Well, Africa-Geeks, here's Father Geek introducing another great column for our South African offices and Dr. SOTHA. This Friday's Africa-AICN column has a unique look at the fantastic film REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, which is a pretty unique motion picture in and of itself. Father Geek's witnessed this movie himself and I feel it should be required viewing in all secondary schools worldwide, it is very powerful film making and pulls no punches in getting its points across. Once again this week our fine African film analysist Rigobert Song turns in an excellant report on a very deserving bit of cinema. Now on to this week's (ir)regular column...

DR. SOTHA here, and before I get on with the regular column, I got this bizarre review of Requiem for a Dream from Lucy who's attending the London Film Festival. Now I know this has been covered extensively, but it hasn't been released in Africa or Europe yet, and if anything this is one weird fucking review, I think YOU need to stay off the drugs Lucy.

Hi dr sotha, I saw coverage on the London Film Fest the other week on your column. I just caught "Requiem for a Dream" here in London at the Odeon as part of the screenings. Read on, and remember Lucy's in the sky with diamonds.

This is the story of how one African (I'm from Ghana) girl (call me LUCY) conquered one of the most bruising psychological encounters in the history of film.

Anyone ever considered suicide at one point or another? Maybe it was your volatile relationship with your parents, could have been your battle with the bulge, you're a homosexual and nobody understands, my partner is fucking the entire firm - boo hoo, I'm a virgin and nobody cares, money is too tight to mention, I'm dying and the pain is unbearable, my favourite football team has plummeted to 4th in the table, my husband is stifling my career ambitions, what happens if they cancel Friends?, the Beatles have really broken up, I have hair growing on my back, is pursuing a life in prostitution really all it's cracked up to be?, that Satan's full of shit, I have a face like a crater filled moon, I'm going bald, not good bald, bad bald, I suck at oral sex, I just got my first 'B', working in textiles is the pits - Whatever reason it was (and I'm sorry if I left anyone out), you were there contemplating death.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is like a failed suicide, perhaps like a false sneeze. What I'm really trying to say is, DRUGS are bad for you By a show of hands, how many people have tried Acid, Ecstacy, weed, speed, uppers, downers, hash, marijuana, grass, thinners, jumping julias, sunny ridges, mickey mouses, funky phobias, blonde bulges.ahh good, almost everyone. Well for the love of God, whatever you do, don't go watch REQUIEM FOR A DREAM with your favourite drug of choice, unless that is you are still in the midst of suicide, and have yet to work out a plan of action.

So this is the plot in a nutshell, Ellen Burstyn is a widow who tries to lose weight because she thinks she's going to be on television. A dietician (you know the type) prescribes her a serious dosage of dietary pills. She gets hooked on the pills, she begins to hallucinate - the fridge is going to eat her, she loses 25 pounds, more pills, the television show engulfs her room. It's pretty much a bleak downward spiral from there (and believe me you haven't heard the worst of it yet). Jared Leto is Burstyn's son. He's a drug user, drug peddler, generally a nice guy. Did anyone ever tell you that if your entire arm turned blue, you're a serious smack addict? Jared is a serious smack addict, and it's pretty much a bleak downward spiral from there (and believe me you haven't heard the worst of it yet). Jennifer Connelly is Leto's girlfriend. She's a gorgeous, simply breathtaking piece of work, oh yeah and she's a drug addict. When she runs out of money, she'll pretty much do anything for another hit, ummm like fucking an endless line of smug high rollers. It's pretty much a bleak downward spiral from there (and believe me you haven't heard the worst of it yet). Marlon Wayans is Leto's friend, he has the contacts, the dealers, the drugs, did I mention he's a drug addict too. It's pretty much a bleak downward spiral from there (and believe me you haven't heard the worst of it yet).

