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The starting gun for a takeover of ITV was fired this week after a consortium of private equity groups staged an attempt to take control of the broadcaster.

Article courtesy of Broadcast Now

Due to the response and requests for extra time, the entry deadline for the Promo Lions category for Cannes Lions 2006 has been extend. Cannes Lions is now accepting entries up to Friday 7 April so there is still plenty of time to submit the best of this year’s promotions.

Cannes Lions has clarified that you do not have to be a sales promotion agency or a specialist. You can also enter direct marketing into sales promotion as long as it meets the criteria.

Lor Gold, Executive Vice President of Draft Chicago, who will head a jury of 18 specialists in this field says, “It is my sincere desire to expose you to work that will change your idea of promotion forever. And inspire you to continue to change the idea of promotion forever.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of this first Promo Lions competition. If you’ve got any questions about how to enter, or need some extra time to put your entry together, just contact the entries team on +44 (0)20 7239 3400 or at entries@canneslions.com.

As at 9 March, the Oscar-winning South African film Tsotsi had made R4 459 891 at the local box office and was at the number three spot on the mainstream cinema circuit. This makes Tsotsi the highest grossing non-Leon Schuster SA film to date.

Traditionally only the Schuster slapstick comedies such as Mr Bones (R33m), Mama Jack (R28m at the time of writing), Oh Shucks I’m Gatvol (R23m) and Panic Mechanic (R16m) have made any impact on the local box office, although the recent Crazy Monkey Straight Outta Benoni (also a comedy) clocked up just under R3m.

The remake of The Pink Panther, starring Steve Martin, debuted at the number one spot in its first week of release. Another new release, Final Destination 3 is currently at number two, with Brokeback Mountain, Best Director Oscar winner Ang Lee’s film about two cowboys who find love on the prairies, at number four. Cassanova is at number five. Big Momma’s House 2 is currently in sixth place, having made R9 205 498 in six weeks.

Masters and Savants, the Johannesburg based animation house recently received 7 nominations at the Promax Dubai and Promax Europe awards which will be held in Dubai and Vienna shortly.

Screen Africa takes this opportunity of congratulating Masters and Savants and co-founder Roger Smythe. This is a clear indication of the quality of South African work.

For further information visit the website link below

TSOTSI
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
SYRIANA
WALK THE LINE
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
TRANSAMERICA
THE PRODUCERS
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
THE CONSTANT GARDENER

Information courtesy of Ster Kinnekor

The serious part of the interview, wherein Gavin Hood talked about the dynamics of independent filmmaking and finding the next great script, appears in the April issue of Screen Africa. This is the slightly lighter side of the interview, which, as per the publicist’s arrangement, was only meant to last 40 minutes. Two hours and 10 minutes later, the publicist literally dragged Hood away, while he was still in mid-speech. Anyone who has met Hood will know that he talks a lot. But that’s because he is intense, highly intellectual and incredibly passionate about filmmaking. Yet he remains friendly and approachable throughout.

When I met Hood on the pool deck he looked absolutely exhausted and was only a few hours away from meeting President Thabo Mbeki, having met Nelson Mandela a day previously. That night he was to attend the SABC Gala Dinner and the following day was flying to Germany to continue the Tsotsi international road show.

“I think the road show will continue for another two months. Basically it’s been going on from September last year, since we won at Edinburgh. Do you want to see the Oscar?” he asked suddenly.

Hood whipped out the award and its effect was instantaneous. Everybody at the tables around us started smiling and a gentlemen, who turned out to be from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), one of the major investors in the film, approached.

“Let me shake your hand,” he said to Hood. “You can come to me for money any time.”

All of which proves – everybody loves a winner.

The IDC man then asked if he could have his photo taken with the Oscar and Hood genially agreed but said that he was contractually oblilged to appear in every photo taken with the Oscar (to prevent its being used for marketing purposes).

Hood had already been asked a hundred times how it felt when he heard the winning announcement at the Oscar ceremony, but I asked him again anyway. “It was as if all sound and everything was sucked away – I felt like I was imploding and then suddenly everything exploded. When I got on stage there was this clock ticking away at me, so I had no time to go into my structured acceptance speed. Then I spotted the faces of the actors [Presley Chweneyagae and Terry Pheto] and told the cameras to focus on them. They’ve teased me non-stop ever since, saying that I automatically started directing the Oscars!”

If any Screen Africa readers wondered why Hood said “Amandla!” (traditionally the cry of revolution in SA during apartheid) in his acceptance speech, it’s because he was a Wits University student during the 1980s and attended numerous anti-apartheid rallies. “Amandla means ‘power to the people’ and as an ex radical student, the word is part of my vocabulary. It seemed an appropriate thing to say as this was Africa’s first ever Oscar for a feature film.”

He quipped that no-one had offered to ‘dress and coif him’ for the awards ceremony as they had the actors. “I sloped off to a menswear warehouse in Los Angeles to buy a $150 tuxedo.”

During the week of the SA visit, Hood and his two actors were splashed across every television news bulletin and newspaper in the country, not to mention being the subject of many victory parades.

