Ad nauseum…again!
18-APR-12
If anyone in the South African TV industry hasn’t yet been driven to drink or anti-depressants by the latest round of reports about ‘troubled’ / ‘beleaguered’ / ‘crisis-ridden’ public service broadcaster SABC they are to be commended.
OK - so where exactly was Cape Town?
04-APR-12
Aware of all the excitement around the blockbuster Safe House not only having been shot in Cape Town but being set in it, I dutifully trundled off to see the film.
Metacarpal strain and other ailments
20-MAR-12
Nothing like trying to clear a brain overly fogged by overused acronyms like SABC, DTT, DOC and ICASA by thinking of something totally unrelated, such as the new posture of homo sapiens.
And the winner is… or maybe not?
07-MAR-12
This week has been shell-shocked by the last minute withdrawal of free-to-air commercial channel e.tv from the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS), which takes place this weekend at Gallagher Estate in Midrand
A bridge not too far
22-FEB-12
Today sees the start in Johannesburg of the 7th Annual Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum (DBSF) – an initiative from the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO).
Time-out to tee-off
08-FEB-12
Is it an eagle? Is it a birdie? Yes, it's both! Or at least it will be on next Thursday, 16 February at the Screen Africa Golf Day in Johannesburg.
The Ministerial checklist
25-JAN-12
Those attending South African Minister of Communications Dina Pule’s first engagement with the media (held on 24 January in Pretoria) since her appointment three months ago might have expected to hear the announcement of the digital terrestrial television launch date.
Signs of (DTT) life?
11-JAN-12
Nothing has been heard about South Africa’s long-standing pending migration from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television (DTT) since former Minister of Communications Roy Padayachie delivered a detailed progress report on the manifold and complex issues pertaining to the project on 9 September in Johannesburg.
Mooing at sacred cows
07-DEC-11
In South Africa we’ve just seen a consummate example of how to gain maximum exposure for a product: create a TV commercial that pokes fun at one living dictator and five deceased ones, raise the ire of a militant group in the living dictator’s country
The travelling brand
23-NOV-11
Screen Africa has received wonderful invitations to attend two prestigious international festivals – the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan and the Dubai International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates, proving that the Screen Africa brand has a healthy profile overseas
Screen Africa's Agony Aunt goes digital!
11-APR-12
QUESTION: Dear Auntie Scaffie
I am an avid TV viewer in Gauteng who has a bunny ears-type aerial glued to the top of my roof. I get nothing but winter programming all year round as there is always snow all over the pictures not to mention very arty-sounding audio. Not that I’m complaining – it’s not like I pay for television after all! However, I’ve just seen an ad in the newspaper that was wrapped around my fish and chips which has a picture of nice lady on it who says that high definition TV is coming to South Africa.
Birthing
14-MAR-12
An active week for the South African film and television industry commenced with the weekend’s successful staging of the SAFTA Awards, which turned out to be every bit as glitzy and glamorous as the organisers had hoped.
To infinity and beyond (the Oscars)
29-FEB-12
Any film lover in South Africa could be forgiven for having been temporarily side-tracked by the all-encompassing global excitement of this week’s Oscars and for pondering the enchanting throwback nature of winning film The Artist, in all its silent, black and white glory.
The newbie and the time-shifting
15-FEB-12
Two big occurrences in the South African industry this week – the announcement of a new CEO for the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the publishing of the Amendment to the Digital Migration Policy of 2008 by Minister of Communications Dina Pule.
Screen Africa's Agony Aunt tackles urgent questions
01-FEB-12
QUESTION: Dear Auntie Scaffie
I am deeply, deeply upset and require serious counselling. I have just read in all the newspapers and on the Internet that no matric or qualifications or previous experience are necessary to land a top technology job at a broadcaster.
In Her Shoes
18-JAN-12
Who would want to be in the designer footware of Lulama Mokhobo? She must be one mighty brave woman to agree to take over the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), probably the most troubled broadcaster in history.
Truly candid, candid camera
14-DEC-11
If you watched the SABC news coverage of the COP 17 Climate Change Conference last Thursday, you would have seen a very different version of what was, as per a camera verité recording by someone on the ground of actual events now posted on YouTube, an awful, anti-democractic incident
Gagged!
30-NOV-11
So here we are, living in a country where the right of access to information has been right royally clamped by the government and where it’s been necessary (again) to take to the streets and protest against a pathetic public broadcaster.
Prime time for a worry fest
16-NOV-11
Yet again the South African government is trying to push through the scary Protection of State Information Bill (aka Secrecy Bill) without the much needed ‘in the public interest’ clause.