Screen Africa Magazine May 14 2014

www.screenafrica.com VOL 26 – May 2014 R35.00BROADCAST, FILM, TV, COMMERCIALS, NEW MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Cannes Film Festival
Post Production
SOUTH AFRICA
Attracting New Markets
and Investments
Cannes Posters.indd 2 2014/04/23 7:13 PM

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32
18
12
15
NFVF at Cannes
Cannes and Africa: a shy relationshipCell C campaigns for the people
Special Features
POST-PRODUCTION
Post-production anywhere,
everywhere!......................................... 32
The unique demands of
the reality edit..................................... 33
Breaking new ground at
Waterfront Film Studios................... 34
Mushroom Media: full-service
post-production under one roof..... 35
Edit, edit, edit, edit…espresso.......... 36
A busy year for Upstairs Post.......... 37
Tessa Ford offers complete
post-production solution.................. 38
SAFTA recognition for
Deepend Films..................................... 39
Aces Up creates powerful
and illuminating animated
spot for SADAG.................................. 39
Refinery embraces changes
in post-production.............................. 40
CANNES
NFVF at Cannes.................................. 12
The KZN Film Commission
forges ahead......................................... 14
News
Global Access moves ahead
with new MD..........................................2
SABC2:‘citizen-focused
programming’.......................................... 3
‘360-degree’ approach for SABC3.....3
Independent Mzansi Short Film
Festival makes its debut in July...........4
‘Beyond Love’ explores
diversity of cinema at The
European Film Festival..........................4
Filmmakers document dedication
to eradicate disease in Africa
and beyond..............................................6
SA romantic comedy Konfetti
resonates with international
audiences.................................................. 6
Middlewick’s Security a studious
minimalist ode to the French
New Wave............................................... 7
Africa
African Film Festival New York
commemorates Nigerian
unification................................................. 8
The AMAAs: a truly
continental affair.....................................8
New Zambian film tackles
gender-based violence...........................9
Cannes and Africa:
a shy relationship................................ 10
ADCETERA
The human factor in
rhino poaching..................................... 15
Playing politics...................................... 16
Joe Public whiz-kids win Cinemark
Young Lions Competition................. 17
Taken over by tastiness..................... 17
Cell C campaigns for the people.... 18
Film
Suave and modern romantic
comedy beats to the heart of Jozi.. 19
‘Indigenous’ talent
poached for Panama flick.................. 20
DOCUMENTARY
1994:The Bloody Miracle..................... 22
Television
Gritty soap set against the
backdrop of taxi industry
mesmerises viewers........................... 23
The Time Frame Family..................... 24
Sasani’s Stage 8 launches
with new e.tv game show................. 24
Dyvi signals a new era in
video switchers.................................... 26
Director Speak:Adze Ugah
and Denny Miller................................. 27
SAFTAs
SAFTAs 2014.............................28 – 31
Satellite
Expansion of DTH and DTT
applications will continue
to benefit African viewers................. 42
IPTV / OTT
Building IPTV architectures.............. 44
The software-empowered
video operator..................................... 46
Tracking Technology
Blackmagic Teranex Express............. 48
Avid Media Central............................ 48
Eyeon Generation 4K........................ 48
AJA Hi5-plus........................................ 48
Box Office
Heroes rule at local box office........ 49
WEB NEWS
SA co-production The Forgotten
Kingdom in top spot at
Lesotho box office.............................. 50
Homeland Season Four to
be shot in Cape Town........................ 50
Caribbean-themed film
to shoot in West Africa..................... 50
Egg Films and Net#work BBDO
win Ad of the Year for Colleague.... 50
Independent Mzansi Short Film
Festival final call for entries.............. 50
Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s Of Good
Report wins big at South African
Film and Television Awards............... 50
Rumours of War wins three
awards at the Colours of the
Nile International Film Festival
in Addis Ababa..................................... 51
Renowned filmmakers Beverly
and Dereck Joubert receive
SAFTA Lifetime
Achievement Award........................... 51
Regulars
Production Updates................52 – 55
Events..................................................... 55
Social...................................................... 56
| IN THIS ISSUE
Post-production anywhere, everywhere!SAFTAs 2014
30

Global Access, the broadcasting and digital
signage service provider, was long associated
with the name of its previous managing
director, the late Ronnie van Wijk. Despite the
loss of this respected industry figure, the
company is surging ahead under the
guidance of Van Wijk’s successor,
Brad Willson.
“I don’t think anyone could ever really fill
Ronnie’s shoes. He was an incredible man
with such passion and vision. But it’s a
challenge that I am more than happy to take
on and I will do my best to ensure that his
legacy and all that he strived for will live on
through all that we do here at
Global Access. My vision is to make Global
Access the number one media solutions
provider in the country.”
Willson’s background is in the IT industry,
and when he first joined Global Access he
was tasked with setting up the company’s
web streaming and video-to-mobile services.
“Once that was established,” he says, “I
moved over to run the digital signage
division. Prior to joining Global Access, I
hadn’t had much involvement in the
broadcast industry, but I have known Ronnie
for more than 15 years and he was a great
mentor to me. I learned a lot, not only from
him, but from many other industry experts.
I thoroughly enjoy the industry and the fast
pace at which it is evolving. I do feel that the
divide between the IT and broadcast
industries is getting smaller thanks to new
technologies like IPTV (internet protocol
television) and OTT (over-the-top) services.”
Global Access was built around two core
business units, one offering digital signage
services and the other dedicated to
broadcasting. It now also offers IPTV, OTT,
queue management solutions and a
creative agency, all of which can
complement one another as well as
catering to separate clients as the case
may be.
Willson says: “The business is set up in
such a way that each business unit can be
driven independently and there will be no
focus to drive one harder than the other.
With Global Access taking on new
technologies that complement our core
broadcasting and digital signage business,
I’m confident we will have growth in
all areas.”
Over the past year Global Access
became a MultiChoice-accredited IPTV
system integrator and secured the rights
for an international queue management
solution – both of which, Willson says, have
already enabled the company to sign a
number of significant deals.
In the long term, Global Access is
looking to offer its services to the rest of
Africa. “Due to the demand for our services
on the continent,” Willson says, “we are
now carrying our broadcast work into
Africa and have a number of IPTV installations
taking place across the borders over the next
few months. We have also recently invested
in upgrading all our studio facilities, which are
now all fully HD equipped.
“I try to keep the business fun and
innovative.” Willson concludes, “and with
that, there will be some big things coming
from Global Access in the future.”
– Warren Holden
Global Access moves
ahead with new MDThe past few months have been good
ones for South African films. A good
number of fine, locally produced pictures
have seen the light of day recently and
this stands our industry in good stead to
show its wares at the Cannes Film
Festival this month. From Rehad Desai’s
disturbing documentary Miners Shot
Down to Donovan Marsh’s much
talked-about heist thriller iNumber
Number, the quality of films set to be
showcased at Cannes is very high. In this issue Zama Mkosi, CEO of
the NFVF, outlines her organisation’s plans for the festival. No doubt,
many of our readers are jetting off to the south of France this month
and we wish you all the best in your quest for distributors and
production partners.
This issue includes our post-production feature and it was very
enlightening to talk to the various post houses in Johannesburg and
Cape Town and determine the lay of the land. As Ian Dormer says in
his overview, the latest developments have had a dual effect. On the
one hand, budgets are tighter than ever and the traditional business
model, with large, fully-kitted post-production houses, is becoming
more difficult to sustain. On the other hand, technological advances
make it easier for the freelancer to enter the market and offer services
at reasonable rates, but with varying degrees of quality. What is
always interesting, when we do these features focusing on any
particular part of the industry, is that no matter what trends we may
observe from a macro point of view, there will always be a good
number of stalwarts who, from the outside at least, notwithstanding
certain adaptations to technological change and shifting demand,
appear to be carrying on with business as usual, and even expanding
their operations, which is great to see.
On the whole, though, post-production follows the same trend as
many other parts of the industry, in the sense that, as technology
becomes more accessible, barriers to entry drop, and more and more
‘lone gunmen’ are able to enter the industry with limited equipment
and experience. Whether or not this is a good thing for the industry at
large is debatable: does it amount to a democratising expansion of
human capital or a net reduction in skill and expertise, as a result of
lower cost taking precedence over high quality? I’m sure that time will
tell – and whatever the verdict may be, there is no denying that great
work is still coming out of the industry, possibly more than ever.
Another major factor that is gradually shifting the industry
paradigm, and which we cover briefly in this issue, is the ascendency
of IPTV and OTT platforms. As I’ve mentioned before, I tend towards
traditionalism, having grown up consuming most of my motion picture
content in old-fashioned cinemas equipped with 35mm projectors, or
spending hours exploring the shelves of the local video store. These
are both things of the past now, whose charms are unlikely to be
understood by the rising generation of digital consumers. I suppose
that’s sad on one hand but time marches on, and I have to admit that,
as the exciting possibilities of online platforms open up, my initial
future shock is fading fast.
Warren Holden
Welcoming the future
From the editor
Publisher & Managing Editor:
Simon Robinson: publisher@screenafrica.com
Editor:
Warren Holden: editor@screenafrica.com
Senior Journalist:
Martie Bester: martie@screenafrica.com
Journalist:
Carly Barnes: carly@screenafrica.com
Contributors:
Andy Stead, Ian Dormer,
Anton Crone, Gethsemane Mwizabi,
Sylvain Beletre, Claire Diao
Sub-Editor: Tina Heron
Design:
Trevor Ou Tim: design@sun-circle.co.za
Website & Production Updates:
Carly Barnes: carly@sun-circle.co.za
Subscriptions:
Tina Tserere: data@sun-circle.co.za
Delight Ngwenya: admin@sun-circle.co.za
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SCREENAFRICA
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News |
TAKING A LEGACY FORWARD: Global Access’s new managing director, Brad Willson

