Andrew Worsdale
Over the past month and a half or so every film-maker, writer or acquaintance I’ve run into has asked me: “Did you apply?”, “Have you heard?”, “When are they gonna tell us?” It all culminated in the words “Well I’m going to phone them … don’t you want to phone them?” It was people trying to find out if they’d got any money from the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology’s (DACST) R10-million for local movies, TV series, education projects – anything in the way of film or TV trying to get made.
Then everyone decided to get very antsy a week after the department was supposed to announce who got what – imagine a delayed Bafana Bafana result. Well, it was all revealed last week and it appears that DACST has once again stirred up the local movie industry. Many film-makers phoned the department in desperation a fortnight ago, trying to find out if they had got any bucks.
Some were told, and I spent another week listening to people saying: “I got money. Did you? Who else did?” or “Shit, I didn’t get any bucks. Did you?”
Eventually the department put an end to the telephonic enquiries. The decisions had been made but the minister had to be informed. The local movie-making community sat or stood nervously waiting for their donated state spoils.
The results are: Development in children’s programmes R80 000; documentaries R433 000; TV pilots R280 000; features R1 325 000; short films R110 000 and TV drama R25 000.
For production the department dished out aid for animation to the tune of R230 000; documentaries R2 292 000; features R 1 375 000; TV pilots R180 000; short films R1 010 000; training R695 000 and R800 000 for institutions.
And for projects (the Cape Town Film and Video Market and the department’s official visit to the Cannes film festival) a total of a million bucks was awarded.
And finally, post-production of both features and documentaries got a fillip of R140 000, which included R60 000 for Fools, a kind of post-post-“financement”, since the film has already been released.
The panel that sorted out the haves from the have-nots was made up of local film- maker Lionel Ngakane, director Junaid Ahmed, producers Jeremy Nathan and Anant Singh, Melanie Chait (previously head of co-production at the SABC) and Masbeke Sekukune, head of the Newtown Film School. The bunch read the proposals – 169 this year, up 50% from last year – and met at the SABC before spending about two days in some bush lodge for their final deliberations.
Themba Wakashe, chief director of the department of arts and culture, is very upbeat about the local film industry and fully endorses the creative decisions made by the panel. “In Cannes this year, for example,” he says, “festival director Gilles Jacob, British Screen’s Simon Perry and film people from Canada and Australia are feeling that there’s a move afoot in the South African film industry.”
Then again, he admits that there is just so much public relations the department can do (and believe me, they’re doing a whole lot). He says the final evidence will lie in our product, now overabundantly evident as television. “If we do not deliver by next year then I firmly believe no one’s going to take us seriously. After all, you can only do so much PR. It’s up to the film-makers to deliver,” Wakashe says.
The evidence of goodwill and sound sense of the awards is plain, and for the first time includes money that recognises “alternative” culture (an experimental film dubbed “untitled” was given R30 000; a two-part documentary series by Jack Lewis and Zackie Achmat called Apostles of Civilised Vice, which is a history of South African homosexuality co-produced by SABC3 and SABC’s education department , was given R150 000, and animation projects received over R200 000 in funding.
Wakashe says apartheid-driven dramas and the truth commission features have their place but that South African movies should “reflect the whole span of social and historical culture”.
Obviously some wannabe and practising film- makers will bitch about not getting bucks, or not enough, but that’s not taking away the real attempt by government to try and kick- start an industry notoriously dependent on finance.
“We don’t just want to throw money at projects. We want to know the money is going to be used, and from last year’s allocation it seems that more than 70% of the finance has actually been used in projects that have either been screened or are presently on the go,” says Wakashe.
When I ask him what would happen if I decided to emigrate with my money (yes, I did get some money for a movie), he says: “Well, the money is given out in three phases, depending on delivery. But if you run away with it, I hope it’s to a country with an extradition treaty with South Africa.”
Details of who got what are available from the Department of Arts, Culture Science and Technology or The Independent Producers Organisation at (011) 482-2187
So if you got bucks to make a movie from the state and want to give up making movies and perhaps move to Taiwan, I think they’ll give you some kind of immunity. On the other hand make the movie and travel to festivals world-wide and enjoy the kudos. Without gushing I must say it’s great to have a government that wants to put money on the big screen – who knows one-day we might have a local hit on our hands.
Details of who got what can be found from the Department of Arts, Culture Science and Technology or The Independent Producer’s Organisation