Alex Dodd
Despite the fact that we finally had an official presence at the Cannes Film Festival this year, there still didnt seem to have been the films to back it up not a single South African film was selected for the official competition. Meanwhile, with little pomp or ceremony, two local films have been garnering awards at other film festivals internationally.
Earlier this month The Storekeeper, directed by Gavin Hood and screened on local big screens earlier this year, won overall best short film at the Nashville Independent Film Festival in Tennessee. Out of 400 entries only 22 were selected for screening.
The exciting thing about Nashville is that its one of about 25 festivals around the world which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognises as an Oscar qualifying festival. A film has to win first prize at one of these festivals in order to be considered for Oscar nomination. This means Hood is now entitled to submit his film for consideration for an Academy award at next years Oscars.
This doesnt necessarily mean the film will be nominated. It will be screened before a nominations committee in November in Los Angeles. Of the films screened, only five live action shorts will eventually be nominated for the Academy Award. So, well be holding thumbs.
In April, the film bagged the bronze award for best dramatic short film at the Houston International Film Festival in Texas. There were over 800 entries of which 60 were chosen for screening at the festival.
The Storekeeper has also been selected for screening at the Melbourne Film Festival in Australia next month.
Meanwhile Oliver Schmitz and Brian Tilleys documentary-style film, Joburg Stories, recently scooped the documentary prize at the 14th Vues dAfrique festival in Montreal.
Screenings of the film (in the Panorama du Cinema Africain category) were exceptionally well attended and, at the award ceremony, the film was commended for its originality and credible characters. Most of the films [at the festival] dealing with the urban experience were from African filmmakers living in Europe and America, says Schmitz, so I think what interested people there is that our film deals with an intensely urban experience, but in an African context.
Other South African films selected for the festival were Ramadan Sulemans Fools, Maggie Vaughans Walls of Soap and Chocolate, Palesa Letlakas Mamlambo and Cheryl Uyss San Soldier Story.
Screened on SABC3 late last year, Joburg Stories has much in common with the writing of Paul Auster in the sense that its portrait of Johannesburgs dark heart is grittily real, while eschewing a magic realism usually reserved for mythical pastoral worlds.
Early on we are introduced to the main characters: Julie and Lee, two nurses turned prostitutes; an 80-year-old woman called Marie; Junior a former glue-sniffing street kid who is now the leader of blockbuster band, Boom Shaka; Edwin, the drag queen who speaks about the city with a romance that lingers; and Thembi, a final-year student.
The synchronicity between the films rare collection of real life characters puts a quirky silver lining on Joburgs skyline. Its touching enough to warm the cockles of a hijack victims heart.
The Storekeeper tells the tale of an elderly man who owns a small, isolated, general store, somewhere in rural South Africa. After suffering a series of burglaries, which culminate in the murder of a night-watchman, the storekeeper finally takes the law into his own hands with tragic consequences.
There is no dialogue in this exceptionally subtle film, so the story is told in a purely cinematic way. Script editor and producer Janine Eser points out that the decision to eliminate all dialogue was deliberate. This is a short film. A visual poem.
Of course, eliminating dialogue also meant there would be no need for subtitles. In a country where there are 11 official languages and an extraordinary cultural diversity, this film is pure cinema, accessible to any person in any language.