (OIA) Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is busy making its first feature film, While You Weren’t Looking. Catherine Stewart directs, from a script from former Mail & Guardian arts editor Matthew Krouse and OIA founder Nodi Murphy, who’s also producing. Amanda Law is the line producer.
Milla Jovovich at WonderCon in Anaheim, California © Gage Skidmore
condition. I would like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been working so hard on the movie in South Africa already and we are so looking forward to working with you all next summer. And when we arrive, it will hopefully be with the newest member of our little family!”
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Growing
EAST AFRICAN FILM WITH DOCUMENTARIES By Martin Chemhere
Docubox Open Day and Award Ceremony 2014
T
he Docubox concept, aimed at developing talent in the East African film industry, staged an open day recently in Nairobi, Kenya. The full day programme gathered several documentary directors to share a collection of films developed in the last year. Screenings included more than 12 documentary films in the Docubox programme, with various themes, bearing testimony to the current speedy growth experienced in the East African film community. Also screened were two South African films – Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down, the most riveting film to come out of the country in recent years, and I, Afrikaaner by Annalet Steenkamp.
Filmmakers Notable directors with films in the programme included Ng’endo Mukii, who has carved a name as an exciting and highly creative animation storyteller. Her film titled 50 Steps (My Normal Kenyan Family) is a poignant portrait of a large Kenyan family made up of polygamists, missionaries,
bankers, alcoholics, single mothers, colonial informants, politicians, dentists and artists. In a rural scene, a woman approaching ninety years sits on a creaky chair on her porch. It is Christmas day and this old woman who bore all these generations is a grandmother. This is the director’s normal Kenyan family. Mukii describes the film as a testimonial documentary animation, using film, animation, archival footage and photography to create a collage of personal histories. Co-directors Zipporah Nyarui and Peggy Mwai had their film Truck Mama - an observational tale depicting the challenges faced by women in a male dominated world. It follows the story of Evelyn, a 35 year old female truck driver who is fired from her job when she applies for maternity leave. She is searching for justice and means to survive in an environment where many men largely disregard equality with women. Kevin Kiarie’s Ghetto Ambulance is the story of thirty-four-year-old Moses Titus Oyugi, a married father of four children, and resident of the infamous Kibera slums in Nairobi. Deeply affected by what he
witnessed during the 2007-2008 postelection violence in Kenya, he seeks to encourage reconciliation through service using his taxi as a free (or low-cost) ambulance to ferry slum dwellers regardless of their ethnicity to hospital. Samuel’s Truth, directed by Pete Murimi and Toni Kamau, is an intimately observed film about the lies some people are forced to tell to survive and the consequences of those lies. The film’s gay 21-year old main character lives in Mathare, a huge Kenyan slum. He has been attacked and beaten for being gay. He has a child but the mother of his child does not know he is gay. To avoid persecution, Samuel lies to everyone in his life. But how long can he keep up the lies? Blind Sight directed by Mukhula Were, is based in downtown Nairobi, where blind beggar Abel Maina, and his band of mischievous blind friends share the streets with him, begging. Abel is an angry jobless man. His wife left him and he wants to reform as he longs to become independent. In this sympathetic yet comical portrait of survival, Abel has a dream that he clearly sees and wants to pursue. Blood Railway (Feisal Malik) reflects the days when the East African railway was built, with many Indian workers losing their lives and limbs, to bring colonial ambitions to life by building the railway line designed to transport raw material from Africa’s interior more easily out to the British Empire’s manufacturing industries. Over 100 years later, the old railway is to be rebuilt by the Chinese, leading the filmmaker to ask “What will be stolen from Africa this time around?” Public Skate, a Danni Karanja and Densu Moseti film, follows the story of a few young men aged between 16-27 who live in Nairobi and who work to redefine themselves and alter the way people perceive the urban
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All images © Docubox
environment around them. The film follows Leo Katel, the co-founder and chairman of a skateboarding society and uncovers their rivalries and their passion. The Donkey That Carried The Cloud on its Back is a Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann film. Yet another observational documentary that is quirky, sensitive, sensual and poetic. It depicts Lamu, a remote island in the Indian Ocean. On this island, there is a stone town, whose buildings stand as skeletons of its yester-years. Nothing seems to change – high tide, low tide, full moon, new moon. Lamu’s rhythm is set by the five daily prayers. Now, Africa’s largest port is coming to break the gentle rhythm of this island. Al Shabaab Captive, a Sheila Mulinya film talks about Edward Yesse Mule, a Kenyan government official formerly working in the North Eastern Province. Edward’s life was blossoming, having just engaged his girlfriend Mona, when he was captured by Somali Al Shabaab militia in Wajir resulting in everything falling apart. This film details how he survived this harrowing abduction and also of his life after and journey to recover and rejoin the world. Zippy Kimundu has the film Usista, a feature length musical journey inspired by the independent spirit of the legendary and deceased East African musician Bi Kidude. The film reveals how history has consistently overlooked women’s contributions. The film’s lead character is Mim, a spirited pint-sized performer with a planet-sized personality living in the UK who returns home to confront her past while exploring the hidden history of African women through songs and intimate conversations. The Last Fight (Jackie Lebo) is about the Dallas Boxing Club that had been a part of Coach Ndirangu Mahungu’s life. When
Docubox Open Day and Award Ceremony 2014
he was a child he would peek through the window and watch boxers in training and aspire to be one of them. Dallas graduates include Robert Wangilla Napunyi, Africa’s only boxing Olympic gold medalist. But Muthurwa Social Hall, home of the boxing club is in danger of being taken from the community. The film traces the journey of Mahungu as he fights to save their boxing hall and bring up a new generation of champion boxers. In the film Woman of the Wind (Maia van Lekow, Chris King), the memory of Mekatilili is fading. Leading Kenya’s first armed resistance against the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1913; the 70-year-old Mekatilili would change the course of history along the Kenyan coast. She was arrested, branded a witch, and erased from history. The film follows Joseph and his group of
traditionalists, as they revive the story of Mekatilili, in an attempt to save their culture from collapse.