So now that I've scanned the skeleton for you, let's examine the flesh. Aranofsky who's previous film was "PI" (the mathematical symbol) has obviously gone to great pains to save us from buying the really expensive shit, and assorted a mix of everything for the price of one movie ticket. Oh how generous you are. Thank you. So when exactly does this shit wear off? How long do the excruciating hallucinations last? Is it safe for me to be typing this out in my mental capacity? When will the fragments of glass be removed from tattered psyche? Unfortunately these are questions that Aranofsky simply doesn't care about. Am I to believe that Aranofsky is just a filmmaker without more sinister motives? Drugs are bad man, drugs are bad! Okay, but isn't your film like a drug man? This must be the unintelligible part of the hallucination. All I'm thinking at this point is . This film is part genius part rehab. So I'm like half an hour through your film and all the story threads are filled with a genuine optimism. 35 minutes in Getting a little squirmy in my seat.45mins oh God help you Ellen Burstyn are you fucking mad taking roles like this, didn't the Exorcist teach you anything? .55mins stay away from the smack god damnit.65mins nervous eyes stray over to the exit sign . 75mins the ushers have closed the doors, people are frantic to get out, but they force us to keep watching.90 mins take all the tears in this packed theater and there is a good chance you could have a 10 min light drizzle in New Hampshire..95 mins This isn't real, people next to me try to smile reassuringly, we're all in the same warped dream, it's not real forget about it.100mins This is so God damn real it's like a fork in your head, we'll all die together..105mins NOOOOOOOOO, I'm coming down, we're all coming down, I'll tell you everything just make it stop.115mins It says the end but is it really the end?

Dr. Sotha back, Ahem, yes, alright. Me personally, I don't prescribe drugs to patients. Instead I use (V)erbs, (A)djectives and (N)eedles. A process I call VAN. I have yet to have one complaint (even from the deceased). Send me your oxymorons to Africaaicn@hotmail.com

Nurse, I thought we stopped 'that' form of therapy weeks ago.

SOUTH AFRICA

* The 2000 Tokyo International Film Festival literally went to the dogs Sunday as Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's "Love's a Bitch," which interweaves three narratives dealing with the relationships between the characters and their dogs, took the Tokyo Grand Prix and best director award at the festival's closing ceremony. Inarritu received a ¥10 million ($93,000) cash prize as part of the award. Edward Norton's "Keeping the Faith" received the award for best screenplay. Moussa Maaskri was awarded best actor for his performance in Swiss director Nicolas Wadimoff's "Mondialito" and Jennifer Jason Leigh best actress for her role as a free-spirited Lolita in Dane Kristian/ VUSI KUNENE's/ Levring's "THE KING IS ALIVE," which was all shot in Harare, Africa.

* To mark the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, Cinema Nouveau - South Africa are putting on a free film festival. The Korean Film Festival runs from 3 - 9 November at Cinema Nouveau in Brooklyn, Pretoria; 10 - 16 November at Cinema Nouveau, Rosebank, Johannesburg and from 24 - 30 November at Cinema Nouveau, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. There are 5 different films showing. "Rainbow Trout" is about the masks that people wear, and how basic human nature reveals itself in a crisis. The award-winning "Spring in my Hometown" chronicles the effects of a distant war and the nearby American military base on the inhabitants of a small rural Korean village. Another award-winning feature on the festival is "A Man with Three Coffins". An enigmatic and melancholy road movie, which interweaves 2 plots - this is the story of an old, dying man wanting to visit his hometown, and a widower who wants to return his wife's ashes to the same town."The Power of Kangwon Province" tells the story of a young woman's love affair with a married man, in a most extraordinary way. The 1993 film, "To the Starry Island" is set against the backdrop of the Korean War, and uses flashbacks to tell the story of why a man can't be buried in the place he requested. Admission to the films is free, but restricted to those 18 years and over, and on a first-come basis. Get more at the SA Indie website: www.safilm.co.za

* The Film Resource Unit (FRU) and Boutique Afrique have combined forces to provide maximum exposure for African film and TV products at Sithengi 2000, the 5th Southern African International Film & Television Market to be held at Spier from 13-16 November. South Africa's leading distributor of African film and TV products, FRU, will add its 200-strong catalogue to the Product Library of Sithengi s Boutique Afrique. FRU s extensive catalogue includes award-winning titles such as Ngweze Ngangura s "Pieces d Identites" and Ntshaveni wa Luruli s "Chikin Biznis". Boutique Afrique is a business space created by Sithengi to enable independent filmmakers to market their products.

* Proving that South African audiences like skin over content 'Coyote Ugly' has taken R2 334 511 in its first week at the South African Box Office. It is followed by another new release, the Joel Silver produced 'Romeo Must Die', which is in second place ahead of 'What Lies Beneath' (Certainly not a great Harrison Ford performance - DR. SOTHA), 'Shanghai Noon' and 'Space Cowboys.'