May 2014 | SCREENAFRICA | 3
| News
Among several new appointments at the
national broadcaster in the past month
were new channel heads for each of the
SABC’s three news, lifestyle and
entertainment platforms. Taking over at
the helm of SABC3, the predominantly
English-language channel that broadcasts
a mix of local and international content, is
Aisha Mohamed.
Mohamed has been in the media
industry for 13 years, predominantly in
radio, but also with considerable
television experience. Her previous
position was as station manager at 5FM.
Prior to that she was a marketing manager
at MTV Networks Africa.
She was charged with overseeing the
roll-out of animation channel
Nickelodeon in South Africa and
managing marketing campaigns for MTV
Base and MTV Europe across the
continent.
Among her major objectives in her new
role is the development and
implementation of new strategies to
increase viewership and revenue for the
channel. With careful study of industry
trends, she is to drive SABC3 into the
future, ensuring that the channel is in line
with those trends. One of the major
challenges she faces in this regard is the
need to juggle the constant demand for
new content with business directives and
budgetary constraints.
Mohamed’s vision for the channel, she
says, is: “… to provide a 360-degree
approach to content and delivery and to
re-position SABC3 as a true lifestyle and
entertainment channel in the market and
focus on increasing audience and
revenue delivery.”
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Assuming leadership of SABC2, the
national broadcaster’s news, lifestyle and
entertainment channel for Sotho, Tswana,
Tsonga, Venda and Afrikaans content
(with some imported English-language
material), is Gerhard Pretorius, a
quarter-century veteran of the film and
television industry.
“I started my career in television at
Sonneblom Films in 1989, working on a
number of feature films,” Pretorius says.
“I then freelanced on a number of
natural history programmes and had the
wonderful privilege to work with Disney,
National Geographic and Discovery
during that time. The following 20 or so
years in the industry I worked in
production, post-production and content
creation, including scripting new material
and reversioning existing content. I joined
the SABC as a producer at Content Hub
Reversioning and Repurposing in 2006.
Thereafter I became a commissioning
editor and programme manager of local
content at Content Hub. I acted as the
GM: Content for almost two years before
joining SABC2 in September 2013 (as
acting Head). In my 25th year in television,
I bring a broad range of skills within the
production and broadcast environment.”
Of the tasks and requirements of his
new position, Pretorius says: “The SABC
is always driven by its public service
objectives which are further supported by
its commitment to the ICASA mandate.
My position at SABC2 is to entrench it as
the channel for the nation, reflecting our
diverse society and its need to be
entertained, educated and informed.
SABC as a network continues to be the
market leader in providing the majority of
South Africans with their entertainment
and information. I will support the
network and continue to deliver a
compelling public broadcast service in
this ever changing South African
broadcast landscape.”
When it comes to programming,
Pretorius is focusing on increasing both
the quantity and quality of new local
content on SABC2. “The channel hopes
to provide more content that reflects the
common space that many South Africans
find themselves in, whether in the home,
work or play environment,” he says. “I
want to ensure that the channel’s pillar
programming evolves with the country
and our viewers… Our menu is designed
to feed the hunger of South Africans for
exceptional programming – from comedy
to lifestyle to health to drama.
“As the multi-channel environment
evolves, we have to ensure that quality
diverse local content dominates our
screens. We are not only faced with
revenue fragmentation, but audiences will
require innovation to satisfy their
ever-changing needs. SABC2 will strive to
meet these needs by providing high
quality, excellent and novel local and
international content.
“To me, this is achievable if we stay firm
in our belief that South Africans are a
diverse family that can come together to
share experiences. We must also not
forget that as a public broadcasting
service, we exist in a highly regulated
environment and our strategies will
evolve to meet those regulations.”
Pretorius concludes: “I am privileged to
be supported by a team of committed,
creative, passionate individuals at SABC2
and we plan to create partnerships with
the independent content producing
industry, our audience and various
stakeholders to create compelling,
cutting-edge, citizen-focused
programming that will make us all proud
of being South African. I can’t give much
away, except to say… stay tuned
to SABC2!”
A CHANNEL FOR THE NATION:
Gerhard Pretorius, the new Head of Channel
for SABC2
NEW STRATEGIES: Aisha Mohamed, the new
Head of Channel for SABC3
‘360-degree’
approach for
SABC3
SABC2: ‘citizen-focused programming’

4 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2014
News |News |
The European Film Festival (EUFF)
screens from 9 to 18 May exclusively at
Cinema Nouveau Theatres concurrently
in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town
and Durban.
With ‘Beyond Love’ as its theme, the
festival is a partnership with 10 European
cultural agencies and embassies based in
South Africa.
As Head for Media and Film at the
French Embassy in Johannesburg,
Frédéric Chambon jumped at the
opportunity of relaunching the EUFF and
proposed that other European countries
come on board.
“This event is really a perfect example
of European dialogue and cooperation,”
says Chambon. “The European Union
delegation (main financial contributor),
the British Council, the Camões Institute
(Portugal), the French Institute of South
Africa (IFAS), the Goethe-Institut, the
Italian Cultural Institute, the Embassy of
Belgium and Flemish delegation, as well
as the Embassies of Austria, Denmark and
Spain are involved with the festival.”
Based at IFAS in Johannesburg,
Chambon assumed the role of festival
director in order to organise the EUFF in a
professional set-up to provide an exciting
film selection and offer the audience the
best possible experience.
Fitting the criteria as an independent
festival programmer, to ensure a
high-quality and relevant film selection,
Darryl Els, co-director and programmer of
the Bioscope Independent Cinema in
Johannesburg, was approached.
“All the films selected have either
screened at major international film
festivals, won international awards or have
been submitted for the Oscars (in the
case of The Great Beauty – which won the
2014 Oscar for Foreign Language film),”
says Els. “This was really the only directive
from Ster-Kinekor and IFAS, so there was
an immense amount of freedom in
approaching the curating of the
programme.”
Els elaborates that the theme of ‘love’
is something very familiar to audiences
and so once this was established as
framework it became important to
choose films that would challenge or
subvert what is a very broad and overly
clichéd topic.
“Similarly, I wanted to programme films
that offered a range of representations of
the theme, in other words to not be
rooted in simply films about romantic or
courtly love,” continues Els. “So the
programme explores ‘love’ in its broadest
sense; maternal love, sex, friendship,
desire, loneliness and so on.”
Els mentions that it was always
important for the programme to have a
link to Africa in some way. Two films
allow for this, Miguel Gomes’ Tabu, a
love story set in an unnamed
Portuguese colony on the cusp of
independence and Ulrich Seidl’s
Paradise: Love, about an Austrian
woman who goes to the beaches of
Kenya on what is essentially a sex-
tourism holiday.
Adds Els: “Both films are challenging,
provocative representations of Africa and
the fact that they are set in different eras
adds an interesting layer to this
connection.”
“We are very lucky to have secured
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty,
which won’t be getting a cinema release
in South Africa, so the Beyond Love
programme will be one of the only
chances to see it!” says Els.
“What we clearly see in most of the
films selected for the European Film
Festival is an ability to reflect each
country and culture’s very own identity in
a unique and powerful way,” Chambon
concludes. – Martie Bester
‘Beyond Love’ explores diversity of cinema
at The European Film Festival
According to Jacques Brand, Managing
Director of Grey Cloud Productions and
co-founder of the Independent Mzansi
Short Film Festival (IMSFF), which takes
place from 25 to 29 July at the Hatfield
Plaza Maxi Cineplex in Pretoria, short
filmmaking in South Africa is in the midst
of a renaissance.
“We have recognised that apart from
Afrinolly, there isn’t a dedicated short film
festival on the African continent and it
was our desire to rectify that. Short films
are the truest and most pure artistic
expression in the world of film, because
short filmmakers are not working to any
commercial imperatives. Shorts have and
will continue to be an important part of
cinema, storytelling and culture. Our
mission is to present quality short films
from around South Africa as well as
support, recognise and honour
filmmakers creating films under
25 minutes,” says Brand who, along with
co-founder and CEO of M4gic-J
Entertainment Jarrod de Jong, believes
the festival will quickly emerge as a
prominent industry event in South Africa.
Over 70 film entries from South Africa
and several other international territories
have applied to
participate at IMSFF,
and though Brand and
De Jong aim to reach
100 submissions by the
6 June deadline, they
believe audiences
already have a
selection of strong
films to look forward to.
Aimed at connecting
with and inspiring the
filmmakers of
tomorrow, the festival
will screen a variety of
films, including Florian
Schott’s Everything
Happens for a Reason,
which won the 2013
MTN Afrinolly Short
Film Competition and
received the award for
Best International Short
Film at the 2014
Mediawave Gathering
in Hungary. Shot in one
action-packed take, the
Namibian film is a fast-paced comedy
which tells the story of a man faced with
unexpected enemies during a series of
troubling events.
Other films which audiences can look
forward to include Freedom Road, a film
based on true events surrounding South
Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation
Commission; Six Ways To Die, which
features a group of work-shy performers
whose agent suffers a nervous
breakdown; and The Blanket, the festival’s
opening film, which was written and
directed by Brand and produced by
De Jong.
A panel of independent jurors will
award prizes in a number of categories
and the overall winner will receive a
cash prize of R50 000.
Brand says that education will be a
central component of the festival,
allowing emerging filmmakers the
opportunity to network and gain
valuable industry knowledge.
“We will feature interviews with
working industry professionals; live
Q and A sessions with directors and
producers in attendance; as well as
workshops and seminars for low-
budget filmmakers. Product
demonstrations will be conducted by
Media Film Services that will show
aspiring filmmakers what it is like to
work with high-end film equipment,”
adds Brand.
Screenings will be divided into two
hour-long sessions of short films, with
four sessions taking place each day,
the times of which will appear on the
IMSFF website. Tickets can be
purchased directly from Maxi Cineplex at
a cost of R25 per session or R65 for a
day pass.
For more information
visit: www.imsff.co.za. – Carly Barnes
Independent
Mzansi Short
Film Festival
makes its
debut in July
NO CLICHÉ: A still from Paradise Love