Revolution Judy Kibinge, Docubox’s founder, explained that the East African documentary film fund exists to enable talented, driven, focused and accountable East African filmmakers to produce unique films that unearth new realities and cross trans-national boundaries. She adds that through training, development and production grants, and screenings for people who love documentary films, the fund promotes East African filmmakers and shares their unique stories with the world through creative documentary. “These films are going to revolutionize the way Kenyan audiences view themselves and documentary films,” she explained.
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VISA ISSUES PREVAIL Despite Positive Progress in Film Industry Image © Nicholas Raymond
O
n his return from a visit to Hollywood last month, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, said that the film industry has been making “significant progress across the board”. He said that the DTI’s amendments to the incentive programme in 2008 had also helped develop the local film industry, leading to a substantial improvement in the number of productions shot and produced locally – from 49 projects to 398 projects. But despite this encouraging increase in local productions, the international market might still have problems in bringing their films to South Africa. The newly gazetted immigration rules, which were announced earlier this year, have already had a massive impact on the industry. One of the most noteworthy changes to the laws that will affect international filmmakers is that visa applications and extensions must be done abroad in the applicant’s country of residence, where details are biometrically captured and visas are collected in person. Foreigners are also prohibited from applying for a temporary residence permit using a visitor’s visa. In an effort to resolve the matter, the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa (CPA), the National Association of Model Agencies (NAMA) and the South African Association of Stills Producers (SAASP) recently issued a joint statement after meeting with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). “We have exhausted all efforts to get them to respond positively to our concerns,” the statement said. “As we have taken them to task, they have stopped responding to us. This is not only a film industry problem – you may have seen in the media that Home Affairs are refusing to change their policy despite warnings from various sectors that the new requirements could prove catastrophic for the South African economy.” “What this means for our industry is
that if clients can no longer come to work in South Africa legally, they will stop coming... This is already happening and every day we hear repots of clients who are opting to shoot in other countries because they simply can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of trying to comply with South Africa’s new regulations…In the worst case scenario we could even see a collapse of the service industry in South Africa – the situation is very serious indeed and with season just around the corner, we need urgent action if we are to reverse it.” The CPA, NAMA and SAASP are now legally petitioning the DHA, but should they not respond favourably, the associations
are calling for all companies and individuals with a stake in the industry to contribute towards a R1-million fund for legal fees. “The matter will go to the High Court where we are confident of a positive outcome,” they said. “The money will be used to fund the legal challenge and media campaign designed to increase pressure on Home Affairs. Ironically the solution is relatively straightforward as no change to the current legislation is required. Home Affairs just has to agree to make the procedures involved easier and more accessible for our industry.” For more information or to contribute to the fund, visit www.cpasa.tv/fif/fundraising.