* SASWA, the South African Scriptwriters' Association, invites interested parties to its monthly meeting on 11 November 2000 at the SABC, Ground Floor Auditorium, Radiopark, 1.30 for 2.00 pm. A three-part series produced by BBC World, How To Make A Movie, will be screened (Part 1: Development Hell; Part 2: Production; and Part 3: Marketing). Subjects covered include: Finding a writer; Raising Finance; Finding the right director; Practical problems on set; Director's vision; Marketing and Distribution blues; Getting noticed: rolling the publicity wheels; Film Festivals and how to use them properly; and The Public: the final judge. Interviewees include Alan Parker (The Commitments / Angela's Ashes); David Aukin (former head of Channel 4); and Elizabeth director, Shekhar Kapur.

NORTH AFRICA

* From the Hollywood Reporter: IFC Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Danish helmer Kristian Levring's English-language feature "The King Is Alive" for mid-six figures from Good Machine International and New Market Capital Group. An April platform release beginning in Los Angeles and New York is being planned. "King" marks the third recent acquisition for IFC Films, the newly launched theatrical distribution arm of the Independent Film Channel. Last month, the company acquired Tom Gilroy's directing debut, "Spring Forward," and Swedish helmer Lukas Moodysson's "Together." "King," budgeted at $2.5 million, was written by Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen and centers on a group of tourists stranded in the AFRICAN desert who stage a performance of William Shakespeare's "King Lear" to cope with their grimcircumstances. As their rescue becomes unlikely, the group splinters, reflecting the play's narrative. The Dogma film stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and VUSI KUNENE (A Reasonable Man.)

* All hail Rigobert Song:

Hello readers I have a film of biblical proportions for you today. Arguably one of the greatest African filmmakers and indeed the world Cheick Oumar Sissoko and his film "La Gènese" (Genesis)

Cheick Oumar Sissoko marks the coming of the 21st century with a film set at the beginning of time. He discovers insights into one of the most urgent problems facing Africa and indeed the world - genocide strife - by returning to the biblical account of its origins. Just as he used an historic allegory to denounce contemporary African dictatorship in his last film "Guimba" (SONG has reviewed this before - DR. SOTHA), in La Gènese he uses the story of Jacob and Esau to explore internecine wars from Liberia to Somalia and from Congo to Kosovo. By translating this archetypal story into a distinctively West African context, Sissoko makes it possible for us to see Africans not as an other but as representatives of a universal humanity.

From an anthropological perspective, the leading characters in the film represent three different modes of production coming into contact and conflict. Esau, Isaac's elder son, and his clan (dressed in hides) represent hunter-gatherer man. His younger brother, Jacob and his family (dressed in blue) are tent-dwelling, monotheistic pastoralists, nomadic herdsmen. Hamor and the glaze Canaanites (dressed in yellow) live in permanent stone settlements and cultivate the surrounding territory. All three groups are beginning to compete for the same land, especially as the advantages of agriculture become apparent. Sissoko relocates this clash to the spectacular, semi-arid plateaus of northeastern Mali under the looming presence of Mt. Hombori Tondo, a landscape perhaps not too different from the biblical Canaan.

The film begins with a prologue by Esau, played by acclaimed Malian singer Salif Keita. He is embittered and nihilistic because when he was hungry his younger brother, Jacob, forced him to sell his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. He blames fraternal strife on God, specifically on scarcity and the consequent competition for limited resources which has been humanity's lot since Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Sissoko in his complex psychological portrait of Esau makes clear that scarcity can also apply to the supply of love and respect available from parents and communities. Jacob for his part suffers a kind of symbolic punishment for his unbrotherly behavior when his favorite son, Joseph, is sold into slavery by his own envious brothers.

The film's narrative proper begins with the story of the abduction of Jacob's deranged daughter Dinah by Shechem, son of the Canaanite (or Havite) nobleman Hamor. The conciliatory Hamor proposes intermarriage as an answer to their difference, saying they can become one family and share the land. But Jacob's sons insist the Canaanites must first be circumcised in obedience to Abraham's covenant with God; Hamor surprisingly agrees. While his men are disabled from the operation, the duplicitous sons of Jacob launch a genocidal raid against Hamor's followers, slaughtering nearly all their males. This act can itself be regarded as a kind of genocide since they are all distant descendants of Noah: Hamor of Noah's son, Ham, and Jacob of Ham's brother Shem.

