Editors Comments

Punch in the GPS coordinates - S..A..f..i..l..m

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:51

Recalculating global film map…. proceed several thousand kilometers north of Johannesburg to destination UK (where South African film Spud is to be released)….turn sharp west and proceed across Atlantic Ocean to destination North America (where Afrikaans-language films Roepman and Skoonheid are to be released)…. proceed south to destination Austin, Texas (where South African film How To Steal 2 Million will screen at the Fantastic Fest – the biggest genre festival in the US)…. continue to bear south and then take a sharp east turn to proceed diagonally across the ocean back to final destination South Africa (where local comic Leon Schuster’s new film is to be part-financed by The Walt Disney Company).

In a bonanza-ridden few days we’ve heard the above exciting news (all on the Screen Africa website), so perhaps we can very temporarily cast aside our woes (ie. the SABC) and our fears (ie. the Secrecy Bill) and just be plain old happy that South African films are being scooped up on the international market. (I have to admit that the Schuster / Disney news made me raise a meticulously plucked eyebrow as there is usually some…er…scatological humour in Schuster films, which could surely never qualify as Disneylike fare. One assumes the new film is more unequivocally wholesome than its predecessors.)

Also exciting is the news that the eagerly awaited 3D animated feature, Zambezia, has snared some top Hollywood names for its voice cast. And, on animated matters, The Lion of Judah was released in the US earlier in the year.

Let’s also not forget that four South African films were selected for last week’s Toronto Film Festival (Man On Ground, Lucky, Winnie and Skoonheid).

Today the National Film and Video Foundation will announce which film will be the official South African entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category of next February’s Oscars. I’m sure many industry players have been placing their bets on which film is selected. Well, whatever the film, may it go on and do fabulously well in the recent tradition of South African films at the Oscars, building on Tsotsi’s spectacular win in 2006, Yesterday’s wonderful nomination in 2005, and Life, Above All’s impressive shortlisting to the final nine at this year’s Oscars.

Is South Africa more on the world film map than ever before? You bet your sweet little GPS device it is!

Joanna Sterkowicz

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