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News |
A large proportion of the people on this
planet suffer the diseases and conditions
of poverty, and to a large extent these
remain unseen by developed countries.
With this in mind, award-winning
South African documentary filmmaker
Cliff Bestall came up with the concept to
tell the stories of inspiring people on the
frontline of public health in remote and
war-torn areas. With little assistance,
these ‘miracle workers’ show
extraordinary will to overcome the
diseases that sustain and
deepen poverty.
The idea, was taken forward by
producer Steven Markowitz, Bestall and
his medical doctor / epidemiologist wife
Michele Youngleson, along with a second
team consisting of director Brian Tilley
and cameraman Tim Wege. They
travelled to the Philippines, India,
Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal,
Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi and South
Sudan and to the people on the frontline
of public health.
In an eight-part documentary series for
Al Jazeera English called Lifelines, the
filmmakers captured the stories of
dramatic breakthroughs against diseases
and conditions, such as rabies, polio,
leprosy, malaria, schistosomiasis
(bilharzia), guinea worm, river blindness,
trachoma and maternal mortality.
The team found that polio and Guinea
worm are close to being eradicated, while
huge inroads are being made into
eliminating rabies, river blindness and
trachoma.
Maternal mortality is decreasing while
malaria and schistosomiasis continue to
challenge the enormous efforts made to
bring them under control.
“We are confronted with something
that can be changed, and that change has
not been fully acknowledged,” says
Bestall. “For example, 50% less children
die of malaria than they did a decade
ago, the number of people who suffer
terrible Guinea worm infection has been
brought down with 99.9% – from three
and a half million a year to just 126 last
year, polio is close to being eradicated
like smallpox once was.
“The numbers are dropping and will
continue to fall as long as funds are
available and the energy to keep multiple
campaigns going is maintained.”
Bestall continues: “It was really only
when Brian, Michele and I were in the
various locations where we were shooting
and meeting people that it became
evident who these heroes were.”
They were the people in the engine
room – the men and women, some paid,
some on a volunteer basis – who did the
hard work behind the scenes. “Some had
come up with great yet simple
innovations. Some were influencers who
could inspire others that diseases can be
controlled or even eliminated within
communities,” says Bestall.
Although there are many others behind
the push to reduce the burden of
infectious diseases among neglected
people, Bestall emphasises that: “our
focus was on the little guys this time.”
Each film had an average of 18 days
shooting allocated with Bestall filming
on a Canon C300 while cameraman
Wege used a Sony PMW 220.
The filmmakers were at pains to
ensure that they approached the issues
journalistically and, as in the case of
diseases or other conditions which
afflict people, the story became more
complex the deeper they were
investigated.
“Our approach turned out to be far
more rewarding and challenging as we
hunted for stories that evidenced change,
and struggle to achieve that change,”
concludes Bestall. – Martie Bester
Filmmakers document
dedication to eradicate
disease in Africa and beyond
THE MEDICAL FRONTLINE: Clive Bestall in Ethiopia with Nurse Dasash Hasen
Before its theatrical release in South
Africa, new romantic comedy Konfetti had
already attracted international attention,
having been chosen to screen at the
Beverly Hills Film Festival and the Julien
Dubuque International Film Festival
in the US.
Telling the tale of Jean Voster (Nico
Panagio), an Afrikaans boy who is about
to marry Sheila Lieberman (Casey B
Dolan), a Jewish girl, Konfetti touches on
deeper issues and ‘unwraps’ its characters
methodically, without sentiment, laying
bare the issues of ordinary people who
try and find ways to escape the ‘boxes’ in
which they had placed themselves.
“This film assumes the best of its
audience. It is witty, sophisticated and
funny and doesn’t try and adhere to the
perceived Afrikaner Zeitgeist or our local
obsession with political correctness,” says
Louw Venter, writer and co-star of
the movie.
Venter first approached accomplished
producer Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat of
Cape Town-based Light and Dark Films
(Jacob’s Cross, Confessions of a Gambler,
Skeem, Jimmy in Pienk) with the idea to
make a big-screen adaptation of The Best
Man’s Speech, Venter’s one-man play,
which he wrote and performed in 2006.
Playing the role of best man Lukas, who
goes on a drinking spree, forgets to book
the wedding orchestra, and then
unwittingly asks the bride’s nemesis to
perform at the ceremony, Venter
describes Konfetti: “as a high-stakes,
energy-charged event that brings a huge
variety of interrelated characters together
in one location, which is the perfect
breeding ground for chaos and drama.
“The play resonated very powerfully
with audiences in the three or four years I
performed it,” continues Venter. “Zaheer
and I spent six years making sure that the
final screenplay was something that
entertained – even on paper. It presents
the audience with a story that satisfies
both dramatically and comedically.”
Konfetti is Goodman-Bhyat’s debut as
a feature film director. “I resisted
directing a feature film until I was 40.
Most people think directing a feature is
the ‘Holy Grail’ and they rush into it, get
burnt and then don’t do it again.”
Biding his time seems to have paid off,
judging by audience reaction. “Above
everything else, this is a film at a wedding,
which required a certain glossy look,” the
director says. “It’s shot on Blaauwklippen
wine estate in Stellenbosch with the
Helderberg mountains in the background
and is infused with incredible golden
light. The sets are gorgeous and
everyone looks beautiful, because they
have to.”
Being firm believers in comedy and
comedic timing, and with Konfetti
referencing films such as Death at a
Funeral, The Hangover and The Wedding
Singer, choosing the cast was vital for
Goodman-Bhyat and Venter, who
specifically wrote roles for Panagio and
supporting actors Kim Engelbrecht and
Casper de Vries because of their
audience appeal and screen chemistry.
Says Panagio, who has established
himself as a strong lead actor in local
movies: “I believe South African
audiences are hungry for some intelligent
humour. Louw Venter has written a
beautiful, sincere screenplay which
Zaheer directed in a way that allows the
organic journey of each cast member to
weave itself into an honest and
touching film.” – Martie Bester
SA romantic
comedy
Konfetti
resonates with
international
audiences WITTY, SOPHISTICATED AND FUNNY: Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat with Louw Venter and Nico
Panagio on the set of Konfetti
Photocourtesy:AlJazeeraEnglish

| News
Writer and director Mark Middlewick’s
Security, sponsored by international
production company Focus Features
through its Africa First programme, won
Best Short Film at the 2014 Jozi
Film Festival.
In the movie, Middlewick’s nameless
lead, a lonely security guard, inhabits a
world of contrasts. By day he listlessly
rests in his modestly furnished room,
isolating himself from the realities and
hurts of everyday life and, at night, when
the rest of the world sleeps, he works,
solitary, in a brightly illuminated
shopping centre.
His loneliness is emphasised in a film
with little dialogue but which is laden with
atmosphere, silently illustrating the
measures to which he goes to ward off his
emotions as he strikes up a friendship
with a mannequin in a high-end boutique
store. In a world of stark neon lights his
existence in the shadows is heightened.
After graduating with Honours in
Dramatic Art at the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,
Middlewick lectured Film Appreciation at
City Varsity, concentrating on works by
directors of the French New Wave.
Inspired by these masters’ techniques,
which included ‘fragmented,
discontinuous editing and long takes’,
Security also touches on the group’s
‘combination of objective realism,
subjective realism and authorial
commentary that creates a narrative
ambiguity as questions arise in the film
that are not answered in the end’.
“I am a minimalist at heart and sidestep
into all genres of art when creating work.
In a modern world where everything has
become so hyper realistic, I want to boil
things down and minimise everything,”
Middlewick comments.
The team had to shoot at unusual
hours at Sandton City Shopping Mall in
Johannesburg, filming in what
Middlewick refers to “as a tribute to
capitalism” which took five days from
18h00 until 06h00 on the Arri Alexa.
He says, “The environment was so
sterile, I felt like I had walked into a sci-fi
movie. We took out any advertising as the
movie has an anti-capitalist tone to it. I
took countless photos, which were used
to storyboard the entire film so we
concentrated purely on performance.”
Each shot had to earn its way, the
director says. “I wanted to use the
economy of shots to its full potential to
convey emotion,” he adds.
“I am fascinated with spaces that carry
history, but which are not inhabited by
people. I am inspired by the late
cinematographer Harris Savides –
especially his work on Sofia Coppola’s
Somewhere and Gus van Sant’s Elephant
– who said that he never lit a character,
but that he lit a room instead,”
Middlewick continues. “The characters
just happen to inhabit a room and that’s
the bigger picture ideal that we tried
to create.”
The filmmaker concludes: “I went in
with the intention to create something
that aspires to transcend the confines of
commercial cinema, andwhich is layered
and carries multiple messages.”
Security has screened at several
international film festivals and has been
selected to show at several others this
year. With the support of the National
Film and Video Foundation, Middlewick is
currently developing a feature screenplay.
– Martie Bester
Middlewick’s
Security a
studious
minimalist
ode to
the French
New Wave
MINIMALIST AT HEART: A still from Security

