First prize in the National Film and Video Foundation’s (NFVF) Skin Essay Writing Contest (part of its “Taking the cinema to the people’ project) has gone to Zithulele Makholwa from East Bank High School, Alexandra. The second prize winner is Phindile Dlamini from Fidelitas Comprehensive School, Diepkloof and the second runner up is Sbongile Mkhwanazi from East Bank High School, Alexandra. The winner will receive an Ipod and the runners up will receive MP3 players.
The essay writing competition took place on 11 February this year, when different schools were treated to a trip to the cinema to view Anthony Fabian’s biopic of Sandra Laing, Skin. Seven schools from Mamelodi, Alexandra, Gugulethu, Soweto, Daveyton, Kwa-Mashu and Bedfordview were hosted.
The competition was part of the research questionnaires that learners completed after viewing Skin. The questionnaires were used to conduct audience development research that would determine the learners’ engagement with local films, their cinema going patterns, and the issues raised in the film.
Some 412 learners completed the questionnaires and the five best were selected from each school that participated. The learners were from Eastbank Secondary, ID Mkhize Secondary, Solomon Mahlangu Secondary, Fidelitas Secondary, Mabuya Secondary, JG Zuma Secondary and Bedfordview Secondary Schools.
The process comprised an internal panel to oversee the judging process and to go through the shortlisted finalist essays to determine who the final winners would be. “All the entries in the competition were of high quality and it was quite difficult to choose the best responses,’ said Neiloe Khunyeli.
“The excercise was a success for a number of reasons; it was a first time cinema experience for some of the learners, and their perspectives on the film itself were very honest and fascinating. The NFVF is particularly pleased that the project boosted the cinema going habits of over 400 audience members,’ explained Ryan Haidarian.
For more information on Skin visit www.skinthemovie.net