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CHI MHENDE AND JENNA BASS A Chat with
Left to Right: Katie Reynolds (The Callsheet’s Editor), with Chi Mhende (Lead actress of ‘Love the One You Love’) and Jenna Bass (Debut director of ‘Love the One You Love’)
F
resh from Durban International Film Festival and regaled with awards – Best Actress and Best Director to name a few – Love the One You Love is a new feature film intertwining romantic conspiracy, sangomas and, of course, heartbreak. The Callsheet’s Editor, Katie Reynolds, sat down with debut director Jenna Bass and lead actress Chi Mhende to find out exactly what it’s all about. Katie Reynolds: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Jenna, can you please explain to us how the idea came about to make this movie and why you wanted to create a fully improvised movie? Jenna Bass: Well, it came about mainly out of necessity, in that I’ve been working on a couple of feature projects for the last couple of years since finishing film school and they were all relatively low budget, but they were just taking a really, really long time to come together with financing and writing scripts and back and forth. I’ve very much a person
where I get to find myself through my work and if I’m not making something, then I don’t feel like I exist. So I had to make a film and I felt I also had to make a film to help my other projects that were just not getting financed because I hadn’t made my first feature film. I had to radically rethink what kind of films I wanted to make because I needed to make a film in a way that there was almost no budget with just a little bit of money. The improvisation was as a result of again this kind of urgency in that it was about March and I wanted to shoot the film in June because I wanted to get my cast when they weren’t as busy. So there was really no time to write a script. At the same time I was also very interested in improvisation and the kind of performances you can get out of that. It’s a very different feel and a lot of the filmmakers I really respect use improvisation in some way, even if not necessarily on set but in rehearsal. So I just thought, well, why not? Chi Mhende: She references directors such as Mike Leigh and his style of work but he
gets six months for his actors to rehearse and they become a family and they know how to take it from there. But we didn’t have the time or the budget for that. We had people leaving work and then coming to shoot something for two hours, then going back to work. But I have done a bit of improv with the Bonfire Theatre Company and I have done quite a bit of theatre. Jenna: And then I just had this idea of what if you discovered that love was a conspiracy and that love wasn’t inspired by pure motives. We think of love as being this spiritual experience, untouchable, but what if it was actually motivated by more sinister forces that were controlling you rather than you controlling it? Katie: How did you both find each other? Jenna: Well, I had just watched a film that she was in in second year and I remember watching her on screen and just being like, “Wow, this person is really special.” You know, everyone’s special and everyone’s
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Katie: So was the instant chemistry between you, Chi, and Andile? Chi: Yes! I think so. Andile and I had worked together and he was a friend and although we looked for other people, because he was a friend I felt very comfortable around him. There is something about his smile, his voice and his laugh. There is something very gentle and childlike and teddy bear-like about him that made him the perfect opposite and partner to play the role. Katie: Chi, you won Best Actress at DIFF. Was that a big surprise? I know it wasn’t a big surprise for people that had seen the movie. Chi: It was. I wasn’t at the festival, I was working on a show here in Cape Town, so I didn’t understand what else everyone else
We think of love as being this spiritual experience, untouchable, but what if it was actually motivated by more sinister forces that were controlling you rather than you controlling it?
“
Katie: So do you think this movie could never have worked without Chi? Jenna: Yeah…. I mean there’s no way it would be the same film. I could have made something else, but it just wouldn’t be the same. And also I very much wrote the roles for people I wanted to work with so the character of Terri wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t known Chi or if she wasn’t interested in being in the film. It would maybe still be called Love the One You Love, but I have no idea what it would be like.
“
All images © Kimberleigh Aleksandra
got something [laughs] but some people on screen are just magical. And I saw Chi in this second year movie – I can’t remember anything else about it – but I was just like, wow. Afterwards I went up to her and was like, “Hi, you don’t know me, I’m a third year, but one day I would like to work with you.” And that’s how it happened. And then I gave her this crappy role in my crappy film.
had been watching, or what was on the platform. But I was surprised. I actually said to Jenna, “Oh, so were a few actresses nominated?” And she said, “No, no, they just offered it to you –“ Jenna: I said, “You beat Robin Wright-Penn!” Chi: Well, having seen Robin Wright-Penn – or Robin Wright now – on screen and having Sean Penn in the city ad thinking about all these incredible Hollywood filmmakers and actors, I thought, what an incredible honour. Katie: Jenna, I heard you were making an allfemale Western set in the Karoo. Tell us a bit about that. Jenna: It’s called Flatland and that’s exactly what it is. I just came back from doing another research trip around Beauford West, which is the general vicinity in which the film is set. The film is set in winter so we’re hoping to shoot it next year in June or July.
Katie: For people interested in seeing the film Love the One You Love, where can they find it? Jenna: It will be a little bit of a while still, I’m afraid to say. The film will be travelling to some international festivals over the next six months or so once that’s rolling on its own, we can release the film locally. I hope as soon as possible in 2015 we’ll have a theatrical release. Visit The Callsheet’s YouTube Channel to view clips from our interview with Jenna and Chi.
28 | SPOTLIGHT
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
ARRI’S AMIRA Pick up and Shoot
Picture Quality AMIRA’s imaging system has been carefully designed to exhibit unrivalled sensitivity, latitude and sharpness so that filmmakers can create the kind of rich and spellbinding
pictures that an audience associates with cinematic storytelling. Recording in either HD 1080 or 2K, AMIRA uses the same sensor as ARRI’s reputable ALEXA cameras and packs the same remarkable image quality. With more than fourteen stops, low noise levels and subtle highlighting and handling, it produces crisp picture quality and natural colour rendering.
Ergonomics It is simple for the operator to use the AMIRA efficiently with its many hand-held capabilities; it is incredibly easy to lift and use. Balancing perfectly on the shoulder with access to switches and configurable user buttons makes for quick and intuitive shooting.