Africa | Nigeria
The Film Society of the Lincoln Center
(FSLC) and African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF)
is presenting the 21st edition of the New
York African Film Festival from 7 to 14
May at New York City’s Walter Reade
Theatre and Elinor Bunin Munroe Film
Centre.
The theme for this year’s festival is
‘Revolution and Liberation in the Digital
Age’. AFF Executive Director says: “While
American cinema started from popular
films and progressed to art house, film in
Africa went in reverse, garnering
international interest through the art
house genre before moving to popular
cinema. Consequently, most of the films
about Africa during its ‘art house’ phase
cornered African cinema into a genre in
itself, one that was perhaps not easily
accessible.
“Today the golden era of technology
not only allows the African public to see
films made about their own realities but
also exhorts each generation of
filmmakers to raise the bar with the
stories they tell about the continent and
its diaspora, resulting in a digital
revolution.”
Although the programme includes
productions from all over Africa, the
festival gives a special nod to the
centenary of Nigerian unification.
Although it took place 46 years before
Nigeria gained its independence, the
unification of its northern and southern
territories is a key date in the country’s
history. On one hand it forged a nation
that has become one of the continent’s
powerhouses. On the other hand, it
forced the peoples in the region into an
uneasy union that has been the cause of
much conflict ever since.
The opening feature of the festival is
the Nigerian dark comedy Confusion Wa
Na, directed by Kenneth Gyang. The film
is set in an anonymous Nigerian city and
tells the story of a group of strangers
whose paths cross with devastating
consequences. For one character, the
events are indication of the impending
collapse of Nigerian society.
The centerpiece of the festival is the
Nigeria / UK co-production Half of a
Yellow Sun, which looks at the history and
nature of Nigerian unity in a far more
direct manner. Starring Thandie Newton
and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film tells the
story of four people whose lives are
impacted in different ways by the
Nigerian Civil War. The screening of this
film precedes its official theatrical release.
In keeping with its theme, the festival
will also feature three films about major
political events and personalities in Africa.
From Zimbabwe comes Roy Agyemang’s
documentary, Mugabe: Villain or Hero?,
which offers an inside look into the aging
leader’s government and probes the fight
between African and Western leaders for
Africa’s minerals and land. Ibrahim El
Batout’s Winter of Discontent examines
the Arab Spring protests in Egypt and the
experimental short Kuhani contemplates
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexual Act.
The African Film Festival New York
offers Africa’s filmmakers a golden
opportunity to show their work on an
international platform. FSLC Associate
Director of Programming, Marian
Masone, says: “There are long and proud
cinematic traditions in countries all over
the African continent and, at the same
time, there are new voices and new
means of expression. We are happy that
the festival this year will be able to share
the work of these artists, who are
exploring both myth
and modernity.”
At a gala evening held at Emperor’s
Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa,
the nominees for the 2014 African Movie
Academy Awards (AMAA) were
announced.
Aside from the high number of
nominations garnered by productions
from South Africa, such as Of Good
Report (13 nominations) and The
Forgotten Kingdom (nominated in nine
categories), what was really notable was
that the list of nominees represented all
regions of the continent. The AMAAs,
perhaps more so than some other film
and television awards on the continent,
are genuinely pan-African in scope.
Categories such as Best Film still show
a strong presence by the ‘usual suspects’
– the continent’s two major film
production centres, South Africa and
Nigeria. From the former, Of Good
Report and The Forgotten Kingdom (a
co-production with Lesotho) are in the
running for the big prize, while the West
African filmmaking dynamo has
Potomanto and Accident in the running.
One surprising entry into this category is
Children of Troumaron, the feature film
debut of Mauritian duo Harrikrishna and
Sharvan Anenden.
Other categories showed a truly
remarkable diversity of nominees. Best
Short Film, for example, features films
from Kenya (Haunted Soul), Tanzania
(Siriya Mtungi), Gabon (Dialemi), Nigeria
(New Horizon, Living Funeral), Mali
(Nandy l’Orpheline) and South Africa
(Phindile’s Heart), while Best Animation
boasts entrants from Burkina Faso (The
Hare and the Lion), Morocco (Thank God
It’s Friday) and Mozambique (The Brats
and the Toy Thief), in addition to Khumba
from South Africa and Leila from Nigeria.
Comments by Tony Anih, Director of
Administration for the AMAAs, on the
eve of the nominee announcements in
April, affirmed the continental emphasis
of the awards and also, from a South
African point of view, demonstrated the
country’s increasing role in the making
and consumption of films on the
continent. “AMAA is a continental brand
and reward system for motion picture
practitioners. It is our way of promoting
the Africanness of the award and also
celebrating our culture and diversity. This
year we decided to come to South Africa
because of the level of growing
popularity and acceptability of African
films, most especially Nollywood and
Gollywood movies in the country.”
The award ceremony is set to take
place in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The date
has yet to be confirmed.
African Film Festival New York commemorates
Nigerian unification
The AMAAs: a truly
continental affair
REVOLUTION AND LIBERATION: Kenneth
Gyang’s Confusion Na Wa will open the festival
The highly-anticipated Half of a Yellow Sun
is one of the main attractions of the festival

Zambia | AFrica
A new Zambian movie focusing on the ills
of gender-based violence (GBV)
premiered recently, adding to the
country’s growing film industry.
LSK Heroes, produced by a leading
local private station Muvi Television,
premiered in Fresh View Cinema in
Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, on
14 March. The levels of violence against
women are escalating in Zambia,
prompting various stakeholders to team
up and tackle this resident evil.
The movie is about an abused woman
who is trapped in the house by her
abusive husband and her only hope for
survival depends on a group of
opinionated individuals on a bus who also
have their own struggles to fight.
The film was written, directed and
produced by Zambian producer and
actor Henry Joe Sakala. The director of
photography was Frank Sibbuku and the
executive producer was Steve Nyirenda,
Muvi TV proprietor who has a passion for
local production. LSK Heroes forms part
of Nyirenda and Muvi TV’s ongoing
efforts to increase the number of local
productions on Zambian TV and cinema
screens.
Featuring a cast of stars old and new,
LSK Heroes centres on Patience, an
abused wife, who decides to leave her
abusive husband. Her only way out is a
group of colourful, opinionated
individuals on a bus. The big question is:
will they turn back and save her?
The inspiration for the story came from
the many cases of gender based violence
(GBV) being reported in the media.
Sakala knows that there are many more
cases of GBV that are not being reported
in communities and what saddens him
the most is the fact that society does not
want to help the abused woman in a
relationship, opting instead to let the
couple deal with the problem. This is the
attitude that LSK Heroes seeks to change.
The message is that we are all involved
and we all must lend a helping hand to
abused women.
The film premiered at Zambian cinema
chain Freshview recently and is enjoying
good public response. “The response
that we received for this film clearly shows
that the Zambian people are ready for
Zambian cinema and they are ready and
willing to watch, in their numbers,
Zambian stories. – stories that depict our
way of life, stories that highlight the issues
that are affecting us,” said Sakala.
There is no doubt the Zambian film
industry is growing. This multi-million
Kwacha industry has the potential to help
reduce the high levels of unemployment.
The film industry can provide jobs to
many people who are skilled in other
fields apart from filmmaking and acting. It
is steadily proving to be vital in enhancing
economic growth through
job creation.
“We need film schools, acting schools
and other schools where all this raw talent
that we have can go to and sharpen their
skills. Funding for these movies is also
very cardinal. The private sector is doing
its bit in supporting the film industry –
although they can do more – but the
government really needs to come in and
do even more to get this industry off the
ground,” Sakala says.
– Gethsemane Mwizabi
New Zambian
film tackles
gender-based
violence
A SMASH HIT: Bibah Ndamba as Patience in LSK Heroes
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Africa |
C
onfined to an exclusive and limited
Africa-loving audience, these
movies are generally screened at a
small number of film festivals
dedicated to African cinema, without
being able to break through to the world
distribution market.
Before the independence and
decolonisation drives of the 1960s and
1970s, France, the United Kingdom,
Portugal and Belgium were still sharing
control of the African continent. Egypt
was an exception, having gained its
independence and recognition as a
sovereign state in 1936, and declared a
republic in 1953.
This political situation had a direct
effect on the Cannes Film Festival
selections. In 1946, the feature film Dunia,
from Egyptian director Mohamed Karim,
was screened at the festival in
competition, as if to show the blossoming
of Egyptian cinema (the country
produced 55 movies between 1939
and 1945).
Up until 1970, Tunisia, Algeria and
Morocco were represented at Cannes
through 22 films, which were the work of
French directors; Niger, Gabon, Congo
and Senegal had a minor presence with
four films. In 1952, Morocco even
received the Grand Prix for Othello, a film
directed by a famous American director,
Orson Welles.
It was necessary to wait until 1959 to
see another African director, the Tunisian
Khaled Abdul Wahab, enter the
competition with the short-film
Le seigneur Julius.
During 66 years of the festival,
47 African movies were selected to be
screened, including short films and
features. Through the 54 African states,
only 10 have had the good fortune to be
admitted into competition. Among these,
South Africa has had the most entries (10),
followed by Egypt (nine) and Tunisia (four).
South Africa, which first entered in
competition in 1952 with Errol Hind’s
short film Glimpses of South Africa n°5,
has not yet introduced a black filmmaker
into the Croisette. This is a situation that
may change soon, considering the
international recognition now received
by the likes of Khalo Matabane or
Jahmil X.T. Qubeka.
Among African nations Egypt was the
first to compete at Cannes, in 1946. South
Africa followed in 1952. Seven years later,
Tunisia followed. Then in 1962, Morocco
came onto the scene, represented by
Abdelaziz Ramdani‘s short film Souls and
Rhythms. In 1964, sub-Saharan Africa
increased its representation when
Senegal’s Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
entered his short Lamb. The Algerian
director Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina’s
feature, The Winds of the Aures, was
accepted in 1967.
Twenty years later, Mali was in the
running with Souleymane Cissé’s feature
film Yeelen. Then Burkina Faso made an
appearance with Idrissa Ouedraogo’s
Tilaï in 1990. Lusophone Africa was not
forgotten, as Guinea-Bissau, represented
by Flora Gomes’ Po di sangui came onto
the scene in 1996. Fourteen years later,
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and his feature
film A Screaming Man put Chad into
Cannes competition in 2010, and again in
2013 with Grisgris.
These selections make up a total of
32 filmmakers. Egypt’s Youssef Chahine
has had the most selections (five times),
followed by South African Jamie Uys and
Algerian Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina (four
times each). No African women have
been selected in the main competition
but South Africa’s Elaine Proctor
presented her feature film Friends in the
1993 Un certain regard selection.
The same year, Jane Campion from
New Zealand became the only female to
win a Palme d’Or with her feature The
Piano. This year, she is the President of
the Jury. To date, few African filmmakers
have been given the chance to serve on
the jury; out of the 10 countries selected
for the official competition over the years,
only six have been represented on the
jury. South Africa, Guinea-Bissau and
Algeria have not yet had this opportunity.
Moreover, among the 47 African
movies selected in the official
competition, only five have won awards.
The Wind of the Aurès by Mohamed
Lakhdar-Hamina (Algeria) won the prize
for Best First Feature in 1967. Chronicle of
The Year of Fire, also directed by Hamina,
won the only Palme d’Or in African
History in 1975.
In 1987, Malian director Souleymane
Cisse won a Jury Prize with Yeelen. Then
in 1990, Idrissa Ouédraogo’s Tilaï (Burkina
Faso) received the Grand Prix. Twenty
years later, Chadian Mahamat-Saleh
Haroun won the Jury Prize for A
Screaming Man.
Unfortunately, Egypt and South Africa,
the two countries with the longest
histories in the competition, have yet to
earn their Cannes’ recognition.
– Claire Diao
Cannes and Africa:
a shy relationship
Created in 1939, the
Cannes Film Festival
is, like its closest
competitors Venice and
Berlin, a major cultural
event that Africa has
barely been able to
infiltrate: on the one
hand because of the
huge deficit of national,
regional or continental
African film industries;
on the other hand
because of the lack of
public interest in and
the absence of
African stories from
world screens.
CANNES RECOGNITION: A scene from A Screaming Man, by Chadian director
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
A still from the Algerian production, Chronicle of the Year of Fire, the only African film so far to
receive the Palme d’Or
Idrissa Ouédraogo’s Tilaï (Burkina Faso), winner of the 1990 Grand Prix

