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South Africa's Top 10 Filmmakers for 2010
37th International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January - 3 February 2008)
critique
rédigé par Télesphore Mba Bizo
publié le 30/01/2008

The "rainbow" nation will host the world largest football jamboree in 2010. Arrangements are being made for a special cultural input. In this regard, some ten South African filmmakers have been assigned the task of mesmerizing the world through quality cinematographic productions along side sporting activities. Here is an overview of that top ten as they occupied centre-stage at the press conference that heralded the Commandmemts project in Rotterdam on January 28, 2008.

The very first short-listed South African "enfant terrible" is a lady by name Gilli Apter. She will achieve gender balance in Joseph. This rather young filmmaker has spent the last years working on commercials, music videos and documentaries. Her academic background discloses her stay at South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance, AFDA. The world of motion pictures owes her two short films: SA/X and Box. They were even screened at the French renowned film festival Cannes in 2005. Many other festivals have been presenting them worldwide. Gilli wants to focus on making films that are relevant and that are also able to shed light on the confused situation that South Africa finds itself in, ten years into democracy. She is one of the up-and-coming filmmakers who believes that there is a great platform to revive and revamp South African entertainment industry.

Cross-BorderExperiments

His name has come across oceans. Matthew A. Brown was the lead character in the critically-acclaimed American features God's Army and Brigham City. His short film, My father's garden, was premiered at Venice in 2003. His feature project, Leaving the Cape, developed at Binger Filmlab, won 'best feature film project at Sithengi 05, and was selected for Cinemart 2006 and IFP No Borders 2007. It is scheduled for production in 2008. Matthew completed his second short film, Tasha, in 2007. He began his career as an actor, studying at Guildhall in London and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute NY. Expectations are great about his Life Flawed come 2010.

Gender Sensitivity Reaches Fever-Pitch

Murula Tree shall deal with men. Nozizwe Ginindza made the discovery of all the evils that plague the fate of women in their day-to-day life in South-Africa. She takes it as her responsibility as a filmmaker to grapple for the audiences with the internal and most intimate emotions that African women go through daily without being allowed the freedom to express themselves as they try to cope with their abject poverty. Nozizwe Ginindza made her début in television broadcasting. She studied at WITS University. For job satisfaction, she further completed her degree in motion picture at AFDA in 2006. She was schooled on writing and directing.

TV Broadcasting as Stepping Stone

Tristan Holmes will own Hidden Garden. He began his career at a young age by becoming a television presenter which he pursued for five years. Setting his sights on more ambitious goals, he enrolled at AFDA Film School to pursue a career as a film writer and director. He has had great responses to his third year experimental Tholakele (Spanish Experimental Film Festival; Durban International Film Festival) and his graduation film Through the Flight of Feathers (Cannes Film Festival 2005). His latest offering Elalini won the award for the Best Foreign Film in the 2006 Student Academy Awards.
Tristan has a passion for complex and compelling South African narratives, stories that cut to the heart, inspire, and explore complex paradoxes through the lyrical weaving of landscape and character, society and self.

Hard Work and Success Do GO Together

Blood Down Claim Street will fly the world. Norman Maake had already made a big splash while still at film school with the acclaimed feature film Soldiers of the Rock. In 2004, he directed the television mini-series and feature film, Homecoming. Focus Features were quick to sign Norman to a three picture deal with the first film now in development. Norman is one of four directors on the SABC mini-series Surviving the Fifties, and will direct his screenplay The other side of the knife in early 2008. Soldiers of the Rock won best film at PAFF in 2005 and Homecoming was an official selection for the AFI- Los Angeles. It also opened the Africa Diaspora Film festival in New York 2006.

Childhood Dream Coming True

South African filmmaker Teddy Mattera fulfilled his childhood dream when he pursued a career in filmmaking in the US. He studied sociology and film production there. He also worked as an intern on the Oscar-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams. He made his successful way back home in 1990 in broadcast TV. He then produced news and Documentaries including work for ABC, The BBC, Channel Four, Global Vision and various other international broadcasters. Later that year, Mattera went to the London International Film School (LIFS).
To sharpen his story telling skills, Mattera leapt into fiction filmmaking after two courses at Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam where he wrote his multi-award winning feature film Max and Mona (Best Screenplay, Cape Town International Film Festival 2004, FESPACO Best First Film, Ougadougou, BF 2005, Best Feature - Pan African Film Festival Rome 2004). Since then, he has written and directed films, television programmes and series for both local and international distributors. In early 2006, Mattera was honoured with a Carnegie Fellowship as guest to Wits University in Johannesburg where he mentored in screenwriting and directing. He will be the father of Gees.


