www.aintitcool.com           January - February 2001

Bioskope Pictures's PURE BLOOD is the "find of the festival" at Sithengi  2000, 

"a daring" dark comedy that "makes Ken Kaplan a filmmaker to watch"

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SITHENGI 2000: an overview

The 2000 edition of the annual Southern African International Film and Television Market (known as Sithengi) came to a close in Stellenbosch, Cape Town last Thursday. It was the fifth Sithengi and arguably the most vibrant to date. While still extremely limited as a pure market compared to say, MIPCOM, it nevertheless is a vital feature on the African film landscape. It is perhaps the only opportunity for filmmakers across the continent to meet, gossip, exchange ideas and foster some small glimmer of hope of selling their projects or find financing for their next one.

This year's market took place in Stellenbosch, a University and Winemaking town half an hour out of Cape Town. The venue itself was the impressive Spier wine estate. Its conference centre, restaurants, screening rooms, hotel and various nooks and crannies set in a verdant, summer environment helped to create a relaxed and laid back atmosphere. While many internationals complained that they weren't initially aware of how far it was from Cape Town proper (where most were accommodated), there was unanimous praise for the venue itself. There were a number of notable events and screenings at this year's market.

Films on Show

Sithengi offers a number of screening opportunities for films from all over Africa. While most were produced for television, including documentaries, drama series and short films, some were true cinema features. The most hyped screening was the premier of the much anticipated Boesman and Lena on opening night, starring Danny Glover and Angela Basset. A South African co-production with France, it is based on the much revered stage play by South Africa's greatest playwright - Athol Fugard. The end result, directed by the late John Berry (USA), is a film that lacks any authenticity. Revolving around the lives of the tile characters, homeless and "coloured", at the peak of Apartheid, they are members of the "bergie" community living in and around the Cape, with their own culture, accents and attitudes. Unfortunately Basset and Glovers' mangled attempts to emulate the Bergie accent, combining American twangs, South Africanisms and "Bergie talk" make Fugard's dialogue often indecipherable. Basset desperately resorts to throwing in some American Deep South attitude resulting in a passionate performance, which lacks any truth. Coupled with static theatrical staging the film is largely a failure of the imagination and execution. The need to cast American stars in order to raise financing for international films results in yet another stillborn South African film. Screened in an outside amphitheatre on a cold evening, ninety percent of the audience walked out within an hour, heading for the warmth of the hotel bar.

Perhaps the find of the festivals was the long in the making Pure Blood, directed by Ken Kaplan. Screened in one of the smallest screening rooms, it was a true Indie effort with Ken handing out pamphlets himself in order to raise an audience. What makes the film stand out on the African film scene is its freshness and vibrancy. Pure Blood is a dark comedy combining elements of early David Lynch (Eraserhead) and Peter Jackson (Brain Dead) with a unique South African sensibility and Ken's own stylistic strengths. The film is about a young white cop, Fanus, living in a strangely unreal industrial town with his mother. His late father was a sinister general in the Apartheid regime and his long-lost older half brother has just returned home to resume an incestuous relationship with Fanus' mother. Little does Fanus know that his "racially pure" blood is the key to resurrecting his dead father and the sinister order that he embodied. Combining a Tai Chi new age black maid, blood-drinking zombie racists and a plot to poison the town with blood cakes, it is a bizarre mishmash that just managed to maintain its own cohesiveness. Pure Blood, through its daring to tackle serious issues without a didactic diatribe and the traditionally dour sensibility of African film makes Ken Kaplan a filmmaker to watch.

Input is an international conference in which television professionals gather to view and debate the most interesting, challenging and provocative programmes from around the world. A full Input event will be taking place in Cape Town in April/May 2001. At this year's Sithengi, a mini input was held as part of the market, highlighting the most interesting South African television projects. It was a unique opportunity for South African TV producers and directors to interact with an audience, a rare occurrence for Africa with its lack of film and television festivals. Click here for more info on Input 2001.

Projects screened at Sithengi this year included the acclaimed documentaries Metamorphosis (Luiz DeBarros - SA), Pavement Aristrocrats (Francois Venter - SA. - a documentary on the Bergies which perhaps the producers of Boesman and Lena should have watched), shorts such as Portrait of a Young Man Drowning (Teboho Mahlatsi - SA), Angels in a Cage (David Hickson - SA), Christmas with Granny (Dumisane Phakati - SA), features such as A Reasonable Man (Gavin Hood - SA), Al Medina - The City (Youssry Nasrallah - Egypt) and Adwa (Heile Gerima - Ethiopia).

Events

The market was packed with conferences, talks and organisation "report back". A highlight was the report back by the National Film and Video Foundation (of South Africa), which was set up only a year ago. The Foundation has been put in charge of administering the (admittedly modest) National Film Fund as well as developing and promoting the South African film industry. Key to the briefing was the announcement that the organisation's CEO has been appointed to sit on the Dispersement Committee of the National Lottery, which may well result in the Film Fund being bolstered by funds from the Lottery (ala the UK). The Foundation also presented a comprehensive study on the film industry, which will allow it to more successfully lobby government. Perhaps most interestingly was the work that has been undertaken to convince the Department of Finance to structure tax incentives for filmmaking in the country. It has also recently held a conference with the European Union in order to leverage funds and resources from the North. The briefing was an opportunity for the foundation to issue its Funding Criteria document for which they are seeking comment from those within the film and television community. It will inform that way that funds are granted to applicants next year. Bearing in mind that around 70% of the funding issued over the last three years is technically unaccounted for this is long overdue. The document, based on international models, can be viewed here at the newly launched Film and Video Foundation website. The NFVF also announced that it will be holding an "Indaba" to engage with the entire film and television industry in February next year.

