Anyone out there heard the new Radiohead album 'KID A'? Imagine track 3 -
National Anthem - playing over a cranial transplant by way of a simple
forceps counterclockwise movement. The patient's brain fluids begins to sway
in time with the music. DR.SOTHA here and who woulda thought such a
phenomenon was possible a few years ago, when bubblegum pop was raping our
eardrums.
Send me your favorite Floyd-ian score to play over next week's organ
transplant to Africaaicn@hotmail.com
Nurse, no not head, R-a-d-i-o-head.
SOUTH AFRICA
Nurse, no not head, R-a-d-i-o-head.
SOUTH AFRICA
* Lou sent me this piece of information on a new mini-series starring Arnold Vosloo of The Mummy fame. The full story can be seen at Lou's website here: By Clicking Here
"THE RED PHONE" is a new film that's set to go into production. Here's the synopsis. When the red phone rings, the AT 2000 goes into action. Covertly created and financed by an international consortium of governments and wide-ranging private interests, AT 2000 represents the last line of defense against worldwide terrorism. A secured hi-tech computer line, the red phone accesses only terrorist activity already investigated and verified by - but beyond the grasp of - any one of a number of international police, special security, and military agencies, so its urgent signal raises the alarm on a clear and present danger - an explosive situation that only AT 2000 can defuse. Headed by Quentin Forbes, the group is assembled from special units throughout the entire commonwealth of nations - the men and woman of AT 2000 are the very best in their respective specialities. But they are also renegades, marching to a different drumbeat of justice, one above and beyond the call of "regular duty". Forming what is, essentially, the first truly international police force, they employ wide ranging (although officially hidden) powers springing from a simple mandate - to track down, combat and defeat terrorism in all its ugly faces. Directed by Jerry Jameson and written by Steven Whitney. It will star Michael Ironside, Arnold Vosloo, Joe Penny (The Sopranos), Jurgen Prochnow, Roger Moore (007 himself) and Ben Cross. Filming starts in South Africa, then moves to Germany and Austria. Filming mid-April, 2001 to mid-June, 2001.
Taken from www.screenafrica.com
* The 52-minute documentary - "Hush, a portrait of Tracy Payne" - by Cape Town filmmaker Renie Scheltema, has been selected for the main competition at the International Women Directors Film Festival in Criteil (Paris, France).Screenings and a press-conference will be held on 23 March and the film will have a re-run on 1 April, 2001. In Hush, Scheltema has portrayed Cape Town visual artist Tracy Payne (now aged 31) over a period of 22 years. Payne was an abused child, but in acting out her trauma via her art, she managed to overcome her crisis. Scheltema also just completed a 7 x 26-min series of documentary portraits on 30 cutting-edge artists throughout South-Africa, called Canvas Extreme. Negotiations with foreign broadcasters are presently underway.
* The organisers of a film festival in the Valley of the Rhein in Switzerland are looking for films produced by the people of South Africa. The festival will take place from 21 to 23 September. The Rheintal is a very traditional area in Switzerland which has undergone industrial development and is now home to many immigrants from all over the world. The aim of the festival is to bring the people of the valley together to get in touch with the different cultures all around them. Contact Eva Appenzeller of the Rheintal International Film Festival on Tel 0041 71 744-5553 or Fax 0041 71 744-5624 or email eva@centralfilms.co.nz.
* Due to the popularity of Womad (World of Music, Art and Dance) in South Africa over the past two years, the organisers have moved the festival to best fit in with Womad's international itinerary. It will now take place in September at the Bluegum Creek Estate in Benoni. This comes about because of the demand of artists from all corners of the world wishing to perform in South Africa. Womad 2001 will once again be a three-stage, two-day festival, with camping on three days. Camping facilities have again been upgraded as have the children's village and amusement park.