He recalls how when he and Chweneyagae were flying back to Johannesburg, they were informed that there was going to be a press conference at the airport. “We thought, ok, at least we will have time to duck into a cloakroom, splash on some deodorant and put on clean t-shirts. Well, the moment we stepped out of the plane into the connecting corridor, there was a mass of flashbulbs going off. Then a policewoman whipped away our passports and cleared us through immigration and customs while we were led into the arrivals lounge, to be greeted by crowds of cheering people. It was amazing.”

Was he surprised by the overwhelming SA response to the win? “Corny as it sounds, to feel the pride and joy that South Africans have taken in our win is a better feeling than winning the Oscar. The highlight, though, was meeting ‘Madiba’ [Nelson Mandela]. Embarrassingly enough, I had to fight back the tears.”

Thanks to the Oscar win, Hood is sizzling hot at the moment. He has received 270 scripts since the nominations were announced – everyone wants him. The win must be the ego boost of all time – how will he maintain a level head for the future? “Despite Tsotsi’s incredible success, it has received one or two bad reviews along the way. This reminds you that you will never make a perfect film and that you will always have to strive to do good work creatively. Similarly the highly competitive nature of this business keeps you on your toes.

“Frankly, having won I do feel somewhat intimidated about what to do next. The win is both a blessing and a curse and I hope it doesn’t immoblise me, because great stories are hard to come by and much of Tsotsi’s success must be attributed to the original novel by Athol Fugard and the extraordinary humanity of his characters.”

Hood noted that since the success, his business has changed from being an outgoing call business to an incoming call business. “I’ve struggled to find or write scripts in the past. Now I’m flooded with them, many of which are not good. I’ve also been swamped with requests for meetings and for good or bad, without any arrogance intended, I’m now seen by many people as someone who can help get their films made. This is a pressure I haven’t quite figured out how to deal with.”

Given Hood’s hot property status, he now has an entire team handling his career, headed by manager Michael Sugar of Anonymous Content in Los Angeles, to filter requests and submissions and to run his publicity and travel schedule for the Tsotsi road show. He is represented in Hollywood by the famed William Morris Agency and also has an agent in London.

I brought up the fact there have been some sectors of the SA industry which haven’t been overly delighted with Tsotsi as a film, complaining that the lead character is a black SA gangster. Hood responded: “To SA filmmakers who have difficulties with Tsotsi – I respect their criticism and I look forward to seeing their films on the screen. What we need in SA is more and more films made by local filmmakers because the pressure for one film to fully define the SA experience is ridiculous. Our competition as SA filmmakers is not with each other but with every filmmaker in the world, at every level. We are also competing with video games and concerts.”

Hood made a point of acknowledging all the people who worked on his film. “On a technical level, I’m extremely proud of the work of every crewmember on Tsotsi. It’s world class.”

At some point during the interview, Hood mentioned how he’d learnt to frame shots for the camera. “My dad used to be an avid wildlife photographer so I would often go into the wild with him. He always said that that there were three elements to a successful photograph – composition, lighting and the emotional moment you capture in the picture. I’ve always remembered that in my filmmaking.”

Hood was eventually dragged away from the interview by the publicist who more or less ordered him to go and get ready for the President Thabo Mbeki meeting, but informing him that he would have to do a cell phone interview with the Natal Mercury newspaper on the way to his room.

See the April issue of Screen Africa for the serious part of the interview.

These nominations must be in by 27 March 2006. On 28 March, all paid-up membership who cannot attend the meeting in Johannesburg and who wish to vote by proxy may send their proxy votes to info@theimaginarium.com for inclusion in the vote.

The list of nominees will be sent out to the membership list on the 27 March 2006 and vote by proxy on 28 March 2006 via email or via signed fax to 021 – 685 0239.So far, nominees are:

• Jeremy Nathan
• David Wicht
• Moeletsi Mbeki
• Mfundi Vundla
• Philip Key
• Desiree Markgraaff
• Paul Raleigh
• Izidore Codron
• Joel Phiri
• Anant Singh
• Brigid Olen
• Philo Pieterse

Please note that only registered and paid up members may nominate and vote. Should you wish to nominate and vote, you may, however, register and confirm your membership with info@theimagianrium.com and your membership fee will be billed in due course. When voting by proxy, please remember that each member is allowed 5 votes. For more info call Denisha Pillay on 021 658 3000.

The IPO Annual General meeting will be held in Johannesburg at at the offices of Webber Wentzel Bowens on 29 March 2006 from 11H30 – 14H00.

It’s official: When the first HD-DVD players, from Toshiba, begin arriving in stores this month, there won’t be any software for at least another three weeks.

Warner Home Video said Thursday that it has pushed back the release dates of its initial slate of HD-DVD titles from March 28 to April 18. The studio also has scaled back its launch to just three titles: “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “The Last Samurai.” Stephen Nickerson, the studio’s senior vp market management, attributed the delay to technical issues.

“Everything we do is new,” he said. “We’re using new copy protection, new compression, new codecs, and we want to make sure the product that goes out is flawless.”

