Father Geek here with Dr.SOTHA and his staff of wonderfully pleasing nurses, and of course the insightful Rigobert Song. Mr. Song once again sings us the story of a great African motion picture, one that deserves to be seen on every screen the world over. Want to see it? Bug the hell out of your local Art House Cinema manager, your local esoteric video rental dealer, and your local film festival organizers. Your persistence can help create a demand for African movies in the USA and other countries, a demand that is long overdue. And while your at it write Rigobert and Dr. SOTHA and thank them for all their hard work putting this column together for us every Friday morning.

"Readers the Doctor will see you now".

Thank you Nurse RU Frisky, DR.SOTHA here for Africa-AICN #24. I'm interested in dissecting your reviews on Kristian Leving's new dogma film "The King is Alive" which was set and shot in Africa starring JJ Leigh. So those of you attending the London Film Festival send those feverish thoughts to Africaaicn@hotmail.com

Before I get on with the news, I'd like to encourage you all to drop Rigobert Song , our wonderfully reliable North African contributor, a word of thanks for his hard work in consistently sending his incisive comments on African Film. I myself, have sent him a free copy of "Doctors and their kicks - Edition 5.2"

Nurse, that's Doctors and their kicks. No, I said KICKS.

SOUTH AFRICA

* Movie beauty Charlize Theron has hit back at rivals who claim she gets starring roles for her fabulous looks. The South African-born stunner has weathered a storm in her latest movie, The Yards, a gritty New York drama - despite suggestions that she is far too beautiful to play a 'real' character. She says, "Harvey Weinstein from Miramax told me that nobody would ever believe me in The Yards as a heroin addict. It seems my whole career has been about having to prove I can actually play the part."

* The South African Film and Television market is happening as we speak, representatives are encouraged to send reports to DR. SOTHA asap.The National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF)held a briefing at Sithengi to report back on its first year of existence. NFVF chairman Shan Moodley said the Foundation was committed to converting the industry to become an exporter of product rather than an importer.(This for me is the biggest damn problem - DR. SOTHA) Other goals were to correct past imbalances in the industry and to develop local audiences. Moodley stressed the importance of setting and maintaining top industry standards.

* Johannesburg-based Underdog Entertainment announced at Sithengi that its first feature film, Pressure will begin principal photography in February 2001. To date Pressure has been financed vial local sources including a pre-sale by a major South African broadcaster, soft funds from the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and support from the South African Film Finance Corporation. Underdog is hoping to pick up further financing at Sithengi. Pressure is to be shot on a digital format and will be directed by Luis De Barros (See previous columns for details on plot etc. - DR. SOTHA)

* Three of the more prolific feature producers attending Sithengi, ICE Media CEO Joel Phiri, Ballistic Pictures' Kobus Botha and Jeremy Nathan of Avatar Digital, are to pool resources and produce a slate of feature length films in digital format. Nathan and Phiri previously collaborated on the Africa Dreaming series. Botha works extensively with Canadian co-production partners and his most recent film, Dr Lucille, collected numerous Gemini Awards. The filmmakers are hoping to make two features a year. Budgets will be in the region of US$150 000 and the finance is to be sourced from equity investment, pre-sales and investment finances. The films are to be pre-sold and distributed in Africa by the new joint FRU/ICE label. Screenplays will be hand picked from the pool of existing and prospective southern African feature scripts that fit the scope and scale of DV8.

* Unlike previous editions of Sithengi, projects entered in this year's Co-Production Forum (CPF) had to reflect readiness for pitching. Selected projects had to comply with entry requirements which included the stipulation of African-based content. Ten documentaries, eight features and nine short films were pitched to an assembled group of local broadcasters, international co-producers and co-financiers such as Belgium television, the German-French channel Arte, the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Amsterdam International Documentary Festival, etc. Bart Fouche's feature film project, "The Basket", was invited to next year's Mannheim co-production forum. Steven Markovitz and Revel Fox of "Big World Cinema" presented their first feature length proposal, "The Flier", while Ladida Kommunikaxions pitched "Nandi and Napoleon", a love story set during the Anglo Zulu war. Most of the projects pitched were from South Africa except for one Zimbabwean feature film, "Chikwambo", produced by Norbert Fero.

* Cape Town based filmmaker George Schonveld is developing "The Coast is Alive" set around four surfing characters who get involved in the local mob to finance their daredevil antics on the coast of Natal, where waves are said to get as big as fifteen feet big. George will finance through his Napalm Pictures with South African actors Bill Ferry and Costas Leonides set to star.