Twinned Signature

Jean & Zinaid Meeran, Gazelle911
Twin brothers Jean and Zinaid Meeran were born in the 70's in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Jean completed a Masters in Film Theory and practice from UCT and New York University and completed the Script Development Programme at Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam. Zinaid has a Masters in Fine Art in Film and a Masters in Critical Studies from the University of Los Angeles, California.
Jean and Zinaid form a uniquely complementary team, Team Tarbaby, questioning, portraying, entertaining, and representing for all the Tarbabies out there. Team Tarbaby shows in their works that all individuals are made up of complex, multiple, shifting identifications.
Team Tarbaby operates out of Cape Town, developing their features - The Djinn, Gazelle911 -, shooting their no-budget feature - The Player -, making short films - The Brown Europe Pageant, The Bandakodo500 - and documentaries; Tonton in America, World.


Akiedah Mohamed, Belly Dancing and the Art of Catching Stars on Water

Akiedah Mohammed is well known for her creative documentaries, poetry and screenwriting. She recently directed several episodes of the sitcom Nomzamo and early in 2008 she will direct her screenplay Gerty's Brother, a story of ill fated love set in Johannesburg in the early 1950's. She is a graduate of the Binger Script Development Programme.


Nicky Newman, Lucky Lady

With an academic background in journalism and psychology, Nicky Newman has been producing, directing, shooting and editing documentary films for 15 years, amassing many rich experiences and landing a few awards along the way.
She started moving into the world of fiction storytelling and attended Binger Filmlab completing their writing/directing course. She also attended the first Berlin Talent Campus.
Nicky has always been passionate about the growth of the South African film industry, being active in many organizations over the years.


Busi Ntintili & Khalo Matabane, Road to Khumbula

Writer Busisiwe Ntintili is the executive producer and writer for SIDEWALK PRODUCTIONS, a film and television production company she formed with her partner in 2005. SIDEWALK PRODUCTIONS' core business is in creative development, selling and producing of great stories.
Busisiwe is today one of South Africa's most in demand television and film writers and worked as a freelance scriptwriter for many South African productions, including writing a film called The Bet, medical drama Jozi H, and the popular SABC One series Mzansi. After spending two and a half years as Resident Writer and scriptwriter for the popular and critically acclaimed South African daily drama Isidingo, Busisiwe was appointed as Head Writer at the hugely popular SABC One's Generations, overseeing the script department and writing the storyline for the daily soap opera.
Khalo Matabane has directed more than ten documentaries, a number of short films, and recently made his first feature. Matabane won the Lionel Ngakane Award for the most promising South African filmmaker. He was also awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for his film Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, which also won the Best South African Feature Film at DIFF 2006.

Télesphore MBA BIZO
at Rotterdam

Gilli Apter. Joseph
Production Company: Vox Pix
Contract details: +27 82 330 8736 dan@voxpix.net
Representative attending CineMart : Dan Jawitz / Gilli Apter


Matthew A. Brown, Life Flawed
Producers: Platon Trakhoshis and Steven Markovitz
Co-producer: Rinkel Film & TV, The Netherlands
Contact details: +27 83 290 1502 platon@bigworld.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Platon Trakoshis / Matthew A. Brown


Noziswe Ginindza, Marula Tree
Production Company: T.O.M. Pictures
Contact details: +27 82 450 6180 kgomotso@tompictures.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Kgomotso Matsunyane / Noziswe Ginindza

Tristan Holmes, Hidden Garden
Production Company: T.O.M. Pictures
Contact details: +27 82 450 6180 kgomotso@tompictures.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Kgomotso Matsunyane


Norman Maake, Blood Down Claim Street
Production Company: Maxi-D Productions
Contact details: +27 82 677 8099 dmaxbrown@mweb.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : David Max Brown / Norman Maake

Teddy Mattera, Gees
Production Company: Luna Films
Contact details: +27 72897 1898 lunafish@mweb.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Bridget Pickering / Teddy Mattera


Jean & Zinaid Meeran, Gazelle911
Production Company: Vox Pix
Contract details: +27 82 330 8736 dan@voxpix.net
Representative attending CineMart : Dan Jawitz


Akiedah Mohamed, Belly Dancing and the Art of Catching Stars on Water
Production Company: Maxi-D Productions
Contact details: +27 82 677 8099 dmaxbrown@mweb.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : David Max-Brown


Nicky Newman, Lucky Lady
Production Company: Luna Films
Contact details: +27 72897 1898 lunafish@mweb.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Bridget Pickering


Busi Ntintili & Khalo Matabane, Road to Khumbula
Producers: Platon Trakoshis and Steven Markovitz
Contact details: +27 83 290 1502 platon@bigworld.co.za
Representative attending CineMart : Platon Trakoshis

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