* Think you've made the next 'Clerks'? Then read on: The National Television and Video Association of South Africa (NTVA) has announced the release of the Call for Entries for its Annual Avanti Awards (South Africa's Oscars - I believe that's what's called a paradox - DR.SOTHA). The 21st NTVA Avanti Awards will be presented in the second half of 2001. All programmes produced between 1 December 1999 and 31st December 2000 are eligible for entry. The Call for Entries is available on the NTVA website ntva.org.za and will appear in print form in due course. The closing date for entries is 13 April 2001.
* Since 1999 and the launch of Big Brother on Dutch screens (now available in 17 countries and soon to be produced in South Africa for pay-TV station M-Net), reality and game formats have become a golden nugget for many broadcasters. Mostly European-produced formats have made their way into US schedules and have allowed Europeans to set foot in the not-so-easy American market. At MIPTV, the international television programme market to be held in Cannes, France from 2 to 6 April, this trend will continue. In the Swedish hit reality game format The Bar (from Strix), six men and six women are given the task to run a bar for 12 weeks, share an apartment above the bar and attract a clientele of party-goers. Viewers go on-line and determine which of the contestants will be eliminated. (So basically 'Coyote Ugly' only it's the real deal? - DR.SOTHA) Six other formats include: "Trading Places" (So tell me do Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd get residuals for this? - DR.SOTHA), in which two families exchange jobs, houses, relatives and friends and must cope with their new lives and "The Farm", which involves fourteen would-be farmers running a remote farm with no electricity or water (I'm not sure how well this will go down in England - foot and mouth anyone? - DR.SOTHA.)
* And now for a brief bout of comedy: The South African Box Office. Steven Soderbergh's superb drug-war Oscar contender, Traffic, has ousted "What Women Want" from the top of the South African box office. Tom Hanks is still "Cast Away" in the number three spot, followed by "Chocolat" and "Pay It Forward". "What Women Want" has, however, clocked up R11 559 312 (a whopping $2m) so far. (Excuse me while I vomit - DR.SOTHA)
NORTH AFRICA
* Over to Rigobert Song:
Hello readers, welcome back. I have a bold African film to showcase today, but before I get on with it remember to send me your e-mails on African Films to rigobertsong@hotmail.com
TABLEAU FERRAILLE Directed by Moussa Sene Absa - Senegal, 85 minutes - In French and Wolof with English subtitles
Moussa Sene Absa's most recent film dissects the social chaos engulfing much of Africa through the story of an idealistic young politician's rise and fall. "Tableau Ferraille" offers an intimate view of how modernization, at least as practiced in today's Africa, corrodes traditional communities and retards grassroots development. Like such past Senegalese masterpieces as Ousmane Sembene's "Xala" and Djibril Diop Mambety's "Hyenas", it deplores a corrupt post-colonial elite's exploitation of the promise of African independence. The films opening shot presents a "tableau" of its larger theme - a beach beside a glittering seal littered with junk. The camera lingers on a barrel - which we learn much later contained radioactive waste illegally dumped by the town's leading citizen. This Tableau Ferraille, the director's home , whose name means appropriately "scrap heap" or "scene of junk." It contrasts markedly to his nostalgic view of his youth in his first feature Ça twiste à Poponguine (reviewed on previous columns.)
Moussa Sene Absa structures (one is tempted to say choreographs) his film to contrast two possible development paths for Africa: one towards self-reliance and social cohesion, the other towards self-interest and social chaos. In Tableau Ferraille, Daam, a well-intentioned but unresolved European-trained politician, must choose between these two social paradigms clearly exemplified by his two wives. His first wife, Gagnesiri, is a dignified village woman, dedicated to husband, family and community. She may represent Africa with its vast unrealized potential, waiting patiently, perhaps too patiently, for politicians and technocrats like Daam to develop her potential.
