Two Johannesburg AFDA’s student films, Kanye Kanye and Umkhumbi Wethu won awards at this year’s New York City Picture Start Film Festival (NYCPSFF), which took place from 2 to 6 June in New York City.
A collection of short films from around the world were screened at the 17th NYCPSFF. Ben Arredondo, the festival director, visited South Africa earlier this year and four SA films were selected to go to the New York festival.
Founded in 2002 by Greg Segal, NYCPSFF showcases short films from all over the world from emerging filmmakers as well as those already established in the industry.
Kanye Kanye, directed by Miklas Manneke with cinematography by Charles Hunter Ryder won an award for Best Cinematography. The movie is a romantic comedy about a forbidden love affair between two young township teenagers. The town is divided by a long line to mark territories belonging to the “red’ and “green’ camps. However, Thomas, a young man from the “greens’, falls in love with Thandi from the “reds’. The film tells the tale of how the youngsters, who are warned against any affiliation, get to communicate without their parents and communities knowing.
The 27-minute film has also won nine Gold Awards at AFDA’s annual awards, and was selected as the SA film for the Student Academy Awards and has been selected for the DIFF (Durban International Film Festival) from 18 to 28 July.
“It is an honour for everyone involved in the making of Kanye Kanye to be awarded on this international platform to represent AFDA at the beginning of our careers,” says Manneke.
Gina Bonmariage, director of AFDA, Johannesburg, comments: “Kanye Kanye is a reflective short film by a student director and team whose attention to detail has made it a work of art that will resonate worldwide.’
Umkhumbi Wethu (Our Ship) won awards for Best Director and Best Male Actor, presented to Garon Campbell and Thulasizwe Kubheka respectively. Campbell made the film in his honours year at AFDA. This is the first time the film did not fall in the student category and was nominated against professionally made short films.
Campbell says: “It’s an incredible honour to go to an international film festival and watch the film screen among an array of excellent short films made by such talented filmmakers only to culminate with me walking up onto stage to receive the award for best director. I wish my crew could have been here to bask in the glory as we all worked equally as hard to produce a great film that has touched so many.’
