A popular factual entertainment show produced by Johannesburg-based Ochre Moving Pictures has been selected for INPUT 2011, the annual international public service television screening conference that this year takes place in Seoul, South Korea from 9 to 12 May.
Relate, which is broadcast on SABC1, was the only entry from Africa to have been selected for INPUT. It is a popular primetime television show that takes a hard and honest look at troubled relationships and attempts to bring people back together.
The show will feature in the Reality TV session under the provocative heading: “Why Should I Bother? TV as a Playground for Personal Missions’. Other reality discussions will be held under the banners of “Shaping Reality: From the Real World to Reality’ and “Violence on TV: How to Deal with the Dark Side of Mankind’.
Ochre Moving Pictures’ CEO Stan Joseph says that being selected for INPUT is a great honour. “INPUT is an international forum that recognises innovation in public broadcasting. It’s a platform for excellence where industry peers meet and share experiences and vision. This year themes include political independence, craftsmanship, responsibility and visual ethics, education as a priority, and multi-platform execution.’
Key to Relate is the frank talk from the show’s presenter, Angie Diale, a social worker and real life counsellor.
“Angie is an incredible asset,’ says executive producer Anton Burggraaf. “She does not mince her words in her role as counsellor and agony aunt. Angie tells it like it is and this is the appeal of the show. She’s passionate and people trust her. So they are often willing to go the extra mile to reshape their relationships.’
INPUT is hosted by a different city each year and around 300 productions were submitted for this year’s event in Seoul. Eighty-seven programmes from 27 countries will feature on the festival programme. The conference is organised and jointly hosted by two South Korean public broadcasters KBS and MBC. INPUT is the only festival of its kind in the world.
The annual INPUT festival calls on television programme makers working in all genres to submit challenging, daring productions. As the festival’s mission statement declares, “INPUT is dedicated to the proposition that television should be public service in the public interest… Access to the most honest, innovative, provocative, courageous and challenging broadcasting is a universal fundamental human right’.