Daam and Gagnesiri are, revealingly, incapable of conceiving a child, so Daam's machismo compels him to take a second wife, Kiné, a beautiful, well-connected, western educated woman, eager to marry an ambitious young politician. Unlike Gagnesiri, Kiné chafes under the restrictions of domestic life. She wants to open an art gallery and travel abroad, even chiding Daam for not using his position to acquire wealth like the other government ministers. Like Kiné, Président and his corrupt cronies in Tableau Ferraille plan to use their connections with Daam to enrich themselves. Président opens a sardine cannery with a government subsidy, builds himself a fancy house, wins lucrative export contracts and fires local workers when they try to unionize. Président represents the new breed of American-style entrepreneurs that free market ideologues see as the great hope for African economic growth.
Daam, played by music superstar Ismaël Lö, is an equivocal character, a conciliator who avoids conflict to be popular with everyone, a kind of Senegalese Bill Clinton. Nearly forty years after independence, Daam's shallow political program is simply "to avoid chaos." and he mistakenly relies on suspect foreign aid and shady businessmen like Président to achieve it. Daam's disastrous domestic and political choices converge when Président bribes the disgruntled Kiné to steal secret documents so he can make the winning bid for a lucrative bridge construction contract. Daam, of course, comes under suspicion of favoritism and his former friends turn on him. Kiné escapes to a waiting Swiss bank account and Président replaces Daam as the political leader of Tableau Ferraille. A broken man, Daam resigns, takes to drink and is driven with his still loyal wife, Gagnesiri, from the village.
On their way out of town in a horsecart loaded with all their possessions, Gagnesiri pauses at the grave of her one friend, Anta, while Daam sleeps on a bench outside. The entire film has actually been a series of flashbacks from this point as Gagnesiri comes to realize there is nothing more she can do for Daam and certainly nothing he can do for her. Here the narrative impulse passes from Daam and the (largely male) elite to Gagnesiri and grassroots Africa. In an unexpectedly feminist ending, the devoted wife leaves her dozing husband, marches majestically to the beach where the film began, commandeers a launch and sails towards the open sea.
Gagnesiri is accompanied by a group of fisherman who have appeared mysteriously throughout the film, separate yet commenting on it like a Greek chorus. Any Senegalese would immediately recognize them from their distinctive "patched" blue robes symbolizing frugality, as Bay Falls. More and more Senegalese (including the director's family) are turning to Islamic sects like the Bay Falls, or better-known Mourides, because their stress on hard work, mutual support and economic self-reliance appears to offer the only viable alternative to a hopelessly corrupt state and an increasingly anemic society. For Gagnesiri, leaving Tableau Ferraille rusting by the sea, the future is left less well defined. What is clear is that from now on she - and by extension grassroots Africa - must make that future for themselves. Its fast narrative pace and concern with democracy and civil society anchor and define the film language for the new generation of African filmmakers. Here's two quotes from Variety and the Chicago Tribune to wet your appetite -- "Director Moussa Sene Absa's light often humorous approach, plus vibrant production values and a soundtrack to delight African music lovers, makes it a likely hit." --Variety "The find of the festival...A full-bodied study of ambition and corruption that doesn't seek to simplify matters." --Chicago Tribune
* CNN International showcases Africa with the introduction of 12 new time lapse idents, which will launch during the week commencing 26 March. The new African idents are the third phase of the ongoing global branding of CNN's six international English language 24-hour television networks. These 12 new video postcards underscore CNN International's commitment to bringing the networks closer to its diverse audiences around the world. The new graphics complement the first and second phase of country idents first introduced in January 1999, which featured worldwide landmarks including those in France, Britain, Germany, India, Russia, Egypt and China. This third phase of CNN International's on-air look was shot using 35mm film plus intervelometer in long-exposure time-lapse: Telecine on Spirit. All idents were post-produced on Flame, featuring landmarks from Cape Town to Morocco, Nairobi to Kenya.
