Father Geek here with our new version of our regular Friday Africa-AICN Column. Yeah ol' Dr. SOTHA and his able assistants Nurse Hollis and the ever insightful Rigobert Song are back again to haunt your weekend...
SOUTH AFRICA
DR.SOTHA here, and allow me to speak frankly about the South African film
industry. Wake the fuck up. Let's learn to tell stories, write screenplays,
develop a film culture. Or we could just continue to sulk about our history.
Yeah, let's do that instead. It's like Miss Santiago really. She continues
to mope about because I keep beating her at finding new cures for the likes
of red ant fever, and eek rabies. If you realize that you're not measuring
up to the best, at least consolidate and take it one step at a time. Just
look at the South African news this week. Just wake the fuck up.
Send me your ideas to help change film in South Africa as we know it to
My Secret Lab .
Miss Hollis, I keep telling you I'm only trying to help Miss Santiago,
there's no subtext period.
DR.SOTHA here, and allow me to speak frankly about the South African film
industry. Wake the fuck up. Let's learn to tell stories, write screenplays,
develop a film culture. Or we could just continue to sulk about our history.
Yeah, let's do that instead. It's like Miss Santiago really. She continues
to mope about because I keep beating her at finding new cures for the likes
of red ant fever, and eek rabies. If you realize that you're not measuring
up to the best, at least consolidate and take it one step at a time. Just
look at the South African news this week. Just wake the fuck up.
Send me your ideas to help change film in South Africa as we know it to
My Secret Lab .
Miss Hollis, I keep telling you I'm only trying to help Miss Santiago,
there's no subtext period.
Miss Hollis, I keep telling you I'm only trying to help Miss Santiago, there's no subtext period.
* South African director Ken Kaplan's debut feature film, Pure Blood, has won the Luciano Fulci Award for Best First Film at the recent Roma Fantafestival Europe's most established Genre film festival. Described as a cross-genre political horror film, Pure Blood is the first South African- financed feature film to come out of the Government's Department of Arts, Culture, Science & Technology (DACST) and the National Film & Video Foundation (NFVF). Matching finance was provided by Videovision Entertainment's Anant Singh, with additional funds raised by David Heitner of Revolution Pictures. Speaking from New York, a delighted Ken Kaplan said that the biggest reward he received at the festival was the audience's response to the film.
* UK-based Mirage Enterprises, the production company which is co-owned by Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack has acquired a co-production stake in New Africa Media Films' (NAM Films) television series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which goes into production early next year. Mirage has a first look deal with Intermedia. Multi-award winning Minghella is the screenwriter and director of both The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley. The co-production with Mirage represents an international breakthrough for Amy Moore who heads NAM Films which was established a year ago by Zwelakhe Sisulu as part of the New Africa Media Ltd stable.
NORTH AFRICA
* Yet another blinder from Rigobert Song:
Hope you're enjoying my dissection of landmark African-American films. Color Adjustments is one of the most profound documentaries I've come across yet. The reversal of African-American stigmas in television continues to perplex me. This film casts a critical but humorous eye on the misconceptions of a marginilised community, and asks us why we continue to take the same route in the current hypocrisy. Remember to e-mail me at My Private Soccer Field with your African film musings.
COLOR ADJUSTMENTS Produced by Marlon Riggs & Vivian Kleiman - Directed by Marlon Riggs - Narrated by Ruby Dee -- 88 minutes
In Color Adjustment, Marlon Riggs Emmy winning producer of Ethnic Notions carries his landmark studies of prejudice into the Television Age. Color Adjustment traces 40 years of race relations through the lens of prime time entertainment, scrutinizing television's racial myths and stereotypes. Narrated by Ruby Dee, the 88 minute documentary allows viewers to revisit some of television's most popular stars and shows, among them Amos and Andy, The Nat King Cole Show, I Spy, Julia, Good Times, Roots, Frank's Place and The Cosby Show. But this time around, Riggs asks us to look at these familiar favorites in a new way. The result is a stunning examination of the interplay between America's racial consciousness and network primetime programming.
The story, told with wit, passion, and verve, shows how African Americans were allowed into America's primetime family only insofar as their presence didn't challenge the mythology of the American Dream central to television's merchandising function. It demonstrates how the networks managed to absorb divisive racial conflict into the familiar non-threatening formats of prime-time television.
Clips from the shows that captivated, amused, and sometimes angered audiences are interwoven with the parallel story of the Civil Rights movement as brought into our living rooms on the evening news. Writers and producers - such as Hal Kanter (Julia), Norman Lear (All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons), Steve Bochco (Hill Street Blues, LA Law), David Wolper (Roots), and others - take us behind the scenes of their creations. Esther Rolle, Diahann Carroll, Tim Reid and other black performers ruminate upon the meaning and impact of the roles they themselves played in shaping prime time race relations. Cultural critics Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Herman Gray, Alvin Poussaint, and Pat Turner point out that while these television programs entertain, they also reinforce and legitimate a particular notion of the "American Family."
