Cape Town-based NHU AFRICA (the National History Unit of Africa) is commissioning its first ever stereoscopic 3D wildlife feature, Dragon’s Feast. Currently being shot and directed by acclaimed filmmakers Craig and Damon Foster (My Hunter’s Heart, The Great Dance, Cosmic Africa), this is the third in a trilogy of films that shows the relationship between humans and the natural world in a unique way.
NHU AFRICA executive producer Sophie Vartan notes that it was the film’s subject matter of man and crocodiles in underwater papyrus lairs in the Okavango Delta that prompted the idea of it being produced in 3D. “We felt that the story would benefit so much more from being told in 3D rather than 2D. The underwater environment in the Okavango Delta is extremely suited to this format. Our film will be very immersive, with incredible depth of field and images moving forwards into the audience.”
Vartan is in discussions with BskyB, Animal Planet and the new Discovery 3D Channel about the possibility of co-producing the film with them. NHU AFRICA will manage the filmÕs distribution with the release scheduled for the second quarter of 2011.
The concept for Dragon’s Feast was created by the Foster Brothers, Vartan and her fellow NHU AFRICA executive producer, Vyv Simson. “We always wanted to do this film with the Foster Brothers as we’d done the first two films in the Dragon Trilogy (Into the Dragon’s Lair and Touching the Dragon) with them. Craig and Damon were thrilled about the idea of doing the third film in 3D. They are widely regarded as South Africa’s top documentary filmmakers and have 20 years of experience behind them and received 50 international awards,” explains Vartan.
Read more in the July 2010 issue of Screen Africa