Cost Effective AMIRA is unique in that it comes with a number of preloaded 3D LUT-based looks that can be applied on set during the shoot. With 3D LUTs, various looks can be created, giving cinematographers and directors a greater degree of creative control
Images Courtesy of Kirsty Gilham
A
RRI is known for outstanding picture quality and ergonomics; and their latest offering, the AMIRA, is perfect for small crews or documentary shoots. The adaptable, docciestyle camera balances easily on the shoulder and is easy to pick up from the bag and start shooting. There are zero delays, as there’s no need to assemble anything. You just attach the viewfinder and you’re ready to go. There’s no rigging, so the inconvenience of having to untangle wires and cables while wanting to take a shot is eradicated. There’s no setting up required either; the speed that the camera gets itself ready will be the same as the time it takes for you pick it up from the bag and mount it on your shoulder. Camera speeds of up to 200 frames per second allow full-quality, slow motion pictures of immense clarity and detail to be captured.
on fast-moving productions, while keeping post-production costs down for producers. Alternatively, productions can custombuild their own 3D LUTs in external grading systems, load them into the camera during prep, and even modify them in-camera while filming.
Investment Like all ARRI products, AMIRA is designed to be a safe, long-term investment and is built to withstand the rigors of life on a professional set. With a solid internal skeleton that guarantees camera and lens stability, AMIRA is a highly durable product constructed of the strongest possible materials. Because of the power it uses, extra batteries are good to have close by to save from any potential delays.
SPOTLIGHT | 29
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COZ OV MONI:
Introducing the World's First Pidgin Musical © Coz Ov Moni
T
here is nothing more exciting than seeing an African film that tells an intrinsically African story through the eyes of…well, Africans. This is exactly what M3nsa (pronounced man’sa) and Wanlov (pronounced ‘One Love’) the Kubolor have done. But before we get into that, let’s delve into some background. The duo are musicians, and, according to M3nsa, a touring duo called the FOKN Bois. This name is just one in a strange list of names, but it actually has two meanings – an acronym: Fear Of Knowing Nothing (Bois) and, says M3nsa, Ghanaian slang. “In Ghana if someone calls you a f***ing boy, it’s almost like a term of admiration but also of shock.” He goes on to explain that the two of them have been together since college, where they bunked classes in favour of making music in
the dining hall. After completing high school, M3nsa and Wanlov went their separate ways, one to the States and the other to England, but after a while, their paths crossed again in New York, spiralling into countless shows, fans, tours, and of course, the world’s first ever Pidgin musical – and its sequel. “Really we wanted to make an album,” says M3nsa, “just an audio album, but one that was cohesive from start to end. It would start with a story on the first track and the second track would continue with the story, and so on until when you finish listening to the album you’ll have one complete story. And then halfway through we were like, wow, we can actually turn this into a musical. So we spoke to Panji Anoff, who’s a half-Germany, half-Ghanaian producer and filmmaker in Ghana and he loved the idea. He said, ‘When you’re ready,
just come to Ghana and we’ll film it.’” Coz Ov Moni was initially released in 2012 and became incredibly popular, he says. “Three years later, people loved it so much that we made the whole film festival run, we toured it, we did a lot of performances from the film, and fans were like, ‘We need a sequel because the end of the story was incomplete,’ and here we are with Coz Ov Moni 2.” Both films are entrenched in local customs and vernacular, giving some unique insight into Ghana’s colourful culture. “For the local audience, people can immediately relate to it because it’s not pretentious in any way. It’s actually the truest representation of what the majority of Ghana and life as a young person in Ghana is like in the ghettos and the hoods. For the international market and for the international viewer, it’s an insight into our cultures, the food, the music, the language, the flagrance of what being a young Ghanaian is about.” As a newcomer to the filmmaking industry, M3nsa has high hopes for the future of African storytelling. “The art of storytelling has always been our way of communication. It has always been our way of keeping our history and passing our history on from generation to generation. We’ve always had a unique way of telling stories but on a filmic platform I feel like finally we’re telling stories in a way that matches I suppose the quality of what Hollywood would like to see.” For more information on the FOKN Bois visit facebook.com/foknbois or watch Coz Ov Moni online, visit youtu.be/R_YsQK2Yo3c.
30 | COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT
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SPOTLIGHT ON UGANDA by Siyanda Bani
U
ganda has the best of what Africa has to offer, as well as being the source of the river Nile, having the highest mountain range and the highest concentration of wild animals in the world. The capital of Uganda, Kampala, is a friendly city, where locals warmly embrace tourists. Picturesque landscapes, and the authentic and rich culture are what welcome you. Most importantly, Uganda has a wide choice of shooting locations. The film The Last King of Scotland was shot in Uganda with Forest Whitaker who went on to win an Academy award for his role. The film was based on the true story of Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin. Uganda requires press accreditation for each visiting crew member. Once all required visitor documentation is submitted, processing takes 2-3 days. Press accreditation is valid for 60 days. Visitors are required to have this permit at the port of entry, when clearing gear through customs, and when filming anywhere in Uganda.
