Nosimilo Ndlovu speaks to three young men who are passionate about filmmaking and believe that to grow the industry a learning space is needed for young filmmakers.
Coal Stove is a collective with a good idea, started by three young filmmakers who recently completed their studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Scottness Smith (23) and Wandile Molebatsi (23) met in primary school and followed each other to university, where they met Kenyan Fidel Namisi (25).
They are all passionate about filmmaking and believe that to grow the industry a learning space is needed for young filmmakers. ‘If you think of a coal stove, you think of families sitting around and sharing stories,” says Molebatsi. He was raised in Rockville, Soweto, and nostalgically tells of how ‘the coal stove is something so many of us can identify with”. He uses the Tswana term Stofo sa malatlha.
Derived from the idea of sharing stories, Coal Stove launched its concept of having a series of events titled Off the Shelf. Over the past year it has held viewings and lively discussions at the back of a Rosebank restaurant, bringing together young filmmakers from various film schools.
‘Off the Shelf is about giving filmmakers from all echelons a platform where they can meet other filmmakers and meet their audience,” says Smith. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response from both audiences and filmmakers who attended the sessions last year, Coal Stove will resume the events at the end of this month.
‘From the Off the Shelf sessions last year we have learnt about what South African audiences want to see; we know for sure that there are people who want home-grown films, South Africans want to watch films about themselves,” says Smith.
Last year they showed films from Finland, Kenya and the United States and were visited by exchange students from abroad. Their upcoming programme includes a new film from Australia.
Smith, Molebatsi and Namisi put their faith in the Nollywood way of making film — working from the ground up. ‘We can’t take the Hollywood style of making film and impose it on South Africa,” says Molebatsi, ‘where raising money for food is a problem.”
Their production project is called Bioscopebox and may fulfil their dream of making low-budget films that can be distributed at grass roots. Their first movie, titled Encore, is about a clown who falls in love with a waitress and is set in Jo’burg city and Melville. It features rising star Nathaniel Ramabulana, who has appeared in Isidingo, Justice for All and Blood Diamonds. Smith describes Encore as ‘a sweet story with a lovely energy”.
They believe the only way the industry can grow is by giving young filmmakers the chance to make mistakes with basic budgets. They emphasise that ambitious individuals will not be able to wait for big funding to make what they call a ‘breakout film”.
‘Our vision is to share the values of Africa with the world, through stories that are African,” says Namisi. Funding is indeed a challenge, but they are optimistic that more filmmakers will come forward with ideas. They are inspired by the launch of Leonard Ashu’s Jollywood concept, and the release of Rainbow Love.
Generally, the move is towards telling stories that South Africans can identify with, that may be cheap and easy to distribute.
For information on Off the Shelf events mail [email protected] or join the Coal Stove Group on Facebook. Tel: 083 280 1181