Technology

There has been a 550% increase in the number of mobile subscription in Africa over the last five years, according to a report from The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In its opening weekend on the South African box office, Michael Jackson This Is It generated a hefty R3.6m in revenue, mirroring its impressive overseas takings.

Prolific playwright, director and internationally acclaimed musical theatre producer, Mbongeni Ngema, in partnership with the City of Johannesburg and the Soweto Writers Project, will be launching the Soweto Performing Arts Centre (SPAC) at a special media function to be held on Friday, 20 November at the Uncle Tom’s Community Centre in Orlando West, Soweto.

A ground-breaking new documentary, Courting Condi, about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will screen at the International Film Festival South Africa to be held at the Everglades Hotel in Dargle, KwaZulu Natal, on 7 November. The documentary reveals Rice in various guises - concert pianist, figure skater, orphan, football fan, virgin, oil-woman, liar, incompetent, war profiteer, and torturer

Qatari media group Alnoor Holdings has launched the $200 million Alnoor fund to finance and produce up to 15 features for the international market in the next five years. The announcement was made last week during the four-day inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

While the South African Minister of Communications plans to load the taxpayer with an additional 1% tax to support the SABC, the BBC which is also under financial pressure has made a decision to cut salary costs to meet its future commitments.

SA filmmaker Paul Emmauel has won the 2nd annual Africa in Motion (AiM) short film competition with his silent and visually stunning experimental documentary 3SAI: A Rite of Passage.

ATSC Mobile DTV is built around a robust transmission system based on VSB modulation, with enhanced error correction and other techniques to improve robustness and reduce power consumption in portable receivers.

The South African feature documentary, The Manuscripts of Timbuktu, directed by Zola Maseko and produced by David Max Brown, is the official selection for IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam). The film is screening in the Best of Fests section - a selection of the best from festivals around the world, most of which are having their European premiere.

Despite this year introducing a five-year $500m tax credit, the state of California is still losing film shoots to other American states with more attractive incentive programmes.