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SA film scoops CIAK awards
Fri, 05 Jun 2009
Coming Home, a film based on a story by South African teenager Amber-Jay van Rooyen, has won three awards at the 20th International CIAK Junior Festival competition in Treviso, Italy.
Produced for public broadcaster SABC’s Lights, Camera Action! project by Mindpool Productions, Coming Home won Best Film, Best Actress (for Amber-Jay in the lead role) and the UNESCO Felini medal, which is awarded to the film that best embodies the spirit and culture of its country. In addition, the film was also nominated for the Broadcasters Award and Best Film as voted by Italian children only.
The CIAK Junior Festival competition is an international TV project, which exposes children aged 10 to 15 to the audio-visual medium of film. It comprises the making and broadcasting of short films written by children and produced by TV Networks of participating countries. Children are invited to write and submit stories for a short film. A panel of experts comprising of producers, directors and scriptwriters, judge all the stories and the chosen winning story is made into a short film. The actors include the author of the story and other children who are not professional actors, or have never had the experience of being part of a film.
Twelve countries took part in the 2009 festival with 23 films competing. SABC executive producer Jacqui Hlongwane-Papo, Amber-Jay and her mother Judi were in Italy to attend the festival which ran from 27 to 31 May 2009.
Says Hlongwane-Papo: “We are delighted and honoured to have won these awards. Amber-Jay won the hearts of the children and adults alike at the festival. In the four years that South Africa has entered this festival, we have walked away with top awards. Coming Home tells the story of a city girl, who moves to a farm and battles to fit in at her new school. On the farm she meets an old Zulu Spirit (played by Hlomla Dandala) who teaches her three important life lessons. It’s a clever take on merging African cultures and traditions with Western ideas.
“The South African story about a friendship between a young white girl and a Zulu Spirit crosses over colour barriers and generations. Coming Home, an honest heart-warming story with African adventure and intrigue, helps Amber adjust to her new life. The film will be broadcast early next year on SABC1,” says Hlongwane-Papo.
Amber Jay adds: “Coming Home is partly based on my experience of moving from Gauteng to Mooi River in KwaZulu Natal. The CIAK experience has been wonderful. Acting and being involved in a professional film production has taught me so much. Going to Italy to represent South Africa and compete against Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Macedonia, Israel, Croatia, Italy, The People’s Republic of China and India is a dream come true.”
SABC’s Lights, Camera Action! project aims to produce children’s short films in each province. So far four films have been produced. “We hope to complete the project and screen all the films on SABC1 within the next year,” concludes Hlongwane-Papo.
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