Filming in Uganda What can make filming in Uganda a pleasurable experience is the fact that there are certain companies in place to help filmmakers from other countries set up for a great filming experience. From film licences, work permits, location scouting, casting, production design, prop sourcing, set building and decorating, equipment, customs, transport, catering and accommodation; they are there to facilitate.
Climate Š Shutterstock
Despite being on the equator, Uganda is more temperate than the surrounding areas due to its altitude. Temperatures range from about 16 degrees Celsius in the southwestern highlands to 25 degrees Celsius in the northwest; but in the northeast,
COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT | 31
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© DVID
“
The film The Last King of Scotland was shot in Uganda with Forest Whitaker who went on to win an Academy award for his role. The film was based on the true story of Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin.
“
© Neil J. Smith
the climate becomes more arid with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius about 254 days per year.
Population: 36.35 million (2012, World Bank)
Uganda by Air All flights from outside Uganda land at Entebbe International Airport, which is the only international airport in the country. It is located 41km south west of the capital town Kampala, which is also the largest city in the country. Air Uganda is largely recognized as the national carrier, with different airlines flying in and out of the airport from different parts of the world.
What you need to know You are required to have a Yellow Fever vaccination which is the most important vaccination required to enter the country. Other highly recommended vaccinations include: Hepatitis A and B, Meningitis, Tetanus and Typhoid. If you anticipate close contact with wild animals while in Uganda, you should prioritize having a rabies vaccination.
What’s happening now? The biggest celebration of local talent happens every year on the third week of September in the capital city, Kampala. A feast of music, art, theatre, dance, film and visual arts is what makes up the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts. Over 300 artists are expected to perform during the three day period. The festival is from 19 - 21 September 2014.
Did you know? In 2012, Lonely Planet selected Uganda as the best tourist attraction country, reporting that over one million tourists from different countries visit Uganda every year.
32 | MOVIE REVIEW
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Chi Mhende as Terri © Fox Fire Films
‘LOVE THE ONE YOU LOVE’ An Unforgettable African Story
W
onderfully kitschy and intrinsically African, Jenna Bass draws from her deep understanding of African narratives as the editor of pulp magazine Jungle Jim, to tell the story of two star-struck lovers under immense pressure in ‘Love The One You Love’. It tries to quantify the idea of love from a uniquely South African viewpoint, using break-out star Chi Mhende and other fantastic performances to portray the many facets and fatalities of loving someone. ‘Love The One You Love’ has had an amazing reception since it first screened at Durban International Film Festival. It was one of the lowest-budget films at the fest, but this didn’t stop its upward trajectory. It went home
“
“
It was one of the lowest-budget films at the fest, but this didn’t stop its upward trajectory. It went home with three DIFF awards.
with three DIFF awards: Best Local Feature, Best Actress and Best Local Director. The film’s parallel story lines take place across Cape Town with sex-line operator, Miss Terri (Chi Mhende), Sandile, a dog handler (Andile Nebulane) and an IT-technician (Louw Venter) beginning to suspect that their romantic relationships are the subject of a bizarre conspiracy. They start demanding answers from their friends, family, religious leaders and even a witchdoctor to find the truth. ‘Love The One You Love’ quietly questions the ideals we hold sacred – love, happiness, and the New South Africa. Its depiction of the latter walks the line between contrived and incredibly real, dealing with interracial relationships and friendships from a fresh, youthful perspective that we don’t see every day. Although at first glance the film seems rather badly made – shaky, obscure camera work and trinkets the likes of which are found in the city’s cheap Chinese shops – one soon discovers that this is a running theme throughout. It inadvertently questions our subliminal expectations of what a romantic film should entail and invites one to a shower of tacky, heart-shaped knickknacks. Its uncomfortable close-ups are a dare to explore the inner thoughts of each character, while its strange angles give the film a sense of experiencing the story first hand. Comedic
by Kim Muller
relief is also a major draw card, as is the diverse cast, although the film’s funny bits arguably speak to a niche audience, giving South Africa’s vast cache of cultural taboos a nod. For her directorial debut Bass took a chance and opted to work without a script when creating the film. She used a mixture of seasoned actors and new discoveries to improvise scenes within the highly conceptual narrative – and it worked! The dialogue and connections between the cast are exceptional, making ‘Love The One You Love’ even more real and raw than initially imagined. The Callsheet recently interviewed Chi Mhende and asked about this. “I think what was exciting is having improvised it, seeing how well it all came together,” she said. “Jenna had eighty-five scenes that were the outline and the structure of the film. We didn’t really have rehearsals and I think the fact that we had to be so brave and just dive into it made it work because we didn’t have time to feel insecure or to question it and doubt it.” Of her and Andile’s chemistry on screen, she had this to say: “Because he was a friend I felt very comfortable with him. But there’s something about his smile, the quality of his voice, and his laugh. There’s something very gentle and childlike and teddy bear-like about him that made him the perfect opposite and partner to play off of.”
