The Lucky Specials is a feature film that blends fiction and non-fiction to educate audiences about tuberculosis (TB).
Opening in the dark, dusty and dangerous work environment of the mine, the film introduces the protagonist, Mandla. Played by South African actor Oros Mampofu, Mandla is a gold miner by day, and musician by night.
The Lucky Specials are a small mining-town cover band, fronted by Mandla, who contracts a drug resistant strain of the disease from his mentor. Caring more about his music than his health, he fails to get the help he needs. Using advanced 3D animation, the film dispels misconceptions about TB. It interposes action with animation to show what’s going on inside Mandla’s body.
Produced by Discovery Learning Alliance and Quizzical Pictures, the film aims to help audiences across the African continent understand and respond to TB.
“While South Africans are more aware about TB than 30 years ago, knowing about it, and taking the appropriate measures towards guarding yourself against it are two different things, and this is what we attempt to challenge in this film,” says the film’s director, Rea Rangaka, a South African born into a family of doctors.
“TB is one of the biggest killers in southern Africa but it doesn’t have to be. It is curable. It is important for us to tell people this. It has a very simple message: get tested, finish your treatment and you will be okay,” says the film’s producer Harriet Gavshon.
The film is aimed at a broad southern African audience, with citizens in all of the region’s states being vulnerable to TB. “We are all at risk, and it is important for all southern Africans to learn about the symptoms and what TB is,” confirms Gavshon.
The film employs an unusual mix of storytelling styles to get its message across. Gavshon says: “If you are trying to change the world, the work has to be extremely compelling and entertaining and have very high production values.” A serious subject matter is lightened with music. “The non-fiction takes the form of extremely sophisticated computer generated graphics as we journey into the protagonist’s body and literally witness a life and death struggle as he deals with TB.”
There were a number of different locations involved in this production. “We filmed in Maputo, Mamelodi, Kliptown and KZN,” says Gavshon. “The biggest challenge was to mount a huge concert on the Salt Rock beach. We were also very lucky to film in TB hospitals and TB labs to ensure that the film is authentic and resonant at all times,” he adds.
Rangeka had always wanted to shoot on the Arri Alexa, and The Lucky Specials’ budget enabled him to do so. The film will be distributed around Africa on free-to-air television, cinemas as well as on mines and in schools and community groups.
“I hope people are talking about The Lucky Specials five to 10 years from now as a film that made an impact on them and their lives, however large or small,” said Rangaka.“We are privileged to play a role in the battle to contain TB,” said Gavshon.
All cast and crew got behind the cause. “Even the art department got PhDs in microbiology. They were so focussed on telling the story in as authentic a way as possible and insisted on educating themselves about the absolute minute details of TB,” said Gavshon.
The animation is currently being built and they are working with Masters and Savant, “who have the herculean task of understanding the exact details of how to visualise TB and how to communicate it to a broad audience,” says Gavshon.
