The National Film and Video Foundation is not a happy place at the moment. It appears to have joined the conveyer belt of institutions and organisations that have suffered a breakdown in communication between themselves and the Department of Arts and Culture.
The foundation has complained to the portfolio committee on arts and culture that the department has cut its film-fund budget. It is now unable to fulfil its mandate to develop the film industry. Notwithstanding this setback, the foundation announced that it would host the National Film and Television Awards in April next year.
Given that there is no money for films, but there is money for film awards, the foundation will be recognising those filmmakers who have managed to produce outstanding products on the proverbial shoestring.
The first nominee is a movie called Tsotsi, appropriately directed by Gavin Hood, and it features a gang that hijacked the National Arts Council. An innovative piece, this movie was shot almost entirely using the surveillance cameras of the council’s bank.
Another nominee employed unused footage of two previous South African movies, Drum and The Stick to make a new movie called Drum Stick. Another innovation around this movie is that viewers can choose whether to watch it while inhaling sachets of lemon and herb or peri-peri. Chicken has always been good for the film bizniz.
Just ask Nando’s who helped to produce U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, which will now be dubbed into English and entered into the awards as Carmen of Sea Point. The producers are editing the movie into a heart-warming story about dreams coming true in the new South Africa. The lead character, Carmen, moves from Khayelitsha to Sea Point, where her mother works for Mrs Radowski.
The producers of Yesterday followed up this award-winning movie with a new entry, Tomorrow, in the short-movie category. In fact, it was entered into the very-short-movie category as, given the effects of the Aids pandemic featured in Yesterday, there was no one left to star in Tomorrow.
Another entry is There’s a Zulu on My Stoep, featuring conversations between President Thabo Mbeki and ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma to resolve the crisis caused by Mbeki’s axing of Zuma. It’s South Africa’s first silent movie.
Zuma co-stars in another movie, Zulu Love Letter, in which Mangosuthu Buthelezi invites Zuma to join the Inkatha Freedom Party. This is a big-budget movie for which the foundation didn’t have to fork out a cent — it was completely paid for as a French co-production.
A South African version of James Bond will also be entered into the movie awards. It features the agent Pam Golding and is produced by the country’s banks. The agent’s secret code is 777, which refers to something estate agents fail to tell you when you buy a house: this is how old you will be by the time it is paid off.
Also up for awards is a clutch of new movies such as The Flyer, a film about a Youth League businessman who comes crashing down to Earth after the murder of his main empowerment partner; Max and Moaner, a movie about how the opposition is viewed in this country; and Red Das, a documentary feature about the growing popularity of the Communist Party among unemployed white people.
In My Country was judged to be ineligible for the awards as it featured too many foreign stars and directors.