NORTH AFRICA

* Not technically film news, but definitely worth mentioning.Liam Neeson has collected a host of movie memorabilia to auction off for UNICEF - and it includes his light saber from "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Neeson is putting up his script from the movie, complete with "coffee stains and fag ash," as he tries to raise over $5 million to buy drugs to prevent the HIV virus being passed on to unborn babies in Africa. Neeson says, "This is a cause which really touched me, as I have children of my own and am always worried about their well being. I'm chairing a project called Movie Action for Kids, which will include an auction of movie memorabilia which I have collected from actor friends and stars in the business. "George Lucas has donated a light saber from Star Wars which is rare as he does not usually sell items from the movie. Julia Roberts has given a wedding dress from "Runaway Bride", Denzel Washington is giving some boxing gloves from 'The Hurricane, one of Paul Newman's racing jackets and even a dress from Audrey Hepburn's estate. We are also expecting lots to come in from Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor as well as a number of other stars who are still working out what to donate. I will be bidding for an Gary Cooper original contract from the 1940's, which I hope is for High Noon (1952)."

* Ghanaian writer Benini Dladla will adapt his novel "Yellow Corn, Black Crow" about a teenage boys efforts to single handedly pull his family together through prejudice, poverty and famine. The boy finds wealth on the coast of Africa and resurrects their flagging economy. Benini is handing over directing duties to Mpanga Rilli (Sand People) for a February 2001 start.

* I hand you over to the ever reliable "Rigobert Song"

Good day readers, I have a wonderful biographical film for you today called "Frantz Fanon": Black Skin, White Mask directed by Isaac Julien. Read on and remember the name.

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask explores for the first time on film the pre-eminent theorist of the anti-colonial movements of this century. Fanon's two major works, Black Skin, White Masks and "The Wretched of the Earth", were pioneering studies of the psychological impact of racism on both colonized and colonizer. Jean-Paul Sartre recognized Fanon as the figure "through whose voice the Third World finds and speaks for itself." This innovative film biography restores Fanon to his rightful place at the center of contemporary discussions around post-colonial identity.

Isaac Julien, the celebrated black British director of such provocative films as "Looking for Langston" and "Young Soul Rebels", integrates the facts of Fanon's brief but remarkably eventful life with his long and tortuous inner journey. Julien elegantly weaves together interviews with family members and friends, documentary footage, readings from Fanon's work and dramatizations of crucial moments in Fanon's life. Cultural critics Stuart Hall and Françoise Verges position Fanon's work in his own time and draw out its implications for our own.

Born in Martinique in 1925, Fanon received a conventional colonial education. When he went to France to fight in the Resistance and train as a psychiatrist, his assimilationist illusions were shattered by the gaze of metropolitan racism. Out of this experience came his first book Black Skin, White Masks (1952) originally titled "An Essay for the Disalienation of Blacks." Fanon here defined the colonial relationship as the psychological non-recognition of the subjectivity of the colonized. Soon after taking a position at a psychiatric hospital in Algeria, Fanon became involved in the bitter Algerian civil war, eventually leaving his post to become a full-time militant in the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). Out of this struggle, Fanon wrote his most influential book, "The Wretched of the Earth", which Stuart Hall describes as the "bible of the decolonization movement." Fanon died of leukemia in 1961, just as Algeria was winning its independence. But his seminal texts continue to challenge us to liberate ourselves from all forms of psychological domination. I hesitate to label this semi-documentary a film about racism, because it's about so much more than that. If anything it's an accurate and movingly profound account of one man who set out to make a difference, and ended up making history. This may sound like an absurd comparison, but Milos Forman's "Man on The Moon" evokes the same themes of untold genius and proactive change within its lead character. Both characters are enigma's revolting against preset ideals, fighting a war against a polluted society. I plead with you to find this film and give it a chance - you won't be sorry. Send me your thoughts to rigobertsong@hotmail.com

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* Amanda Peet ("Whipped") is in final negotiations to star opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd in 20th Century Fox/New Regency Prods.' thriller "High Crimes" for director Carl Franklin. The project goes into production this month in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Finder, "Crimes" is about a high-powered criminal defense attorney (Judd) who must defend her husband after he is arrested by a team of government agents and accused of a 13-year-old wartime atrocity he insists he didn't commit. She enlists the help of a former military attorney (Freeman) but then begins to doubt her husband's innocence. Peet will play Judd's younger sister, Jackie, a New Age youngster who works as a phone psychic and has a poor track record when it comes to responsibilities like paying rent.

