I get asked all the time, in the wake of the Tsotsi Oscar, is the South African film industry on the cusp of great things? (This has replaced the question, when will we make the great South African film?) I remember my mother many years ago telling me that, according to the newspaper, everybody in the film industry was about to get stinking rich. Unfortunately, the batted red Hyundai I drive is proof that this never actually happened.
So, are we now finally at the dawn of a new golden era? Well, firstly, no successful film industry I know of hasn’t first been successful with audiences at home. The much-used Bollywood and Nollywood examples are thriving industries because they draw huge audiences at home, people choose home-grown over Hollywood. So I guess the first question is: are South African audiences interested in watching South African films? We know that local music has become a cultural force, influencing both fashion and language. We know that local television drama pulls bigger audiences than imported content. So why do local films almost always bomb at the box office?
Our cinema audiences do not reflect the broader South African demographic; the reasons for this are mostly historical, but include issues of language and money (television is free and music is cheap). So the audiences we make films for are mostly white, young and middle class — the audience least likely to be interested in its own culture. Force-fed Americana since babies, most of us have lost at least a small corner of our hearts to America, whether it’s music, literature or film.
In this context, South African films have become their own genre, lumped together in phrases like: “I don’t like local films.” None of this counts if, like Johnny Clegg, Charlize Theron or Tsotsi, you’ve made it overseas; this nullifies any sense of inferiority because if “they” like you, you must be good.
There is one filmmaker to which none of this applies: Leon Schuster. Schuster is, in essence, a one-man film industry. Audiences enjoy Schuster films because they know what they’re going to get, and Schuster is very good at not disappointing them. He’s a brand, as South African as Castle lager. He became a brand because he made his early films with apartheid-government subsidies and substantial tax breaks, and was allowed to build his brand without the burden of having to turn a profit. Without similar help now, our fledgling industry is always going to be struggling.
Okay, now that I’ve blamed audiences for all of our ills, let me confess that perhaps our single biggest problem is that we simply haven’t been making good enough films.
So why do we not make better films in this country? It is a complex question; even internationally the ratio of good films to bad is high, we’ve all seen substantially more bad American films than good. So one argument would go that if we made more films, we’d make more good films, but in a world of limited resources this simply isn’t possible.
But I guess I haven’t answered the question and perhaps the reason is that I don’t know, it’s probably a combination of many things from not enough diversity of view to insufficient funding, but this isn’t a very satisfying answer.
So where does it go wrong? Let’s start at the beginning — the script. I’ve read many, many film scripts and I’ve only ever read two good ones, one of which I was lucky enough to get to produce, Gums and Noses.
I’m not exaggerating; of course, I haven’t read all the scripts of all the films that have been made, and I’m sure I missed reading some good ones, but I’ve read a lot of scripts and I didn’t like any of them.
In fact, 90% of them were unreadable, let alone serious contenders for a feature film.
Now maybe I’m so far down the food chain that I don’t get to read the good ones, this is possible, but I’m guessing any honest producer will tell you the same thing. So what is it? Why do we have a dearth of good writing? I have to confess that I have no clue, I can tell you that it has nothing to do with training, writers have been trained to death, overseas experts, local script editors, this course, that course, everybody has the answer, but we still wait to see it on our screens.
In defence of the writers, it is almost impossible to be a serious scriptwriter in this country because it doesn’t pay. Writers are not valued. In worlds where cheap is king, writers work longer and therefore get less then anybody else. So they have to do other things and then they’re no longer writers and then we have to find other writers to replace them and so it goes.
Great films are not possible without great acting — well, not the kind of films we get to make.
In a world of slick high-tech action films, acting is less crucial than in the less rarefied world of the low budget film, where performance is everything.
Okay, but where are the really great performances?
Well, of course there have been some, Presley Chweneyagae in Tsotsi and Jamie Bartlett in Red Dust, to name just two recent ones, but there just hasn’t consistently been enough.
Getting a great performance from an actor takes rare talent, skill and experience. Because most local films don’t make money, most local directors don’t get to make a second film and so rarely get the chance to get the experience to be better.
If you ever get the chance, watch Martin Scorsese’s first film Boxcar Bertha or Coppola’s Dementia 13, they’re rubbish. So the more films we make …
Then there’s the choice of subject matter. Until recently, most local films fitted into two categories: socio-political drama and comedy. In some way, I guess they’re a response to each other.
Glancing over the nominations for the South African Film and Television Awards you’ll notice a disproportionate number of political films. Forgiveness, Drum, Zulu Love Letter, Red Dust, this is also the strongest association the audience has with local films. Why do local films always have to be so political?
Needless to say, none of these films did very well at the box office, but then political films seldom ever make money worldwide. So why make them?
Well, we have a very unique history, one that is difficult to ignore. I guess for many filmmakers it is simply impossible not to make films about the injustices of the past, whether audiences are interested or not.
I can understand this, but if we’re going to have the thriving industry we crave, then we need to start making a greater diversity of films and make films that not only bring in audiences, but bring in new audiences.
I saw John Barker and The Pure Monate boys’ new film Bunny Chow in Toronto and think it’s hip, fresh, funny and totally South African, and I hope it breaks all box office records and heralds a new dawn for the industry. Why shouldn’t it?
So, to answer the question, is South African film on the cusp of great things? Always.
Robbie Thorpe is a producer and co-owner of Tom Pictures. The company produced the feature film Gums and Noses and the television comedy series Sorted. Altogether its work has garnered nine nominations at this weekends South African Film and Television Awards (Safta). The winners will be presented with the Golden Horn, the official Safta trophy, on October 27 and 28 at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg. The main awards ceremony on October 28 will be televised live on SABC2 from 7.30pm with live crossings from the red carpet from 4pm
Up for the Saftas
Best Feature Film
- Dollars & White Pipes (2004) directed by Donovan Marsh
- Gums and Noses (2004) directed by Craig Freimond
- Red Dust (2004) directed by Tom Hooper
- Tsotsi (2004) directed by Gavin Hood
- Zulu Love Letter (2004) directed by Ramadan Suleman
Best Feature Film Director
- Donovan Marsh (Dollars & White Pipes)
- DarryRoodt (Faith’s Corner)
- Craig Freimond (Gums and Noses)
- Gavin Hood (Tsotsi)
- Ramadan Suleman (Zulu Love Letter)
Best Actress in a Feature Film
- Leleti Khumalo (Faith’s Corner)
- Quanita Adams (Forgiveness)
- Pauline Malefane (U-Carmen eKhyayelitsha)
- Pamela Nomvete (Zulu Love Letter)
Best Actor in a Feature Film
- Clint Brink (Dollars & White Pipes)
- Anthony Coleman (Gums and Noses)
- Marcevan Heerden (The Flyer)
- Presley Chweneyagae (Tsotsi)
Best TV Drama
- Hard Copy (2005) directed by Tim Greene
- Tsha Tsha (2005) directed by Xoli Rolisizwe Nikiwe and Donovan Marsh
- Zero Tolerance (2005) directed by Hilary Blecher
Best Director in a TV Drama
- Tim Greene (Hard Copy)
- Neo M Matsunyane and NeiMcCarthy (Mzansi)
- Hilary Blecher (Zero Tolerance)
Best Actress in a TV Drama
- Fiona Ramsay (Hard Copy)
- Brenda Ngxoli (Home Affairs)
- Moshidi Motshegwa (Zero Tolerance)
Best Actor in a TV Drama
- Siyabonga Shibe (Gaz’lam)
- James Ngcobo (Hard Copy)
- Patrick Shai (Zero Tolerance)