7#) 9T' 6666666666 7 7 7 7 7 7 7S7,7,7,967S989<7,'9@9B9F9J9L9P PURE BLOOD A film by Kenneth KAPLAN With Danny KEOGH Marius WEYERS Nomsa NENE Carl BEUKES A co-production BIOSKOPE FILMWORKS VIDEOVISION ENTERTAINMENT REVOLUTION PICTURES South Africa With the participation of Department of Arts, Culture, Science & Technology. South Africa Further Information Bioskope Pictures 44 Harley Street Suite # 37 Harley Gardens Yeoville 2198 Gauteng, South Africa Tel :+ 27 11 648 8162 Mobile: + 27 83 453 5521 Fax:+27 11 648 3215 Email: biopix@hotmail.com bioskope@icon.co.za www.bioskope.pty-ltd.net Some families have real problems For Fanus, a young cop dreaming of promotion to the elite Flying Squad unit, everything was going just fine. That is, until the day he went for his routine blood test for his transfer application. Somehow the return of his estranged brother, EUGENE, long assumed dead, was not quite the happy family reunion Fanus was expecting. Ravaged by illness and a mysterious affliction, relieved only by the intake of human blood, Eugene clearly has problems re-adjusting to suburban family life. Only the maid, HOPE, understands the truth behind Eugenes antics as he resorts to his old drunken behaviour. There is no doubt that the old family is back together when GERTRUDE, Fanus baking-obsessed mother, reacts violently to Eugenes reappearance. Little does Fanus know that his "racially pure" blood is the reason Eugene is back home. His career in the police force takes an unfortunate turn as Fanus, unwittingly, becomes the key accomplice in a plot to resurrecting his dead father, a General and mastermind of the old sinister order once called apartheid. What the General needs is pure blood and it is Eugene they have summoned with promises of immortality and glory. Believing that he is the chosen one, Eugene is outraged to discover that the Generals seek Fanus as their successor. From that point on it is inevitable; one of the brothers must die. Combining a new age black maid, blood-drinking zombie racists and a plot to poison the town with blood cakes, what ensues is a dark comedy that pits the forces of fascism against the redeeming power of true love and home cooking For Fanus the only hope is HOPE herself. Eugene Danny KEOGH The General Marius WEYERS Hope Nomsa NENE Fanus Carl BEUKES Gertrude Aletta BEZUIDENHOUT Young Gertrude Amanda LANE Becky Emily MC ARTHUR Dr. van Zyl Joss LEVINE Sally Jennifer STEYN Craig Chris FOSTER Commandant Owen SEJAKE Director Ken KAPLAN Screenplay Ken KAPLAN Cinematographer Jonathan KOVELL Production Designer Zack GROBLER Composer Max MIKULA Editors Tessa DAVIS Megan GILL Line Producer Pierre HINCH Executive Producers Anant SINGH David HEITNER Kenneth Kaplan has made a name for himself in South Africa as a filmmaker who confronts the current issues facing his country. For over ten years, he has been making critically acclaimed dramas and documentaries. He has degrees in both Drama and African Archaeology from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He received the award for Best Screenplay for the South African Script Writers Association before attending New York Universitys Graduate Film Program where he received the Paulette Godard Scholarship for his commitment to "socially responsible filmmaking." FILMS DIRECTED THE HIDDEN FARMS (1986)Short Drama Banned under the State of Emergency laws in South Africa. Blacklight (Chicago), Vues D'Afrique (Montreal), Cinema Under Siege (Amsterdam), and Cinema Municipale (Paris) THE BURDEN (1988) Short Drama Post-production grant from Columbia Pictures, Inc. Stars award-winning actor Thomas Mogotlane (MAPANTSULA) Best Director/Best Actor Awards - New York First Run Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Edinburgh Arts Festival. THE CHILDREN & I (1993) Short Drama for M-NET New Directions Series patron : David Puttnam Stars Tony award-winning actor Winston Ntshona (A DRY WHITE SEASON, GHANDI, DOGS OF WAR) PURE BLOOD (2001) Feature Film Co-Production : Videovision Entertainment & Revolution Films. Funded in Part by the South African Governments Department of Arts & Culture. Directors Statement Ever since my first short movie was banned as undesirable by the racist government in South Africa, I wanted to make a feature film that reflects the state-of-mind that created Apartheid and look at those people today and what theyre going through. I wanted to make a film that was accessible and entertaining so I chose to write a dark comedy that kept far away from the obvious heavy political drama of those anti-apartheid movies from the 1980s. PURE BLOOD is about a dysfunctional family, obsessed with their dark secrets from the past and a very unhealthy and screwball view of the future. I was inspired by the humour and social satire in films like PARENTS (dir: Bob Balaban), THE YOUNG POISONERS HANDBOOK (dir: Benjamin Ross) and DELICATTESSEN (dir: Jeunet & Caro). These films made me laugh, but they also touched a tender nerve in their observations