SERIES REVIEW | 33
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THE KNICK:
Cocaine and Surgery A Recipe for Humdrum Television By Katie Reynolds
A
warning to the squeamish: Steven Soderburgh’s new series The Knick might have you curling your toes or even shielding your eyes with your scatter cushions, but probably not. Medicine and medical procedures are tricky to master even in the 21st century, so imagine the potential horrors that awaited patients in turn-of-the-20thcentury hospitals. Clive Owen plays the hotshot doctor John Thackery (‘Thack’), newly appointed to the position of Chief Surgeon at New York’s Knickerbocker hospital after the suicide of his mentor. But naturally, Thack has a dirty little notso-secret; he is addicted to cocaine and cannot function without multiple daily injections of the drug. The scene he beseeches a nurse to inject him in his nether-regions because all his other surface veins have collapsed was particularly nauseating. His other charming attributes and
hobbies are his overt bigotry and frequent visits to the local brothel cum opium den; however his obvious devotion to improving and streamlining medical procedures is without question. The scene depicting a crude C-section was clearly meant to introduce viewers to the style of this edgy, shockingly graphic new series, but I was left unmoved. Blood and guts are nothing new to us in 2014; we have Game of Thrones and Vikings to thank for our desensitisation to all things gory. I was hoping for wit, intelligence, perhaps some semblance of an interesting plot, but sadly this was not to be. Perhaps I am jaded by Soderburgh’s last TV venture, the staggering work of genius that was Behind the Candelabra. He managed to coax out of Michael Douglas the greatest acting that he has ever achieved in his decades-long career. So forgive me for having high expectations of
The Knick. And please don’t get me started on Clive Owen. I fell for his acting talent and pretty brown eyes when I saw him play Larry the kinky dermatologist in Closer. I didn’t know whether I wanted to give him an Oscar or date him. Preferably both. Then Children of Men came out and I became a fully-fledged Owen supporter. I’ve always been a sucker for the tall, dark and dystopian. Back to The Knick. Gore? Check. Nurses in little starched hats? Check. Inclement weather? Check. Excitement? *snore* Update: Upon viewing the second episode of The Knick, I might have been too hasty in writing off this series. A superb little scene featuring a malfunctioning piece of new-fangled electrical equipment had me literally falling off the couch. And André Holland as much maligned Dr Algernon Edwards is a revelation.
34 | SPOTLIGHT
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Rehad Desai Talks
‘MINERS SHOT DOWN’ “
I thought the strike would give me some fuel – a bit of conflict and drama to make up a few minutes of my film – and one thing led to the other.
“
W
hen Miners Shot Down was released earlier this year, no one could have known that the film would snowball to become what it is today – a beacon of hope for the masses and a way to challenge the powers that be. Fast-forward a few months and the film has seen countless screenings and has garnered a number of international awards – Best South African Documentary and the Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the Durban International Film Festival, the Václav Havel Jury Award at One World Human Rights Film Festival, the Camera Justitia Award at Movies That Matter Film Fest, the Special Choice Award at Encounters Doccie Fest and the Aung San Suu Kyi Award at Myanmar Human Rights Film Festival. But what’s the story behind Miners Shot Down? And where does it go from here? “I was up in the platinum belt and decided on a film that I was going to make about the platinum sector, in particular the Bafokeng Nation, which is tied to one of the biggest, most successful Black Economic Empowerment deals in the country and the continent,” Director Rehad Desai told The Callsheet in a recent interview, “I thought the strike would give me some fuel – a bit of
conflict and drama to make up a few minutes of my film – and one thing led to the other.” Desai says that the Marikana massacre and his subsequent film have left him with mixed feelings about the African National Congress (ANC), mainly because of his history with them during the apartheid years. “I felt the shooting on my body so to speak, because I come from that background. My wider political family, we grew up in exile with other exiled families so I had quite a close relationship, primarily with people who were part of the Mbeki cabinet and what have you. I think the tone of my narration particularly to Cyril Ramaphosa was the right one. Many of our people still support the ANC and this film is really targeted at those people who supported the liberation struggle in the fight for democracy. It was really a massive movement in South Africa to dislodge apartheid and it is clear to me now that we need to move beyond the ANC to see any real fundamental change in the lives of our people. It’s difficult to confront in the first place. It’s a sense of betrayal. I never really had much time for people who used to use those words but I really feel it now and I think I’m in the company of hundreds of thousands of others – if not millions.”
Desai says Miners Shot Down was “instrumental” in helping build solidarity for the demands and the strike. “It raised a lot of money. We had hundreds of screenings and with the money from those screenings we then started helping out with food parcels. That was then taken up by much bigger forces than ourselves – Gift of the Givers, the churches, etc.” He says that the media has also played a large part in bringing both the Marikana Commission of Inquiry and the film into the public eye, giving voice to the miners who were and still are struggling to keep their heads above water under current circumstances. Miners Shot Down is not his last project on the Marikana issue, however. Desai plans on releasing two other films that follow the story by the time elections roll around in 2016. Despite the film’s welcoming reception, he’s still very critical of South Africa’s film and broadcast industry. He recently wrote an open letter to the SABC and eTV, the only two broadcasters who have yet to screen Miners Shot Down, which has since become a national campaign. “I think the only thing we can do now is to build into our budgets very serious distribution money so that the film can get out to communities, people can buy projectors, screens and sound systems. Then at least we’re building the audiences for independent film, for real documentaries, for real fiction,” Desai says.