CANNES |
T
he NFVF’s plans for this year’s
festival revolve around the country’s
celebrations of 20 years of
democracy, says CEO Zama Mkosi.
“We will be looking at our past
achievements, as well as celebrating the
20-year milestone. Our schedule also
includes co-production forums with Brazil,
UK and Canada. One of the key
messages we are sending is for countries
to work with us in telling South African
stories through collaborations, utilising
our resources as well as recognising those
stories as having international appeal.
Co-productions play a key role in
ensuring that our stories continue to be
told, that our filmmakers are exposed to
the global community or international
markets and also offer opportunities to
create global networks beyond our
borders.” The NFVF’s focus is not only on
nurturing the co-production treaties that
are already in place, but also on the
development of new ones.
20 years of democracy
The ’20 years of democracy theme’, Mkosi
says, will be reflected throughout the
NFVF’s Cannes programme. The plan is
to showcase films that either speak
directly to the theme or demonstrate
what 20 years of democracy has meant to
South African filmmakers. Among the
films selected for exhibition are Rehad
Desai’s searing documentary on the
Marikana massacre, Miners Shot Down;
Khalo Matabane’s Nelson Mandela: the
Myth and Me, which asks the question,
“How do people interpret Nelson
Mandela’s message of freedom,
forgiveness and reconciliation in the
world of today?”; and Donovan Marsh’s
heist thriller iNumber Number. “We hope
that these films will resonate with our
liberation,” Mkosi says. “We will also host
a South Africa Day, which will offer
pavilion visitors more about South Africa
as a filmmaking destination.
The significance
of Cannes
The importance of the Cannes Film
Festival in the context of the world film
industry cannot be denied, but how
important is it really as a platform for the
NFVF’s operations and how effective is it
in this regard? “The Cannes successes
have been phenomenal over the past few
years,” says Mkosi, “and it therefore
remains very relevant to our mandate.
“Our focus this year is on filmmakers that
are looking at securing co-production
deals and films that speak to the ‘20 years
of freedom’ theme. Last year we had
market screenings of three films: Blitz
Patrollie, Black South Easter and Khumba
to various sales agents, distributors and
financiers and co-production treaty
partners. At the end of the festival,
Blitz Patrollie had signed an international
distribution deal with German sales and
production company Picture Tree.
Khumba also concluded a distribution
deal with Metropolitan Filmexport, a
major French distributor. To top it all, the
NFVF is also proud that Zulu, another
co-production – this time, with France
– was honoured as a closing film at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival.”
Measures of success
How then does the NFVF measure the
success of its work at Cannes? “As our
participation at Cannes is to promote the
country’s projects and to ensure that our
filmmakers are exposed to the
international arena, our success is
determined by their achievement at the
festival,” says Mkosi. “For example, last
year the country was well represented
through films such as Khumba. The
signing of the distribution deal for
Khumba by one of France’s biggest
distribution companies was a major
coup for the production company
Triggerfish, and that is the kind of deal
we aim to achieve at Cannes.”
The NFVF’s delegation to Cannes is at
the festival from 15 to 20 May.
– Warren Holden
NFVF at
Cannes
SHOT DOWNSHOT DOWN
SHOT DOWN
SHOT DOWN
SHOT DOWNAﬁlmby
RehadDesai
MINERS
SHOT DOWN
SOUTH AFRICA WILL NEVER BE THE
SAME AGAIN
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RESONATING LIBERATION:
Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me, to be screened at Cannes.
Donovan Marsh’s film iNumber Number is among the South African
films selected for exhibition at Cannes this year.
Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down, which interrogates the success or
failure of 20 years of South African democracy, will also be showcased.
With the 2014 edition of the
world’s biggest film festival
taking place from 14 to 25 May,
the National Film and Video
Foundation (NFVF) will be sending
a delegation to the southern
French city to showcase the
latest South African films, foster
co-production arrangements
and demonstrate South Africa’s
prowess as a film producing
nation.

CANNES |
F
or most production companies,
when it comes to filming locations in
South Africa, only two provinces are
ever really in the running: Gauteng
and the Western Cape – with the latter
often winning out over the former. As the
competition between the two rages, the
country’s second most populous province
often gets ignored. This is rather
inexplicable since the province has a
wealth of locations to offer.
From the ports of Durban to the grassy
hills and valleys of the Midlands, from the
Zulu heartland to the upmarket holiday
homes along the beaches on the North
Coast, there are few landscapes required
by film crews that KZN cannot provide.
As a centre of film production, KZN is
minuscule in comparison to its two rivals.
Production does take place there but not
on a scale large enough to sustain the
livelihoods of those citizens of the
province pursuing careers in the industry,
many of which make their way to
Johannesburg or Cape Town.
It is the mission of the KZN Film
Commission to change this state of
affairs. A provincial act, the KwaZulu-
Natal Film Commission Act 3 of 2010,
gave the go-ahead for the establishment
of the commission, which would operate
under the aegis of the province’s
Department of Economic Development
and Tourism.
However it was only in February 2013
that a board was appointed. Eight
months later, after the office was set up
and equipped with basic infrastructure,
the CEO, Carol Coetzee was appointed,
allowing the Commission, to begin its
operations in earnest.
Mandate
According to the terms of the act, the
Commission is mandated to promote and
market the province as a global
destination for film production; to
develop, promote and market – locally,
nationally and internationally – the film
industry in the province; to facilitate
investment in the film industry in the
province; to provide and encourage the
provision of opportunities for persons,
especially from disadvantaged
communities, to enter and participate in
the film industry in the province; to
address historical imbalances in the
infrastructure and in the distribution of
skills and resources in the film industry
and the province; and to contribute to an
enabling environment for job creation in
the film industry in the province.
Objectives
In fulfilling its mandate, the Commission
has set itself the following objectives: to
promote and market KZN as a choice film
destination; to secure strategic
investment through facilitation and
promotion of the film industry in KZN; to
develop and maintain an efficient
regulatory and governance framework for
sustained economic development; to
implement interventions that drive
transformation, diversification and service
excellence in the film industry; to create
opportunities in film production and
distribution for PDIs; to operate an
effective administrative business process
inculcating governance, risk and
compliance; and to develop in-house
capabilities and skills in order to provide
world class quality service to clients.
Projects and services
Among the projects that the Commission
will initiate in meeting its objectives are
skills development programmes such as
internships, women and youth incubation
programmes and bursaries. It will also
foster the development of small, medium
and micro enterprises (SMMEs) by
mentoring and incubating emerging
companies. As is standard practice in
Gauteng and Western Cape, the
Commission will undertake familiarisation
tours to promote the province to
investors and production companies.
It also plans to set up a film fund, which
will provide support throughout the value
chain, and to launch promotion
campaigns on local and international
platforms.
Within and around these far-reaching
plans, the Commission will offer advice
and guidance to companies wishing to
shoot in the province, providing a
one-stop shop for all film related queries,
including locations support. It will also act
as a bridging organisation between film
producers and incentives and funding
schemes offered on a national level and
will be able to assist navigation through
the bureaucratic process.
The Commission can be approached
directly for project funding as well.
The Comission’s Jackie Motsepe says:
“We are positioned to be the next big
film destination. Our mandate is to
stimulate the economy in the area of film
and thereby contribute to the GDP of the
country. We plan to put KwaZulu-Natal on
the map when it comes to the film
industry. Over and above being a
destination for film, we plan to grow the
film industry from a skills and facilities
point of view.
“We will also be a content generator
through our film fund, funding films by
local filmmakers, as well as those from
elsewhere who are planning to shoot their
films in KwaZulu-Natal. With the
anticipated growth in the film industry we
will provide the necessary opportunities
and platforms for transformation of the
film industry in KZN.” – Warren Holden
The KZN Film Commission forges ahead
Established in
accordance with a
provincial law first
passed in 2010, the
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)
Film Commission is all
set to begin fulfilling
its mandate to make
the province a film
production centre.