* Taken from the Hollywood Reporter: Actors Omar Gooding and Taraji Henson are set and rap artist Snoop Dogg is in negotiations to star in writer-director John Singleton's coming-of-age project "Baby Boy" for Columbia Pictures. The project is scheduled to start production next month in Los Angeles, with R&B singer Tyrese making his acting debut in the title role. Gooding is the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr, who burst onto the scene with Singleton's debut film "Boyz N the Hood" in 1991. "Baby," written by Singleton, is about Jody (Tyrese), a young man who has fathered a child but still lives at home with his mother and refuses to accept the responsibilities of adulthood. Unemployed, he spends his time with the mother of his child and another woman with whom he is falling in love. Gooding plays Jody's older brother, Sweat Pea, an ex-con who is finding it difficult to make the transition to gainful employment from crime. Henson plays Jody's girlfriend, Yvette, who is the mother of their son and disgruntled at her man's constant womanizing and irresponsibility. Snoop Dogg will play Rodney, the ex-boyfriend of Jody's girlfriend (He just can't avoid the stereotyping can he? - DR. SOTHA)

* Actor-director Forest Whitaker has been joined by U.K. indie producer Johann Insanally in a venture with FilmFour to develop and produce films using black and Asian talent. Insanally will serve as producer in charge of development before producing full-blown U.K. productions under Whitaker's U.K.-based Spirit Dance label. Insanally and Whitaker, through the deal with FilmFour, will have access to an undisclosed discretionary development fund for features at any budget level and funding for a number of digital shorts. FilmFour has also agreed to contribute an undisclosed amount of cash toward the funding of a low-budget digital feature to kick-start the venture.

* This may be old news, but it's only just floated onto my radar. Wallace Terry will adapt his book BLOODS for Castle Rock Entertainment and Antoine Fuqua, who is attached to direct and produce. It focuses on African-Americans who fought in the Vietnam war.

* Tim Reid, who co-starred in the TV series "Sister, Sister," is getting a lot of buzz around the country with his independent film "Asunder." While the film, starring Blair Underwood, Debbi Morgan ("Eve's Bayou"), Michael Beach (Soul Food" and "Waiting To Exhale") and Marva Hicks ("One Life To Live"), has been out since 1998, word-of-mouth regarding the film has been spreading like wildfire this year. The indy flick is about a freak accident that destroys a man's life and how the accident's toll forces him to take out his frustrations on his best friends who are in a troubled marriage. The film is playing in selected cities nationwide.

* Another black indy film making the rounds is "Love Beat The Hell Outta Me." Starring Glenn Plummer ("South Central"/"Speed") and Terrence Howard ("Best Man"), the film is about a group of men who get together for a game of dominoes, which leads to a spirited discussion and outcome about women. This film is also playing in selected theaters nationwide.

* And for you hip-hop heads, the independent hip-hop documentary "Straight From The Streets" is now on video and DVD. The documentary chronicles the root cause of why rap music is so violent and features appearances by Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, DJ Quik, Ice-T and many others.

* Now for those of you who want to check out black indy films in the sun, then you have to check out the The International Jamerican Film and Music Festival to be held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, November 15-19. The fest is the brainchild of Jamaican-born actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who co-stars in ''Moesha." For ticket info, go to JamericanFilmFest.com. (Get more info at netnoir.com)

AFRICAN COAXIAL

* The six part 26-minute series written and directed by African women, Mama Africa, has been pre-sold to US distributor Winstar. The series, a co-production between Zimmedia (Zimbabwe) and continental pay-TV broadcaster M-Net, will be given a 15-print theatrical release across the USA. Winstar has pre-sold the series to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) through ITVS. All six films will be screened four times on PBS over the next five years. The USA release will be supported to the tune of 20 percent of the production budget by Winstar and ITVS. Winstar is also allocating US$100 000 to the marketing of the film. Further pre-sales have been received from Finland and Holland. Two of the Mama Africa films have already been completed, one is in post-production, two are shooting and the South African contribution is poised to begin principal photography on 23 November 2000.

* On Wednesday, MagicWorks, the commissioning arm of continental pay-TV broadcaster M-Net, awarded its local sitcom commission to Donavan Marsh for his series Hot Shots. A pilot for the series will be produced in the first quarter of next year. Marsh is currently directing M-Net's popular game show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire" (Not if it means more of this - DR. SOTHA). MagicWorks CEO Carl Fischer said Hot Shots was selected because it was well-scripted, funny and portrayed good characterisation. MagicWorks has also presented a 12-month option to two soaps, Mfundi Vundla's Winelands and African Dawn, created by Mitzi Booysen and Stephanie Pickover. In terms of the option, MagicWorks will retain the exclusive right to produce either soap for the next year. Vundla is the creator of the top-rated local soaps, Generations and Backstage, while Booysen and Pickover are writers on SABC3's daily series, Isidingo.

You've reached the end, but don't despair because if you e-mail Me at the Office now, you will get this good feeling in your stomach absolutely FREE.

DR. SOTHA OUT