SPOTLIGHT | 35
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Geniatech ATV3200 Android TV Gold -
A COUCH POTATO’S DREAM music player and an extra-large scale e-book or magazine reader. The box also offers the option of streaming shows online. But that’s not even the half of it! It has 1G RAM and 4G of built in flash memory, which ensures smooth sailing from the minute it’s switched on. If additional space is needed, the box also has an SD card port, as well as four USB ports for additional media storage. Although response times on the ATV3000 are a tad bit slow, this upgrade seems to have a faster interface. Its multiple viewing options are similar to that of iTunes, with slide-through album artwork that give it a suave, 21st century feel. It has full HD capabilities, ensuring everything on the screen – from games to films – is crisp, clear and even more riveting. The WiFi router might give you some problems in set up, but once it’s up and
running, it should be smooth sailing. Of course, it goes without saying that the system requires a television with HDMI video output – that is, an HDTV for HD video playback. The box also supports a single hand keyboard and mouse that can operate as easily as the included remote control. Overall a great buy if you find yourself perpetually surfing the net for new series rather than flipping channels. The Geniatech Enjoy TV Box combines broadcast and video on demand neatly and is ideal for anyone who wants to hang onto their regular DStv box whilst still dipping their feet into the wider digital content pool.
Courtesy of Geniatech ATV3200 Android TV Gold
T
he Geniatech ATV3200 Android TV Gold is a unique contraption that even the oldest of fogies will be able to operate. As the name suggests, the operating system belongs to Android, which means that it supports Google’s easily-navigable Chrome browser as well as wire and wireless networking access. The little box is really light and portable, with simple instructions and a straightforward set up. It should be noted that web access is not included in the package – it hooks up to whatever connection you already have, as well as your television. Once the Gold Box is up and running, a myriad of exciting features is available for viewers. Turning your TV into a multifunctional, smart machine, the ATV3200 includes a media player, built-in WiFi with a large-scale internet browser, a photo viewer, a game player, a
36 | ASSOCIATIONS
Unilever Launches Film Academy Unilever has launched an Academy for African Filmmakers (AAF), this academy will prepare and equip future filmmakers for the vibrant and competitive film industry. Unilever seeks to empower and celebrate African filmmakers and will afford the students an opportunity to work on live Unilever briefs, as well as potential further funding for their work and the possibility of seeing their finished films broadcast. As part of the Academy for African Filmmakers, Unilever, in partnership with MOFILM will offer an intensive three-day course, created and delivered by experts from the filmmaking industry that will run in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in December 2014.. Marc Mathieu, SVP Global Marketing
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
explains: “Africa is home to a huge pool of young, talented filmmakers. Through the Academy for African Filmmakers, we’re seeking to enable, develop and promote African filmmaking talent within Africa and for Africa.” Jeffrey Merrihue, Founder and MOFILM CEO, said, “MOFILM had great success in 2013 in finding untapped African filmmaking talent. We visited countless film schools and production houses, meeting hundreds of filmmakers and those efforts resulted in two filmmakers being celebrated at the International Festival of Creativity at Cannes.” Merrihue continued, “Through partnering with Unilever, the AAF will build on this work and give even greater opportunity for African filmmakers to shine on a local and global stage.” Aspiring filmmakers from the age of 16 to 30 can apply, as long as they are a resident of any African country; have a technical proficiency in filmmaking and can demonstrate a passion for film and storytelling. Filmmakers can find out more and register their interest at www.foundry.unilever.com/filmacademy.
ASSOCIATIONS | 37
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
The SOS Coalition seeks to appoint a Campaign Organiser based in Johannesburg. The SOS Coalition represents a board of civil society stakeholders committed to the broadcasting of quality, diverse, citizenorientated public interest programming aligned to the goals of South African Constitution. The Organiser will report to the Coordinator, and will support the Coordinator to drive a systematic strategy and programme for expanding the mass--‐base Of the Coalition and advancing its vision for public broadcasting: encouraging people to demand broadcasting that serves the public.