As a result of this carnage, a grand council is called to try to establish the international rule of law, which Sissoko has dramatized as a traditional West African terminology. Reuben, Jacob's eldest son, argues that the best way to prevent conflict is to mark out strict boundaries, and, in particular, to forbid intermarriage between pastoralists and agriculturists, so "we can know who is who." Hamor's spokespersons point out the impossibility of achieving such ethnic purity. They note that Judah, one of Jacob's sons, married Ada, a Canaanite; does that mean his son, Shelah, should be torn in half between the two tribes? Furthermore, Judah has been tricked into having twins by Tamar, whom he had tried to exclude from his lineage by putting off her marriage to Shelah. Very confusing I'm sure, but it's more than African politics and 3rd world values. This an engrossing piece of work akin to Oliver Stone's 'Salvador.'

Jacob seeks reconciliation with Hamor, since they now are both in a sense sonless. He says stories are the only thing he can hand down to his children and, of course, La Gènese could be regarded as part of that handing down. Jacob then tells how his father Isaac found a wife. Isaac's father, Abraham, sent a servant to Mesopotamia with instructions to bring back the first woman who would offer a stranger a drink of water. Rebekah not only relieves the stranger's thirst, she agrees to leave her family for a distant land and unknown husband.

Esau, resentful of his brother, his father, Isaac, his fate, denies there ever was such a golden age and proceeds to destroy Jacob's tents and cattle. But after Jacob wrestles with God, winning the name Israel, "strong against god," Esau forgives him. Esau instructs the Israelites, the sons of Jacob, to go to the land of Egypt where grain is plentiful. Jacob tells his sons to obey "my brother." The narrator then supplies the familiar ending to the story. Joseph through his wisdom has risen from slavery to become the pharaoh's chief minister; he will end the fraternal feud by forgiving his brothers and inviting them to bring their families to live in Egypt.

The plot of La Gènese may seem rather convoluted, even confusing, to Western viewers who may have only a vague familiarity with the biblical sources. What's more, the narrative flow is interrupted (or illustrated) at least five times by story-telling - flashbacks which may appear devious if one is unfamiliar with West African conventions of exposition. The stories have been carefully selected and rearranged from Genesis Chapters 24,25, 34, 37 and 38 to form a compelling moral narrative, an ethical argument for peace and community. Sissoko's may be a rather liberal interpretation of these scriptural sources since running through the Old Testament is a rather ethnocentric, anti-absorption bias to prevent the Jews from following foreign gods. Sissoko has explained why it was so important for him to retell this seminal story of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths in traditional West African guise, just as Italian artists of the Quattrocento set their biblical scenes in Renaissance Tuscany. "My aim has been to return Africa to the center of consciousness and events, to build bridges between the concerns of Africans and of other people. Because La Gènese associates universal themes with a profound anchorage in African reality, I believe it constitutes a new stage in our cinema." Read this quote and then tell me you wouldn't want to track this down "Cheick Oumar Sissoko restores to the Bible its universal vocation. Robert Bresson and Terence Malick dreamed of filming Genesis - but a Malian has succeeded in doing it." - Le Monde. E-mail me at rigobertsong@hotmail.com and let's talk African Film.

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* Oscar-winning filmmaker Sydney Pollack is in talks to helm Paramount Pictures' "Freedomland" for producer Scott Rudin. The project would reteam the helmer with the studio and producer for whom he directed the 1995 remake "Sabrina." "Freedomland," based on the novel of the same name by Richard Price, tackles issues of race that arise when a New Jersey single mother blames a black man from a nearby housing project for the death of her son. Meanwhile, a black detective and a white newspaper reporter have their suspicions about the woman's story. Pollack, would also produce through his Intermedia-based Mirage Enterprises. He most recently directed the Harrison Ford-Kristen Scott Thomas bomb "Random Hearts" for Columbia Pictures. (No self effacing cameo this time Mr. Pollock - DR.SOTHA)

* Hill Harper ("City of Angels"/"Get On The Bus"/"He Got Game") is on the big screen in the independent film "Loving Jezebel." Now playing in selected cities (North America) nationwide, the film stars Harper as a man who's unfortunately cursed with falling in love with other men's women -- and he doesn't discriminate as he romances women of all colors. Get more on the film by going to Their Site.

* According to published reports, Cuba Gooding, Jr., is in early negotiations to star in the Disney picture "Winterdance." The drama is said to be about a father and son's reunion during a dogsled race in Alaska. Meanwhile, Gooding will be back on the silver screen in the military drama "Men of Honor" (formerly titled Navy Diver) on November 10. The film, which also stars Robert DeNiro and CHARLIZE THERON, is about the first black Navy diver. Get more info by going to site by Clicking Here.