Story courtesy of Hollywood reporter

Key film industry players met in Durban this month at a time of unprecedented growth for the city’s film industry. High on their agenda was thrashing out strategies to take maximum advantage of the boom.

The Durban Film Office (DFO)hosted the 2006 Film & Television Training Indaba at Suncoast Casino on 16 and 17 March.

The Durban film industry has experienced a phenomenal 41% growth in production activity over the past three years, from big budget Hollywood blockbusters, to a steady stream of local and international commercials and features.

It’s clear that Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province’s film friendly reputation is spreading like wildfire. The economic spin-offs have been huge, with hundreds of millions of rands estimated to have been injected into the local economy.

Says the DFO’s CEO Mandle Ndimande. “This is a perfect time for key role players to meet and discuss strategies to gain maximum advantage from all the local and international film activity in the region.”

The Durban Film Office is the film promotion arm of the eThekwini Municipality.Lively exchanges are guaranteed with topics like the pros and cons of applying the controversial Nigerian film model to the local industry and the ongoing debate over film versus High Definition (HD) formats.

Alsounder the spotlight was the perceived gap between Durban training levels and actual skills required on film productions, with national and international standards pushing the bar higher with every production. Related to this is the topic of how to increase the numbers of Durban cast and crew employed on locally filmed foreign and South African productions.

“The office is thrilled by the success of the BAFTA nomination of the short film Lucky. The film was shot entirely in Durban using local crew and cast, some with first time experience, and that has assured the international players of the film industry that Durban is more than capable of handling world class productions,” said Ndimande.

But there remains a perception among Cape Town and Johannesburg production companies that Durban lacked experience and skills.

“This not only limits opportunities for the local industry, but also acts as a deterrent to filming in Durban due to the added cost of providing accommodation and travel for Cape Town and Johannesburg production services. We are confident that this Indaba will prove a turning point in Durban’s relationship with the wider South African film industry. This is an ideal opportunity for interested and qualified people to make a contribution to the future of film in this city and province,” noted Ndimande.

PROGRAMME

The 2006 Film & Television Training Indabaprovided local production services, training providers and students an opportunity to workshop the issue of skills development with key organizations such as the Commercial Producers Association, National Film & Video Foundation, South African Scriptwriters Association, Association for Cinematographers South Africa and the MAPPP Seta. The Indaba ran for two days andincluded presentations from key role-players and panel discussions.

Issuesdiscussed included:

* Skills Development and the National Skills Framework – Upgrading existing skills and addressing past imbalances.

* Training Providers – Creating a register of existing providers and program’s on offer.

* Skills Diversity – Establishing industry needs in terms of technical training and business skills.

* Setting the Standard – Accreditation and recognition of acquired skills and knowledge.

* Access – Focusing on the cost of training.

* Format – Film vs. HD and the applicability of the Nigerian film model in the Durban context.

OBJECTIVES AND CONCEPT

The main objective behind the concept is to firstly encourage the local industry to create and maintain a platform from which industry can voice its needs and challenges to local and national government organizations and to address the need for a unified strategy in terms of skills development in the sector. Secondly, to invite key role-players to acknowledge training needs in our local industry within the National context.

The Durban Film & Television Training Indaba aim was to:

* Further develop and promote the film and television industry andsupport the growth of and access to the industry on both the local and national platforms.

* Inspire the local industry (film, television & multimedia) andaspirant youths to learn and make use of available opportunities within the industry.

* Tackle issues pertaining to the development of the film industryand challenges facing the local film sector.

* To encourage the provision of opportunities for persons to getinvolved in the film and television industry, in particular, persons from previouslydisadvantaged communities.

For further details, please contact

Toni Monty

Phone 27 31 336 2680

Fax 27 31 336 2633

toni@durbanfilmoffice.com

www.durbanfilmoffice.com

Sentech warned Parliament on Monday 13 March that unless government undertakes substantial multibillion-rand investments in digital broadcasting transmission, SA will not be ready to broadcast the 2010 Soccer World Cup to 3.6-billion viewers worldwide.

According to senior management at state-owned Sentech which operates the country’s broadcasting signal distribution network, an overhaul of its 30-year-old transmission infrastructure is urgently required.

Sentech chairman Colin Hickling told members of Parliament’s communications portfolio committee that the company was “seriously undercapitalised”. Much of the equipment was outdated and redundant posing a serious broadcast transmission breakdown threat. Skills were also in short supply as many experienced technicians had reached retirement age.

Sentech CEO Gladwin Marumo said digitisation was the only way to lay on the 40-gigabyte transmission bandwidth coverage that the World Cup final would require. According to the international football federation, Fifa, SA was obliged to provide coverage of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in high definition.

According to Sentech executives, repeated requests for state funding for the digitisation of the transmission network and the move away from the analogue network had not met with any response.

Sentech has been requesting additional funds since 2003 and last year lodged a request for R915m. It was only granted R200m spread over three years from the state in the 2006-07 budget.

The lack of digital equipment and facilities to meet the demands of the 2010 Soccer World Cup has been compared to the lack of forward planning that caused the recent and ongoing electricity distribution chaos in the Western Cape.

For full report see Business Day, Tuesday 14 March 2006.