Responsibilities: • Work with the Coordinator and Working Group (and its subcommittees) to ensure operational and strategic coherence • Oversee and strengthen the effective use of SOS communications tools (with an emphasis on social media), including developing a coherent communication strategy that aligns with the Coalition’s strategic aims. • Represent the coalition at events, in structures and in the media when called on to do so • Identify opportunities for and facilitate the development and delivery of effective popular education and training on SOS issues • Organise and provide secretarial support at meetings of the Working Group and Finance and Management Committee • Support the Coordinator in the planning and implementation of all SOS activities • Provide administrative support to the Coordinator
Requirements: • Minimum of a three-year post-matric qualification, or equivalent thereof through relevant experience • Excellent writing and communication skills for internal and external communication • Excellent English written and verbal communication skills with multilingualism an advantage • Experience in developing and running online campaigns through social media platforms and/or experience in website development and management • Ability to self‐manage, multi-task, pay attention to detail, plan and implement efficiently, and work under pressure • Experience in community organising and social justice advocacy • Ability to maintain good working relationships and work in a flexible team environments • Computer skills (MS Office suite) To apply, submit a CV not exceeding 3 pages and motivation letter to Kerry Harris at kerryharris@worldonline.co.za by 5 September 2014. For enquiries contact Sekoetlane Phamodi on +27117881278 or +2776084807. No late applications will be accepted. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified via email or telephone by no later than 12 September. For more info on the SOS Coalition, visit www.soscoalition.org.za.
Saturday Night on Long Street, Cape Town © The Loeries
SOS Coalition to Appoint Campaign Organiser
38 | EVENTS
SEPTEMBER DEAUVILLE FILM FESTIVAL 5 – 14 Deauville, France TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 4 – 14 Toronto, Canada INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING CONVENTION 11 - 16 Amsterdam, Netherlands LOERIES CREATIVE WEEK 15 - 21 Cape Town, South Africa AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL COLOGNE 18 - 28 Berlin, Germany INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK 14 – 18 New York, USA ABUJA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 23 - 26 Abuja, Nigeria ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL 25 September – 5 October Zurich, Switzerland THE LUSAKA INTERNATIONAL FILM AND MUSIC FESTIVAL 26 - 3 October Lusaka, Zambia TRI-CONTINENTAL FILM FESTIVAL 26 September - 6 October Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
www.filmmakerafrica.co.za
EVENTS | 39
OCTOBER PUSAN FILM FESTIVAL/ASIAN FILM MARKET 2 – 11 Pusan, South Korea
LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 8 – 19 October London, United Kingdom CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 9 – 23 October 2014 Chicago, USA
Uma Thurman, Image Courtesy of Jameson First Shot
HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 9 – 14 The Hamptons, USA
40 | DIRECTORY LISTINGS
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ADVERTISERS COMPANY
TELEPHONE
WEBSITE
American Film Mart
+ 1 310 446 1000
afm@ifta-online.org
www.americanfilmmarket.com
Aquila Private Game
+27 861 737 3783
res@aquilasafari.co.za
www.aquilasafari.co.za
Avis Rent a Car
+27 21 424 1661
avisfilm@avis.co.za
www.avis.co.za
Chris Vermaak
+27 86 649 8845
chrisvermaakster@gmail.com
www.chrisvermaak.co.za
Conduit productions
+27 21 465 8745
info@conduit.co.za
www.conduit.co.za
DISCOPRO
+ 1 323 782 13 00
info@basiclead.com
www.discop.com
Ginger Pictures
+27 11 888 8240
julie@gingerpictures.tv
www.gingerpictures.tv
KZN Film Commission
+ 27 31 325 0202
Panavision
+27 21 555 1780
nicholas.doble@panavision.za.com
www.panavision.com
Pioneer Freight
+27 21 386 5946
info@pioneerfreight.co.za
www.pioneerfreight.co.za
Pro Events
+27 72 549 1162
info@proevents-sa.co.za
www.proevents-sa.co.za
Silverlining
+27 21 422 0072
renier@silverliningpictures.tv
www.silverliningpictures.tv
Studio 26
+27 83 368 6216
mail@studio26.co.za
www.studio26.co.za
Sunshine
+27 21 465 8262
info@sunshinecompany.co.za
www.sunshinecompany.co.za
The Loeries
+27 11 326 0304
info@theloerieawards.co.za
www.theloerieawards.co.za
Waterfront Film Studios
+27 21 409 2000
info@waterfrontfilmstudios.com
www.waterfrontfilmstudios.com
Wizards
+27 21 461 9334
copy@wizardz.co.za
www.wizardz.co.za
World Courier
+27 11 394 3880
jnbops@worldcourier.co.za
www.worldcourier.com
www.kznfilmcommission.co.za
CONTACT US
Cover Image: Designed by Conduit Productions Š Conduit Productions
Editorial Assistant: Siyanda Bani siyanda@filmeventmedia.co.za
Publisher: Lance Gibbons lance@filmeventmedia.co.za
Brand Manager: Jennifer Dianez jennifer@filmeventmedia.co.za
Editor: Katie Reynolds katie@filmeventmedia.co.za
Production Co-ordinator: Tammi Klein tammi@filmeventmedia.co.za
Head of Design: Sheree Steenkamp sheree@filmeventmedia.co.za
Manager, Special Projects: Taryn Fowler taryn@filmeventmedia.co.za
Writer: Kim Muller kim@filmeventmedia.co.za
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