* It looks as though Ali will now be immortalized in Micheal Mann's 'Ali' project. Columbia executives couldn't guarantee his movie would be delivered at the previously agreed cost of $106 million. But after many meetings, all parties have come to an agreement. While specifics aren't available, according to reports, here's what we know: an agreement by the principals (Mann, the film's producer and Will Smith) will cover a percentage of any cost overruns and there's a recommitment by financial partner, Initial Entertainment Group, with whom talks had initially stalled. In addition, Mann will now cut several days off of the New York location shooting. (A Rumble in the Jungle - alriight - DR. SOTHA)

* Melissa DeSousa, who played the ever-so-snotty Shelby In Malcolm Lee's "The Best Man," is now a regular on the much talked about FOX series "The $treet." The drama, about stock traders on the New York Stock Exchange, casts DeSousa as a secretary with big dreams of joining the ranks of the big boys and girls. "The $treet" airs Wednesday nights at 9 PM ET/PT On FOX. To find out more about 'The Street," go to FOX.com (This sounds like a syndicated version of Wall Street - does Oliver Stone know about this? - DR. SOTHA)

* Viacom Bets On BET In one of the biggest mergers in history involving a black-owned company, Viacom has bought BET Holdings, the parent company of the Black Entertainment Television channel, for $3 billion in stock and the assumption of $570 million in debt. BET chairman and CEO Robert Johnson, who founded the company, will continue to run it, along with President and COO Debra Lee, the companies said Friday. James Winston, executive director of the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters, told the Wall Street Journal that he finds it "troubling to see one more major African-American company consolidated into a giant corporation. We can expect that some of the uniqueness of BET will be lost." But in a conference call with analysts and reporters, Johnson said that Viacom's other units, including CBS, UPN and Paramount "provide programming potential for BET. ... We have a jazz channel that could benefit from the tremendous distribution that [Viacom's] MTV has been able to gain internationally." In an interview with today's (Monday) Hollywood Reporter, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone took note of Johnson's repeated assertions that advertisers pay black media as much as 50 percent below what they pay other media for print and spot buys. "We don't think that's right," Redstone told The Reporter "That shouldn't exist. That should change, and rest assured, we will try to change it." (We'll see about that - DR. SOTHA)

* Expect more tears and hard earned lessons from your favorite day time host, Oprah Winfrey, who has agreed to remain for another two years as host of the most successful US talk show on television, The Oprah Winfrey Show, keeping the syndicated series on air through the 2003-04 season.

AFRICAN COAXIAL

* Several South African radio and television programmes attracted attention at the recently held Prix Italia 2000, one of the world's premier radio and television festivals. Chairman of the Board of Prix Italia, James Graham, said he was excited by the growing presence of African representation "spearheaded by South Africa". This year South Africa was represented by Windows of History, a six CD SABC radio documentary on the Truth & Reconciliation Committee (TRC) compiled by Angie Kapelianis. It was singled out by the Jury as "an important programme made at a critical moment in this country's history". Synergy Films' television series, New South African Artists (co-produced with SABC2 and LWT), reached the finals of the Performing Arts category and the Unda Dove Prize. It was commended as a powerful, topical insight "portraying social and cultural issues through the medium of modern dance". Another South African radio programme, Voices of Refuge (produced by Brett Davidson and Venanzio Simao) was regarded as "one of the most significant pieces on social conflict". It focused on the plight of refugees in South Africa.

* Anyone out there want to make some money from some amateur footage you shot on some hike trip.read on. Real TV (distributed by Paramount Pictures) is trying to locate South African and African footage. The channel buys stock footage of up to 10 years old. Currently, it is looking for footage of dramatic rescues or any extraordinary events caught on tape, as well as extreme sports, animal rescues or attacks, unusual rites of passage or ceremony, police or crimes caught on tape, riot or civil unrest, and extreme weather. Real TV has been on the air for four years and is about to begin its fifth season. The target audience is 18-35 year old men. Producers can contact Kelly Lilienfeld on (031) 502-4643 or 083-2666 223 or by writing Kelly Here .

So that's it for another week. Join us again for pain, groins, ligaments and bondage, pardon me, bandages. Send me supplies to Our Experimental Labs .

DR. SOTHA OUT