The Independent Producer's Organisation (IPO) also held a talk on the importance for a strong producer's organisation, together with the UK's equivalent organisation PACT. Tactics and strategy on lobbying broadcasters for establishing a terms of trade document were discussed. It became clear that without government intervention (as was the case in the UK), broadcasters are often not prepared to genuinely engage with independent producers.

Sony made use of Sithengi to launch its new CineAlta 24P digital cameras. These are the same cameras that were recently used to shoot Star Wars Episode 2 in Australia. (Unfortunately we didn't get to see any footage from Lucas' epic). Projected on a cinema screen the image quality of the footage shot on the system was astonishing. The general reaction from viewing the capabilities of the new technology was that the days of film are rapidly coming to a close. A revolution in the making.

The African Directors Speak was a fascinating element of the market which saw much debate between the expectations of those from the developing South and the developed North. Directors complained about the fact that often the only avenues of interest for their films internationally were film festivals that do not pay to screen their films. And while their Northern counterparts use festivals to create interest in their projects, African filmmakers have minimal payoff from the screenings at festivals, as there are few broadcasters or distributors interested in their material.

Comissioning

One of the anticipated highlights of the film market was the much vaunted issuing of programme commissioning briefs by the public broadcaster (SABC). Producer's approached the event with some suspicion based on the broadcaster's past track record of issuing briefs and then changing their minds as well as its unfair commissioning practices and refusal to negotiate terms of trade with independent producers. Held in a marquee tent sweltering in temperatures approaching 40% centigrade, many made a quick escape. It began with the expected commitment to local programming speech and then the handing out of the large document containing all the briefs. While the production community welcomes the commissioning process, the briefs were presented in a sorry state, boasting grammar that seemed to emulate Japanese instruction manuals translated into English. It was extremely worrisome to note that SABC 3 will not be commissioning documentaries for a full year. The whole affair had the patronising and tacky tone that has characterised the SABC from its Apartheid days right through to its much-vaunted management transition. The briefs can be viewed here at the SABC site.

The commissioning arm of the African pay channel, M-Net also held a briefing in which they addressed the status and success of their previously commissioned local content. Magicworks also affirmed its commitment to local content and backed this with figures showing that that while in 1999, 300 hours of local content were commissioned and that this had grown to 2000 hours this year. There was little new said, but it was an attempt to communicate with producers in a professional tone. Carl Fischer, CEO of Magicworks announced that new briefs would be announced in January or February next year.

The other South African broadcaster, E-TV attempted no dialogue with independent producers, preferring to keep its rather embarrassed head hidden in the sand. The channel has no current commissioning editors or department and appears to be reducing its commitment to independent producers and moving more of its local content production in-house. Once again it proves itself the most outrageous and unethical scam ever foisted on the South African television industry. Need we remind anyone that this was the channel that shortly after committing itself to independent production, commissioned five different sitcoms in one fell swoop, from the same producer without a single pilot being shot.

One of the most exciting production opportunities for Southern African filmmakers was the launch of the Steps for the Future project. This project is a collaboration between broadcasters from around the world and organisations such as the Soros Documentary Fund, the European Documentary Network and UNAIDS. It aims to commission 27 documentary programs ranging from 1 minute to 52 minutes in length revolving around the AIDS epidemic in the region. Eclecticism seems to be the focus of the project - aiming to create a multiplicity of voices and perspectives on the crisis. There are no other restrictions on programs and proposals can include music videos, documentaries, experimental films, personal diaries and investigative stories. For more information contact Day Zero Films.

The annual co-production market was once again held at this year's Sithengi. Once again little seemed to come of it at this stage. Producers who pitched complained that as in previous years those on the panel were in Cape Town more for the scenery than for business, while broadcasters and distributors claimed that many of projects pitched were too local in nature and inappropriate for international audiences. The most shameful element of the co-production market was that once again local broadcasters chose to ignore the event.

In between all the events, filmmakers, producers, writers and directors pitched their projects in development and those already completed in an ongoing round of personal meetings and wine drinking across the estate. There were more buyers than in previous years (although not enough to satisfy the filmmakers). Sithengi however continues to grow. And while organisational issues often remain problematic, there was a more eclectic range of films and television programming on offer than ever before. There was sense that it was yet another large step taken by Africa in claiming its part in the global film and television community. But it also once again illustrated that before we can look to the outside world as a saviour we need to first work very hard at cleaning out our own backyard.

Check out the Bioskope Pictures PURE BLOOD website for more information at http://www.icon.co.za/~bioskope/pureblood/

Above content courtesy of www.aintitcool.com and Underdog Productions.