As engaging as it is perceptive, Color Adjustment sheds light on the racial implications of America's favorite addiction - television watching. It will help viewers reexamine America's and their own attitudes towards race. It is a tortuous story, with moments of shame and of achievement, of aspiration and of compromise, of courage and cowardice - an unfinished chronicle posing tellingly the difficult issues of racial strategy vis-Ã -vis media under complex webs of social, political and industrial control.An important 88 minutes of media self-scrutiny. Here's what others had to say about this remarkable documentary:
Janet Maslin, New York Times "Surveys the strange history of TV's various racial fantasies, taking us from the early days of Amos 'n' Andy to the advertising idyll of The Cosby Show. With its witty visuals and enlightening interviews, Color Adjustment tells us just the story we most need to hear, raises precisely the questions that must be raised, now that the media spectacle shines triumphant all around us."
Van Gordon Sauter, Daily Variety "One of the most provocative
and insightful analyses of the representation of blacks I have ever seen.A
powerful and needed history lesson."
AFRICAN AMERICAN
* Universal Pictures is in final negotiations to acquire writer Scott Williams' pitch "The Ernie Davis Story," based on the life of college football standout Ernie Davis. Davis Entertainment's John Davis (no relation) will produce the project, which follows the two-time All-American running back for Syracuse University who led his team to the national championship in 1960. In 1961, he became the first black man to win the Heisman Trophy -- the highest individual honor in college football. Later that year, he was the first pick in the NFL draft, going to the Washington Redskins, who then traded him to the Cleveland Browns. But Davis never got a chance to play professional football. He was diagnosed with leukemia during the summer of 1962 and died nearly a year later on May 18, 1963.
* New Line Cinema is moving forward on "Friday After Next," the third installment of the studio's "Friday" franchise, created by rapper-actor Ice Cube. The project, which is out to directors, will go into production in the fall for a Thanksgiving 2002 release, with cast members Mike Epps, Don "D.C." Curry and John Witherspoon back on board. Ice Cube, who wrote the script for the third installment, also is producing the project with Matt Alvarez through their studio-based Cube Vision.
* Chris Rock's love affair with HBO continues. The Emmy-winning comedian has signed a new two-year overall deal with the pay TV cable network. Rock's previous three-year deal with HBO was announced in July 1998. The first project under the new extension for Rock and his production company Chris Rock Enterprises is an untitled half-hour comedic takeoff on such newsmagazine shows as "Dateline" and "20/20." HBO has ordered a pilot for the show, which evolved from the live remote segments featured on Rock's late-night talk show. The pilot was created by Emmy-winning "The Chris Rock Show" writer Ali LeRoi, who wrote some of the remotes and appeared in several of them. He will executive produce with Rock.
* Vin Diesel will see his salary rise to $10 million when he takes the lead role in action movie XXX. Diesel has become hot property in Hollywood thanks to the surprise success of car chase thriller The Fast And The Furious and his role in Pitch Black. XXX has been described as an extreme James Bond adventure with an urban feel to it. The movie is due to go into production this autumn with plans to release the film next July.
* Boxer Mike Tyson has insisted that he has nothing to hide over claims he raped a shop worker. The former world champ, who has served jail time for raping American beauty queen Desiree Washington in 1992, says that there's absolutely no truth in the allegations brought by a fifty-something shop worker that he attacked her in Big Bear Lake, California, where he was training. Tyson says, "I'm innocent and I know events will prove that. I'm not sweating it." (The always passive Mike Tyson ladies and gentleman - DR.SOTHA)
* Executive Producer John Wells confirmed Monday that Eriq La Salle will be leaving the hospital drama at the end of next season, becoming part of an alumni that includes George Clooney, Julianna, William H. Macy and Gloria Reuben. Anthony Edwards has also announced that he will leave at the end of the season. Sherry Stringfield who left in 1996, is rejoining the show. The only remaining star of the series, who has continuously appeared on it since its 1994 debut, will be Noah Wyle.
* Chris Tucker has acknowledged that he has been exceedingly cautious in accepting new film roles since he hit it big with Rush Hour with Jackie Chan. In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Tucker said, "I looked at a lot of stuff. I didn't really find something that I wanted to do. I really wanted to go to the next level and I didn't want to go backwards." Tucker says that he was worried about following Rush Hour with a flop. "Failure can kill your career. You're not bankable any more. So I try to be cautious." Tucker is set to appear with Chan again in Rush Hour 2 opening on Friday, for which he reportedly received $20 million. Speaking to reporters in Toronto, Tucker said initially that the money didn't really matter to him, then backtracked: "Okay, it do matter! All right, it feels good! I can't believe it! It's incredible! Y'all come on my boat after this!"
* Halle Berry refuses to be a poster child for racial equality - because it's too much to do on her own. The stunning star, who, as a child, was racially abused by both black and white people for being of mixed race, is happy to use her fame to try and end racism - but there's no way she can do it all by herself. Berry says, "Things have been difficult at times, and I have experienced racism, both for being black and for having a white mother. I want to use my success for some good, but I certainly can't take the issues of the entire black race on my back and fight the fight for every body. That's just too much for one little person to take on." (The always humble Mrs. Berry - DR.SOTHA)