Opinion | ADCETERA
“W
e don’t earn so much.
And those people who
are just sitting and just
doing the talking; they
earn much,” says an impoverished man
interviewed in the new film Horn directed
by Dr Riena-Marie Loader. The man’s
statement applies to the debate on
rhino poaching. Last year 1 004 rhino
were killed in South Africa, their horns
smuggled to the East where their value
is measured in myth, medicine and
prestige.
Much of the killing is being done by
impoverished men. The talking is being
done by conservationists, rhino farmers
and government, the key discussion
being whether to legalise the horn trade
and supposedly save rhino through
farming and the use of the profit to tackle
poaching. The counter argument is that
farmers and government are just out to
make money. Money talks. Wealthy
people talk. There is a lot of talking, but
no priority put on poverty, one of the
most aggravating factors in poaching.
Office bound animal lovers troll reports
of rhino slaughter on the web, perhaps
believing their statements are revelatory;
that they will make a difference. A picture
of a Thai man posing with a rhino shot in a
legal hunting operation prompts:
“He needs shooting, the bastard,” and,
“I fucking hate people.” The more
reasonable statements go like this:
“Killing rhinos for something utterly
unnecessary and useless is murder,” and,
“I truly believe that exploiting animals for
profit is morally low and amounts to the
same as the exploitation of humans in the
slave industry,” an ironic statement
considering it is the exploitation of
humans, not animals, that drives
poaching. Asians are duped into thinking
the horn is of significant value and the
poor who live near wildlife areas are
compelled to kill rhino for as little as
R10 000.
”It is quite literally a human problem
from start to finish with people killing the
animals on one end of the chain and
consuming the ‘product’ on the other,”
says Loader. “However, the minimalism of
this binary always sat uncomfortably with
me, since I sensed that reality must be
much more complex. It cannot just be
about stopping the poaching in Africa
and the consuming in Asia.
“While driving through the Leseding
Township in the Limpopo province, this
dimension presented itself to me in all its
authentic reality. We were there to
interview an employee of the Waterberg
Welfare Society, July Letsebe, who lives
with HIV/AIDS and actively works to
prevent the disease from spreading in his
community. Upon arriving, we walked
down one of the streets to film some
cutaways. Dozens of toddlers came
running towards us, curious why we were
there. I looked around, taking in the
scene. On one end of the street there
were the first of hundreds of makeshift
shacks. Everywhere there were barefoot
children playing in the dust. No adult in
sight, except for two women entering the
small HIV clinic we came to film.
“Though I did not include this moment
in the film, it significantly informed my
thinking about it. I felt overwhelmed by
the scale of poverty, unemployment,
HIV / AIDS and abandonment in an area
with a high rhino population. From the
start I intended to highlight the social
dimension of rhino poaching in South
Africa, yet the extent of what it actually
involves vividly dawned on me at this
point. It presented itself in its human form
– in the face of a teenager who had never
seen a rhino, in the eyes of a child sitting
in the street instead of being at school
and in the belly of a girl heavily pregnant
at the age of 15. The cinematographer,
David Cawley, felt similarly overwhelmed,
saying how hard it is to see the rhino ever
standing a chance in the light of such
socio-economic desperation.”
Besides interviewing politicians and
conservationists about their views on the
matter, Loader focuses on specific
anti-poaching units in South Africa’s
Waterberg region. In a unique take on
documentary filmmaking, she follows a
created character who is placed in a very
real training programme for an anti-
poaching unit. The intention is to
determine how effective anti-poaching as
a solution-driven method is to combat the
surge in poaching. A key dimension is the
assessment of rhino monitor training as a
forward-looking strategy that serves the
protection of not only rhinos, but also the
betterment of the wider community.
“Most of them do the training, not out
of a desire to save a species, but as a way
out of unemployment,” says Loader.
“Protecting rhino becomes a way out of
abject poverty. I realised that this
dimension presents an opportunity to see
the rhino as a living asset, not for
individual profit but for the social
empowerment of whole communities.
The experience of making the film
therefore engendered a hopeful note of
understanding the dilemma that many
underprivileged communities face daily.
“As one of the trainees explained
during filming: People doing this job live
in fear, because they are often offered
lucrative cash for information useful to
poachers. If they accept, they kill the
rhino; if they refuse, they get killed
themselves.”
The human factor in rhino poaching
Anton Crone discusses the new documentary Horn, which considers the
human factor in Africa’s rhino poaching crisis.
A THORNY ISSUE: Riena-Marie Loader’s film Horn explores how the human factor, often ignored in anti-poaching efforts, is one of the most important elements behind this lucrative criminal industry

ADCETERA | Report on the South African commercials industry
A media firestorm
In the build up to 7 May, when the public
voted in the national elections, The
African National Congress (ANC) and
opposition party, the Democratic Alliance
(DA) decorated newspapers with some
explosive headlines surrounding the
Nkandla saga, South Africa’s climbing
unemployment statistics and frustrations
over poor service delivery. However,
another media war was waged between
the two parties over the approach to
advertising their election campaigns.
An SMS saying Zuma had stolen the
public’s money to build his R246m home
was sent to potential voters by the DA,
which resulted in a court battle between
the two parties, with the ANC claiming
the campaign was an infringement of the
electoral act. The South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had
refused to flight a DA television advert
and subsequently blocked all of the
party’s radio and television commercials.
Though the SABC eventually broadcast
the ads, it begs the question as to
whether the phrase “free and fair” is as
applicable to pre-electoral advertising
campaigns as it is to the elections
themselves.
Subjective spin
Conceptualised by M&C Saatchi Abel,
the creative agency appointed by the DA
as its communication partner for the 2014
elections, and produced by Frieze Films,
the DA commercials told the personal
stories of ordinary South Africans and
party leaders seeking change. Faheem
Chaudhry, Account Director at M&C
Saatchi Abel, says: “The adverts step
away from the political rhetoric we are so
used to now as a people. It allows the
voice of the DA supporter to guide the
campaign and the narrative. This was
delivered in the most authentic and real
way – by letting people tell their
unscripted stories.”
Shooting over seven days in February
and March at a number of locations in
Gauteng and the Western Cape, Frieze
Films captured footage for the adverts in
a documentary style using two camera
units, each armed with an Arri Alexa, in
order to convey both the politicians’ and
voters’ testimonials.
The ANC’s approach was themed
around 2014 being the 20th anniversary
of democracy in South Africa, and their
advert tells the story of the country’s
advances and improvements since
coming into power in 1994.
Star Productions produced the ANC
advert, which was developed by
advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather, and
due to the nature of it being a vignette
montage, six shoot days were broken up
according to when the crew had access to
specific locations within Gauteng,
Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. The
advert was shot in February using the Arri
Alexa High Speed Camera and Cooke S4
Lenses and was produced by Adam Thal.
Taking the moral
high ground
Aside from the political battle which has
played out in the public domain, South
African citizens using social media find it
hard to spend five minutes on any online
platform without being exposed to a
string of conflicting opinions related to
the opposing parties in this year’s
elections. It seems that everyone had a
strong view, which more often than not
was presented in a very emotional way.
Taking this into consideration, some
might have thought that participating in
the promotion of either political party
campaign might have stirred angst or
caused conflict between those taking
part in their creation.
However, the respective participating
agencies and production companies
maintained that their focus was directed
towards delivering a high quality
product, which they could be proud to
put their name on.
“At our core we are focused on our
craft. Regardless of whether a client is
popular or not, our passion is to find the
core message, the part of the product
we really identify with, and tell that
story. Of course politics brings a certain
emotionality to the way people might
perceive the commercial, but what
makes us proud is that we were able to
utilise our skills and respective passions
to tell a story that it is close to our
hearts,”
remarks Thal.
Chaudhry echoes this notion and says,
“We saw this as a communication job, just
like many other campaigns we work on.
As with our other clients, we are used to
working on brands that operate in highly
competitive environments.”
Thal concludes, “In advertising there
are morality plays across the board. From
burger ads to denims, from cleaning
products to alcohol, intersecting
moralities will always have an influence in
the way the brand is perceived. Making
peace with that is an important step
towards embracing the passion, intensity
and craft required to make a successful
and fulfilling career in this industry.”
– Carly Barnes
Playing politics
ANNIVERSARY OF DEMOCRACY: Behind the scenes on the set of ANC TV advert
Let’s face it, there’s no such thing
as a political election without a
little controversy, but with South
Africa’s national elections being
somewhat of a game-changer,
campaign competition reached an
all new high in 2014.
PERSONAL APPROACH: The DA’s Mmusi Maimane in one of the party’s election adverts