about families and the human condition. Although the movie draws on influences from other films, PURE BLOOD is my vision of a world unlike anything youve seen before. The theme of blood interested me because it is a symbol that operates on so many levels. It is the mainstay of life. It cleans and renews and without it there can be no re-birth. But blood can also be tainted by corrupt beliefs and dangerous ideologies. I like this contrast and the ironies that emerge in dealing with the acts of love, revenge and betrayal that motivate so many of our actions. I see the movie is a grand tart. An over decorated sweet cake that looks seductive on the surface, but inside is full of surprises and forbidden fruits. Do you think there is a new film culture coming out of South Africa? PURE BLOOD received funding from the South African Governments Department of Arts & Culture part of the new Film Development Initiative that has been started. Its actually the first of these films to be completely financed in South Africa and go into production. I managed to raise matching funds from Anant Singh, this countrys biggest producer, and from Revolution Pictures. The rest I raised from private equity, so its 100% homegrown. I believe PURE BLOOD is a culturally significant film in that it has been made in the true independent spirit of filmmaking. This is very rare in South Africa and I dont know of a local feature to be made this way out of the Governments Development Initiative. We had no presales, no foreign stars, no studios or broadcasters put up the money. Its a lean and mean movie. Its the way our filmmakers will have to make films if we want to be free to express our own visions and stories. So maybe, I dont know, this could be the start of some kind of a new wave of movies from here. The film combines different styles and genres. There seems to be human drama, horror film elements, and a good dosage of tongue-in-cheek dark comedy? Ever since my first short movie was banned as undesirable by the racist government in South Africa, I wanted to make a feature film that reflects the state-of-mind that created Apartheid and look at those people today and what theyre going through. The film had to be accessible and entertaining and I chose to write a dark comedy that kept far away from the obvious heavy political drama of those anti-apartheid movies from the 1980s. PURE BLOOD is about a dysfunctional family, obsessed with their dark secrets from the past and a very unhealthy and screwball view of the future. I was inspired by the humour and social satire in films like PARENTS (dir: Bob Balaban), THE YOUNG POISONERS HANDBOOK (dir: Benjamin Ross) and DELICATTESSEN (dir: Jeunet & Caro). These films made me laugh, but they also touched a tender nerve in their observations about families and the human condition. I focused on the human drama, the things that motivate people to turn against one another, seeking revenge, and justification for their actions. I wanted to show the human dimension and play it off against the political allegory in the film. For PURE BLOOD I used elements of Jacobean tragedy, the pulp fiction of that era. I turned to American splatter movies of this century and combined these themes into a story that deals with revenge, jealousy, betrayal, ascendancy and bloodline. In this I found really dark ghoulish humour. When did you begin conceiving this idea and figure out that there was a movie in it? I started writing PURE BLOOD when I was working as a Television News Producer for international networks covering South Africa and the political uprisings of the 1980s and early 1990s. I found myself under fire or under arrest for contravening the draconian media regulations the white minority government had instituted under the State Of Emergency. I was angry with what I saw and I needed some way to express it. The look and styling of the film is abstracted - when is the film actually set? Well, I like to think that the film is taking place in a time that some say will never come. By that I mean that the film deals with a moment in history that we have been living through, a time of remarkable transition. I am talking really about white South Africans, who never thought the sun would ever set on their little corner of sunny Africa. But now things have changed and some are fearful, some are clinging to the past and all of us are trying to figure out where we fit in to this new country and its new democracy. There is often weird and funny ironies at work as people struggle with the way things are now in contrast to the things they once believed in. The time they thought would never come has come and its here to stay. - Cue Magazine : July 2000 wh„&2AIz7:?Vh(ABD   % 1 ; O _ k r  , A N X c l 34D ~44Ofh~FPHR>?NY+,""#$$ $2$<%&&)) Ŀ@@@@@@@$   &'(2ABCDIUcnz{|}789:;<=>?@ABVhy)BDEgh./TU  ![     % 1 2 ; O P _ k l r  , - A N O X c d l x !!< #$34 S>\dfgh}~"#>DE12+,!!""##$$ %%%%&&)!!!!J)) ! 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