* Peter Facinelli ("The Big Kahuna") has been added to the cast of Universal Pictures' "The Scorpion King" for director Chuck Russell. The project is scheduled to start shooting Wednesday in Los Angeles. "Scorpion" is a spinoff based on the Scorpion King character in "The Mummy Returns," played by World Wrestling Federation star the Rock. The story centers on how the Scorpion King came to conquer Egypt. Facinelli will play Takmet, the evil son of the Warlord, whom the Scorpion King must defeat. "The Mummy" and "Mummy Returns" producers Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel of Alphaville and director Stephen Sommers are producing the feature, which the studio is eyeing as another franchise. Facinelli, repped by CAA and manager Joanne Horowitz, next stars in Columbia Pictures' "Riding in Cars With Boys" for director Penny Marshall and in the indie feature "Tempted."
AFRICAN AMERICAN
Taken from the Hollywood Reporter
* Comedian Steve Harvey said that when a screenwriter pens a movie or a director casts a film, neither normally includes black people. "It's hard to be in something when the casting call is for white, blond, male (and) over 30, and you've got short, dark hair, and you're black," Harvey said Saturday night at the 20th annual Tree of Life Awards. "Black people, Asians, Latinos - they just want to be in it, given an opportunity. Don't just put out a casting call out that's just for tall blondes. Once you say 'blonde,' well, hell, we're out. And that's not fair." The event, which honors the talents and contributions of black artists to the film community, brought out a long list of top Hollywood talent -- including Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Cole, Omar Epps, George Tillman Jr., John Singleton, Montel Williams and Phylicia Rashad -- to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
* MGM's Heartbreakers broke into the box office and took away a strong $12.3 million over the weekend. Another new film, THE BROTHERS, opened in second place with $10.7 million. Last week's winner, Exit Wounds, was clearly wounded by word of mouth as it ended up in third place with $9.2 million -- half of what it took in a week ago. In an interview with the Associated Press, Sony Films marketing exec Valerie Van Gelder commented that the success of The Brothers, which received mixed reviews, shows that there is a groundswell of support from the black community for movies that show successful African-Americans dealing with real-life problems. (You just know Spike Lee would scoff at that - DR.SOTHA)
* William H. Macy is in negotiations to join the ensemble cast of Section Eight and Pandora's feature "Welcome to Collinwood," which Warner Bros. has come aboard to co-finance and distribute domestically. The project, written and directed by Ohio-based filmmaking brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, is scheduled to start shooting early next month in Cleveland. The cast includes Isaiah Washington, Luis Guzman, Jennifer Esposito, Sam Rockwell and George Clooney. "Welcome" is described as being in the vein of "The Full Monty" and follows a group of working-class Cleveland men who attempt to rob a pawn shop. Macy would play Riley, a lovable ex-con who reluctantly joins the group in order to earn bail money for his jailed wife.
* Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson said Monday night that he had fired Tavis Smiley, host of the cable channel's BET Tonight, because he had interviewed former Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson for ABC's PrimeTime without offering the interview to BET first. Previously, BET had said that Smiley was being terminated for "creative" reasons and because of downward-trending ratings for BET Tonight, which Smiley had hosted. Acknowledging that Smiley had no contractual obligation to offer the interview to BET, Johnson said, "Based on our five-year relationship, he should have made an effort ... to ask BET if we wanted to have an opportunity to air that interview." Smiley responded in a statement that the Olson feature had cost "well into six figures to produce," an amount that would have been "unprecedented" for BET, that such an interview would not have fit into the format of his BET program, and that "Olson is a white woman who approached me respectful of my interview skills and style but also hoping to get broad exposure." Finally, Smiley said that he had offered the interview to BET sibling network CBS (both are owned by Viacom) but that CBS had turned him down.
* MTV has landed an interview with Sean "Puffy" Combs, his first since his acquittal last week on charges related to a gun-shooting incident at a New York bar, the New York Post reported. The interview was scheduled to be taped this morning, with MTV's Sway Calloway conducting it, then broadcast this afternoon on Total Request Live.