| ADCETERA
Art Director Marina Andreoli and
Designer Sonia Dearling from
Johannesburg-based creative agency,
Joe Public, are the winners of the 2014
Cinemark Young Lions Competition, a
massively prestigious challenge which
affords media creatives the opportunity
to represent South Africa at the 61st
Cannes Lions Festival in France.
An overwhelming 117 talented
creatives were given 48 hours to come up
with a 60-second television commercial
with a powerful message to motivate and
inspire South African audiences to vote in
the 2014 national elections. Bearing in
mind that the winning entry would be
screened across the Ster-Kinekor cinema
network, Andreoli and Dearling began to
carefully construct an impactful cinematic
experience suited to the campaign.
Andreoli and Dearling say: “We knew it
would be a challenge to make an ad that
people actually wanted to see. By its very
nature, the brief required that we reach
and affect an audience who are apathetic
and jaded. It is an important time for
South Africans right now and we are
excited to contribute and make
a difference.”
Aiming to create an activation that
went beyond just talking about voting,
the dynamic duo focused on encouraging
audiences to consider how it might be to
live with the consequences of not voting.
Their interactive campaign involved
inviting cinema goers to download an
app which would allow them to vote for
their preferred movie experience,
knowing that the majority of people
would ignore the offering. Once inside
the cinema and faced with the possibility
to watch a film in another language and in
a less than comfortable environment, this
became a tangible and brilliant parallel of
how audiences’ passive attitude could
negatively affect their experience.
“The emotional impact on the
audience is what makes it so effective.
When the audience is forced to deal with
other people’s choices they are aware of
what voting means and the consequences
of not voting become very real,” explain
Andreoli and Dearling, who hope that the
advert will spark an emotive chain
reaction in audiences.
“To be honest, we are hoping for a
reaction of confusion then frustration
then anger then injustice then relief then
guilt and then clarity, which will hopefully
drive the audience to vote,” they explain.
The two young creatives will be flying
to Cannes for the festival, which takes
place from 15 to 21 June, and though
excited and grateful to be going, they are
also nervous to be competing against
talented creatives from around the world.
Yvonne Diogo, Marketing Manager for
Cinemark, the local representative for the
Cannes Lions International Festival of
Creativity, comments that the company is
thrilled for the winning team and that
their submission really depicted creative
execution. “There is no doubt that they
will be South African representatives of a
very high calibre at Cannes this year and
will do us all proud,” says Diogo.
“We are really excited to go to Cannes.
It’s going to be amazing. Visiting the
south of France is unreal. Meeting
creatives from around the world and
seeing great work is going to be really
inspiring,” Andreoli and Dearling
conclude. – Carly Barnes
Bonkers and utterly brilliant, the new
Nando’s ‘Give Your Body What it Wants’
spots, conceptualised by creative
advertising agency Metropolitan
Republic and brought to life by Cape
Town-based Plank Film Productions, they
are a fun breakaway from the
controversial commercials, which South
African audiences have come to expect
from the brand.
Make no mistake, the typical Nando’s
humour, which is infamously clever and
culturally relevant, is still very much a part
of the campaign, which features flying
fast food, a quirky voiceover and a bunch
of typical South Africans whose bodies
seem to be possessed by a craving for all
things – peri-peri.
The two adverts, ‘Burger Meal’ and
‘Festive Meal’, were shot over two days in
Johannesburg during March at a number
of different locations including Nasrec
train station, Nasrec Expo centre and
Ndofaya Mall.
Anco Henning, Executive Producer at
Plank Films, who worked on the spots
with Director Peter Pohorsky and DOP
Werner Maritz, says their biggest
challenge was managing a very quick
turnaround time on a production, which
required many set builds.
“We had eight work days from official
sign-off to do prep, castings and
call-backs, find locations, get all the PPMs
and approvals done and then we had
three days to build an entire food court,”
explains Henning. “At one stage we were
composing music in one room of the
building, doing final mix in another, doing
voiceovers in another, animating the end
titles downstairs and starting the grade
on the second ad, all at once… and we
had a ball doing it.”
Without the luxury of time, the
production team had to be innovative in
their approach to filming, so that a high
quality final product could be achieved.
To achieve the effect of the actors
losing control of their own bodies, Jenni
Robinson and David Mahlangu from 4FX
and Stunts rigged the actors with green
poles and set them against a green
screen, puppeteering their arms to create
the erratic movement in their
performance. These shots were then
combined with a background plate in
post-production, which was performed
by Blade Post, and refined using VFX and
a rotoscoping technique.
Though the lead cast were all carefully
selected and the extras handpicked, as
the concept called for creative
interpretation and an ability to deliver
physical performance, Henning’s casting
philosophy remained just as it would be
for any project.
“The important thing is to not limit the
brief by being too specific about race,
age or gender. You never know what
someone might bring that you
could never have scripted. Whoever
brings the best interpretation of the
role, even if it’s completely different
to the script, gets shortlisted and we
might change things according to
what they bring to the party with
their unique stamp on things,” says
Henning. – Carly Barnes
Joe Public
whiz-kids win
Cinemark
Young Lions
Competition
Taken over by tastiness
EFFECTIVE EMOTIONAL IMPACT: Marina Andreoli and Sonia Dearling
FUN BREAKAWAY: Behind the scenes on the Nando’s
Give Your Body What It Wants Festive Meal advert

All cellular networks are not created equal, according to a new Cell C advert which
follows a string of cheeky jabs, mostly aimed at rival mobile operator, MTN.
The dispute between the cellphone networks involves cuts in call termination rates
set by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), and has
played out in double-page newspaper spreads, courtrooms and on radio since
February. By reducing the rates which operators charge each other to transfer calls
between their networks, ICASA has opened up the potential for smaller operators, like
Cell C, to lower retail prices and gain a bigger share of the industry. MTN is one of the
major players that are fighting against the new rates regulation.
Benjamin Kaufman of 7Films produced the commercial and says the ad conveys the
message that Cell C fights for South Africans by offering fair and easy-to-understand
products – including the lowest guaranteed flat call rate in the country. His brief from
Johannesburg-based creative agency, FCB 1886, was to create a commercial
highlighting the fight that Cell C is undertaking for the South African consumer and the
result is powerful and uplifting.
In the commercial, a voiceover plays over a montage of inspirational footage featuring
South Africans who express their independence through raised fists, loudspeakers and
protests. These scenes are intercut with shots conveying the everyday lives in which they
live, ranging from children playing in a suburban garden to an elderly tribesman looking
at the horizon. Kaufman comments: “We wanted as much of a cross-section of South
Africans as possible.”
Kaufman says that, although the production team had to stick to key points taken
from the voiceover, they did have creative freedom over some of the scenes as it was a
vignette style commercial. “It was important that the commercial was cinematic and had
large scale to it,” he adds.
Executive producer, Jason Plumbly produced the advert along with Kaufman; and the
DOPs, Trevor Brown, Kim Hinrichs and Lourens van Rensburg, who also directed the
advert, shot the spot using two Arri Alexas, a Steadicam rig and an aerial drone. The
Steadicam was operated by Richard Rolf, while Kobus Swart was responsible for art
direction and Philip Stapelberg for wardrobe. – Carly Barnes
Cell C campaigns for the people
Behind the scenes of Cell C’s ‘Reasons to Believe’ commercial
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| Film
F
rom the producer of the award-
winning Material and the director of
hard-hitting Man on Ground, comes
a new film that challenges old-
fashioned notions about black movie
audiences in South Africa and explores
one of the most exciting aspects of life:
falling in love.
Three years in the making with
Omotoso as lead writer and director and
Thorpe as co-writer and producer, filming
on Tell Me Sweet Something began on
5 May in the heart of Johannesburg.
The modern romantic comedy tells the
story of Moratiwa (Nomzamo Mbatha), an
aspiring writer who runs a bookstore in
the heart of Johannesburg, whose life
changes when she meets and falls in love
with Cole (Maps Maponyane), a male
model who has never read a book in
his life.
Moratiwa and Cole become
romantically involved but complications
are set in motion when Sashi, Cole’s now
pregnant ex-girlfriend, shows up.
Catering to black South
African audiences’ needs
After doing a lot of research to disprove
the notion that movies made for black
audiences don’t do well at the box office,
Thorpe and Omotoso set out to make a
film that would appeal to young, urban
and hip black audiences whose cinema
needs are not being catered for in
South Africa.
Says Thorpe: “Black movies and stories
are often very gritty, which is totally
legitimate and important, but there is no
commercial, feel-good cinema outside of
something like White Wedding. After that
there was nothing, which in itself is
strange as the film was such a hit.”
Thorpe continues that they wanted to
do a rom com that utilises the
environment, Johannesburg in this case,
and doesn’t ignore it but rather
incorporates it as part of the film with the
Maboneng Precinct and Braamfontein as
primary locations.
“Akin has a notion that Johannesburg
as a city and black South Africans in
particular aren’t portrayed as loving and
in love and having those moments,” says
Thorpe. “For him that is an important
aspect of what is missing on our screens.”
Because of the content of the film,
Thorpe and Omotoso are going for a
cinematic look that is warm and
welcoming. “The idea is to reimagine
Johannesburg as a romantic city and in
that way we are going to choose to show
the city slightly differently and to try and
give people something else,”
adds Thorpe.
Mirroring a beautiful
African city
The film needs to mirror the idea about
people in Johannesburg falling in love
and having great times and as a result the
filmmakers are focused on showing the
beauty of the city, which is often
under-represented in most movies set in
the metropolis.
“We’ve chosen Maboneng because we
think it represents some kind of new
Johannesburg, which refers to a stylish
modern city which indicates a
progressiveness,” emphasises Thorpe.
Thorpe and Omotoso have tried to
inject as much intelligence into the
characters in the film as possible and
despite being written by men (both
married to strong feminists), Tell Me
Sweet Something is a women’s movie,
Thorpe says.
“We have spent a lot of time talking to
young and independent women, asking
advice and getting constant feedback
about attitudes,” continues Thorpe. “We
have been careful not to portray the
female lead as in any way subservient,
and therefore collaborated with women.
We want the film to model the idea that it
is okay for a woman to be independent
and not wait for a man to come and
save her.”
Another difference to traditional
romantic comedies is that Moratiwa has
commitment issues, which is something
usually associated with men. “So we
decided to give her that instead,” Thorpe
remarks.
A shared humanity
“Making films is the reminder of our
shared humanity in a very divided world
in which we spend so much time involving
ourselves inadvertently in working out
how we are different and how we like to
do things as opposed to other people,”
says Thorpe.
He stresses that the idea of shared
humanity is an important reminder that
we all laugh and cry and love our children
and all struggle with our personal
relationships.”
Thorpe concludes: “Romantic comedy
exploits the notion that two completely
opposite individuals can fall in love and
gives audiences a safe space in which to
watch something that warms their hearts.
And why not?”
Tell Me Sweet Something releases
nationwide through United International
Pictures in the first quarter of 2015 and
also stars Kagiso Lediga (Blitz Patrollie),
Thomas Gumede (Otelo Burning) and
Thembi Seete (of Boom Shaka). Matthew
Moodley and Cecil Barry of Red Pepper
Pictures are executive producers on
the film. – Martie Bester
Suave and modern
romantic comedy
beats to the heart
of Jozi
LOVING AND BEING IN LOVE:
The stars of Tell Me Sweet Something, Nomzamo Mbatha and Maps Maponyane
Tell Me Sweet Something by producer Robbie
Thorpe and director Akin Omotoso is a new
romantic comedy about love, life, laughter and a
shared humanity in downtown Johannesburg.

