The eighth South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) will be awarded on
5 April. Since the event takes place in the anniversary year of South Africa’s first
democratic elections, it forms a part of the Department of Arts and Culture’s
(DAC) national celebration of that milestone. For the team at Clive Morris
Productions, who are tasked with producing the gala event meant to celebrate
the best of the best in the South African film and television industries, this is not
merely a show about those select few who are chosen as winners on the night.
It is a celebration of the entire industry.
The production team, responding to the brief of the National Film and Video
Foundation (NFVF) has visualised the awards ceremony, which takes place at
Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng, as a gathering of the greater community
of film and television professionals, coming together not just in the hopes of
walking away with Golden Horns at the end of the night, but to celebrate, as a
whole, this industry and community.
This approach, while fostering a stronger sense of community in a sector that is,
by its nature, highly competitive, also synergises with the broader environment
in which the awards ceremony is taking place. It has been 20 years since South
Africa made the transition to a multiracial democracy and one of the Department
of Arts and Culture’s (DAC) priorities for the year is to lead the country in the
celebrations of this milestone. The SAFTAs, being an initiative of the NFVF, which
in turn, falls under the DAC’s mandate, form part of these celebrations.
Content – democracy and diversity made manifest
The list of nominees for this year’s SAFTAs displays a remarkable diversity of
content, which was lacking in the early years of South Africa’s democracy. In the
mid-1990s, South African films acquired a reputation for consisting of either
heavy-handed socio-political storytelling on one hand, or physical comedy on the
other. Personal stories – telling of individual triumphs and tragedies without
emphasis on the socio-political environment in which they were taking place –
were few and far between. The dark side of the cinema was avoided – horrors
or thrillers were rare. Erotic content took quite some time to be taken seriously
on South Africa’s screens.
This is a situation that seems to be changing and the list of nominees bears
testament to that. The list of Best Feature Film nominees, while still including one
very notable politically and historically themed film in the shape of Long Walk to
Freedom (which, of course, is a perfect fit for 20 Years of Freedom), the other
two films in the category could not be less conventional by South African
standards. Both are dark, both deal with sexual obsession and its violent
repercussions and both demonstrate highly individualistic storytelling. These are
Barry Berk’s Sleeper’s Wake and Jahmil XT Qubeka’s Of Good Report.
These two films – along with a number of others that have seen the light of day
recently, but will only be eligible for nomination next year – seem to indicate that
South Africa’s first group of true cinematic auteurs is emerging.
Possibly for the first time in South African film and television history, storytellers
are telling whatever stories they wish to convey in whatever fashion they see fit.
Visual storytelling in South Africa is being genuinely democratised – 20 years
after the country’s political emancipation. All this despite the momentary
kneejerk reaction against Of Good Report by the country’s censors last year, an
action which might in fact be seen as a birth pang in the emergence of this
democratised storytelling. If the process has been slow to happen, it has not
been because of state censorship, but because of the industry’s tendency to
self-censor. As it grows more confident in its abilities, the industry is leaving this
tendency behind.
Looking at the list of nominees beyond the Best Feature Film category, a broad
array of subject matter and treatments are apparent. In addition to murder and
mayhem, one can also find romantic comedy (Fanie Fourie’s Lobola), an action-
comedy caper (Gog’Helen), a clash of modern and traditional cultures (Elelwani)
and more.
Voting for the winners – democracy in action
Zama Mkosi, CEO of the NFVF and chairperson of the SAFTA Committee, said that
the 20 Years of Democracy theme would be used to showcase South Africa’s film
and television heritage through the awards, with highlights from the past 20
years of film and television being showcased during the course of the
programme. But the most obvious link between democracy and the SAFTAs is the
process by which the nominees and winners are chosen.
The judging panel is co-chaired this year by Jerry Mofokeng and Roberta Durrant.
Mofokeng said at the nominee announcement: “It has been my resolve to
maintain the integrity of these awards throughout. We believe that we’ve fine-
tuned the nominee process and remained advocates for both the industry and
the SAFTAs. “The awards even resort to real popular democracy in one category
– Best TV Soap – which is open to a public vote. This has proven to be a highly
effective tool for drawing public interest to the SAFTAs.’
Whatever one’s opinions may be about awards, they do serve as very effective
ways to assess and measure the current state of the industry, and to reflect
upon its legacy. This year, the 20 Years of Democracy theme colours most
aspects of the awards. Next year, in the absence of that theme, what will the
SAFTAs reveal about our industry?