FILM |
O
ver four weeks in January 2013,
Alistair Orr and a small production
crew contended with the perils of
Panama while shooting
Indigenous, a horror film about five
friends who are hunted by a blood thirsty
jungle monster, the Chupacabra.
It’s a jungle out there
Orr is no stranger to slaughter, having
shot two low budget horror movies, The
Unforgiving and Rancid, in South Africa
before making his international directorial
debut. The films barely blipped on the
local radar, which, according to Orr is in
part due to a lack of marketing and
promotional support from South African
distributors, but managed to make a lot
of money through DVD sales overseas.
It was then that Orr set his sights
on Tinseltown.
“I banged out two very cheap films out
of my own pocket, sent them to whoever
would watch them overseas and didn’t
focus on the South African market.
Lionsgate Entertainment wanted to
remake The Unforgiving, a very low
budget movie that some industry friends
and I shot over eight weekends, and that
didn’t end up happening… but this film
did,” says Orr, whose initial contact with
Lionsgate led to him being asked to write
and direct Indigenous. He was required
to write the script in only a few months,
before heading to South America
to shoot.
Only in Hollywood
While Orr was able to bring South African
make-up artist Kate Blackman and DOP
Brendan Barnes along for the shoot, he
and co-producer James Samson had to
hustle the streets of Hollywood in search
of the remaining talent needed to make
the monster movie come to life.
“We were just two very naïve young guys
cruising around Hollywood, begging for
favours and sending out emails,” says Orr,
who managed to secure the services of
David LeRoy Anderson, a winner of two
Best Make-up Academy Awards for Men
in Black and The Nutty Professor, as well
as go-to Zombie impersonator, Mark
Steger, who featured in a number of
blockbusters including I Am Legend.
“Only in LA would you find someone
who does monsters for a living,” he jokes.
Real sweat
Set up in abandoned military barracks
along the Panama Canal and aided only
by a local line producer who helped
source crew and a jungle guide, Orr and
his team were faced with challenges that
went far beyond language barriers
and lighting.
“It’s easy to sit in LA and write a script,
but to actually find the locations in real life
was a different story. Luckily Panama is
tiny with only five million people in it, so if
you need something or if you are looking
for a certain location, somebody knows
somebody who can help you,” says Orr.
He continues: “That environment is
alive. There are snakes – coral snakes –
which, if they bite you, leave you with
three hours to live, and they have no
vaccine for it. There’s nothing you can do.
Mosquitoes were a big thing. To get the
gear to where we wanted to shoot we
had to take canoes, cable canopy tours
and trek the jungle. Even though we were
shooting handheld, it was still a big thing
to cart cameras and generators through
thick jungle.”
Though faced with a number of
obstacles set by Mother Nature, Orr
maintains that it was well worth it for the
electrifying moments he was able to
capture on film, and adds: “When you
are making a film and you see it unfold in
front of you, you can’t help but get
excited. It’s not fake sweat on you, it’s
real sweat.”
Post monstrosity
Before returning to Johannesburg as
co-founder of post-production house,
The Dark Side, Orr spent eight months
editing the movie unassisted, and made
several further trips to Panama for pick-up
shots. Orr was also able to enlist
assistance from Prime Focus, the VFX
team who worked on films, Machete
Kills and Gravity, to up the scare-factor
by adding some terrifying tweaks to
the movie’s imaginary creature.
“We shot a lot of the Chupacabra
creature in daylight, which was not the
best idea because there is nowhere to
hide any flaws. The Lionsgate
producers pulled a deal with the guy
doing VFX for Machete Kills to work on
the monster, distorting it a bit,
extending its mouth and making it a bit
more scary,” says Orr.
“I thought I was going to be there
for three months, and I ended up
being there for about a year and a
month,” remarks Orr, who concludes,
“Everyone underestimated this film.”
The film’s producers submitted it to
the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, which
took place from 16 to 27 April in New
York, where it was one of seven movies
chosen worldwide to premiere in the
midnight section of the event.
Indigenous will also receive a theatrical
release in the US and other territories
around the world. – Carly Barnes
‘Indigenous’ talent poached for Panama flick
FILMMAKING… A SCARY BUSINESS: A still from Indigenous
Alistair Orr, the South African-based director
recruited to direct Indigenous
South African director
Alistair Orr was an
emerging filmmaker
battling to break into
the local industry,
until he got the call
that everyone dreams
about; a heavy-weight
Hollywood exec asking:
‘How soon can you get
here?’

Durban FilmMartat the Durban International Film Festival
www.durbanfilmmart.com
Africa’s leading film co-production
event. Make connections and share
knowledge with leading film financiers
and industry professionals. Four days,
one venue, unlimited opportunities.
Delegate registration is now open.
Find out more on
www.durbanfilmmart.com
Durban FilmMart is a joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF)
18-21
July
2014
TruthAdvertising

Documentary |
“T
he true miracle of the 1994
elections,” John Kani says in
his narration of 1994: The
Bloody Miracle, “is that they
happened at all. If this was a miracle, it
was a truly bloody one.”
Three years in the making, 1994: The
Bloody Miracle arose from Rickards’ and
Haitsma’s belief that people in South
Africa take freedom and democracy for
granted. “We wanted our film to confront
the viewer with the levels of anger and
fear that existed in the lead-up to the first
democratic elections,” says Rickards, “lest
we forget how close our country came to
the brink of civil war. Despite all our
complexities and hang-ups, we don’t
always acknowledge the extent to which
we are impacted by the trauma of our
recent history. This often manifests in
deep-seated, even unconscious
prejudice. We wanted our protagonists,
who represent extreme positions – or
have done in the past – to throw into
sharp relief the kinds of fear, anger and
bigotry that still divide our deeply
unequal society.”
The radical fringes
So, unlike other documentaries on the
subject, Rickards and Haitsma’s
exploration of the 1994 transition focuses
not on the major players – the negotiators
in the dialogues between the National
Party (NP) government and the African
National Congress (ANC) – but rather the
extremists on the fringes. These were the
people who were not satisfied with the
terms of the negotiations and chose, or
felt compelled, to press their case
violently. Among the interviewees are
former South African Defence Force
generals Constand Viljoen and Tienie
Groenewald, who tried to mobilise their
followers in a bid for an Afrikaner
volkstaat; Inkatha hit squad leader,
Daluxolo Luthuli; Nico Prinsloo, a general
in the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
(AWB), who planned a series of bombings
before the first election; Azanian People’s
Liberation Army (APLA) leader Letlapa
Mphahlele; and the notorious
commander of the C1 counter-insurgency
unit, Eugene de Kock. The film does also
include the opinions of many
‘mainstream’ leaders, such as former
President FW De Klerk, current President
Jacob Zuma and ANC stalwart Mac
Maharaj, as well as judges Richard
Goldstone and Johann Kriegler. But,
just as important, if not more so, it also
tells of ordinary people whose lives were
impacted, often irreparably, by the
events.
Revelations
While the film covers many aspects of the
build-up to the 1994 elections that are
well-known, such as the right-wing coup
attempt in the former homeland of
Bophuthatswana and the so-called
‘hostel wars’ between supporters of the
ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),
it also contains a number of surprising
revelations, as well as new insights into
some well-reported events. While making
the film, Rickards says, the crew
constantly learned things they had not
expected to find.
“Firstly,” says Rickards, “how many
people are still living with the scars –
emotional and physical – of that time. We
interviewed a lot of people on the East
Rand, in KwaZulu-Natal and in the North
West, many of whom had lost loved ones,
or are disabled because of the horrific
violence in the lead-up to elections.
Secondly, we had had a vague notion of
the so-called Third Force involvement in
stirring violence, but had no idea of the
extent of meddling on the part of the
state’s security apparatus – the fact that
Military Intelligence supported, not only
Inkatha but also, at times, ANC members,
in an effort to keep the fire burning.”
Rickards, Haitsma and producer Paul
Egan decided at the outset that they
would not seek the opinions of
academics, historians or political analysts.
The stories are told through interviews
with people who were actively involved in
the plans and events.
“We got them all on board through
sheer persistence,” says Rickards. “We
must have written hundreds of letters and
made thousands of phone calls to get the
interviews. The application process to film
De Kock took nearly two years and I also
visited him in prison. We spent a lot of
time getting to know some of the
interviewees – you can’t just turn up on
the day and expect people to open up.
Something I learned on a personal level,
is that however much one disagrees with
someone’s beliefs and actions, there is
always some level on which you can
connect – some humanity within.”
A story of people
and land
In addition to the interviews, the film
includes an impressive array of archive
footage that many people may
remember from the news reports of
the day. Haitsma frames the interviews
closely and intimately and this is offset
by a series of strategically placed aerial
shots of the South African landscape
taken from so high up that, at first
glance the images could be seen as
both extreme long shots of the land or
extremely close-up, microscopic views
of some unnamed organism. For
Haitsma this had two purposes: to
contrast the extreme intimacy of the
interviews and to remind the viewer
that, at its heart, the film’s story – and
South Africa’s as a whole –
is about the land itself and the people
who live on it, live off it and die for it. “I
realised, making this film, how little I
knew about a huge segment of South
African society,” says Haitsma. “It
made me understand this society
better – the unequal division of wealth
and how easy it is to ignore these
people and these places. They seem
forgotten – be it Kumalo Street or
Mahehle. I was also impressed by the
openness, honesty and eagerness of
the people to tell us their stories. I
think that what makes 1994 really
special is that a great part of the story
is told from the perspective of those
characters. And let’s be honest – it’s
about time. Their story has been
denied and ignored for too long.”
1994: The Bloody Miracle is a
Boondogle Films production,
produced by Paul Egon, with Chris
Nicklin of Sabido Productions as
executive producer.
– Warren Holden
1994:
The
Bloody
Miracle
VIOLENT BIRTH OF FREEDOM: A scene from 1994: The Bloody Miracle
Co-directed by
Capetonian filmmaker
Meg Rickards and
Botswana-based
cinematographer Bert
Haitsma, the recently
released documentary,
1994: The Bloody
Miracle goes back 20
years to examine a
country in the throes
of violent birth pangs,
struggling to bring
forth a democracy that
came dangerously close
to being stillborn.

Screen Africa Magazine May 14 2014

Screen Africa Magazine May 14 2014

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