Filmmakers – Opportunity for EU funding
Jun10

Filmmakers – Opportunity for EU funding

We tried to make sense of it all on your behalf, but we’re never great with the small print in life. From our understanding, essentially, the EU has over R60 million to invest each year in African, Caribbean and Pacific based film projects, focusing on training initiatives, animation, documentaries and series with a view to exploring cultural stories from these areas. The call for proposals has just gone out, so if you’re a ‘veritable’ production company based in Africa wanting to tell your story or train people in film making and need some funding (doh!), make sure to kick off the process by scouring the site to see if you qualify and then rapidly getting all your ducks in the row as applications close early September and there’s lots to do before then. You know how the saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. We’d be interested to hear who, if anyone, manages to get some funding, so please keep us in the loop. More below: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Secretariat (ACP Secretariat) launches a call for proposals financed by the “ACP-EU cooperation support programme for the ACP cinema and audiovisual sectors”, to support projects in the intra-ACP cinema and audiovisual fields, aiming at contributing to the development and structuring of the ACP States’ cinema and audiovisual industries, so that they can create and distribute their own images more effectively. It also aims to enable more promotion of cultural diversity, the networking of ACP cultural identities and intercultural dialogue. The current call for proposals will award grants to three types of Actions in the cinema and audiovisual fields: – Production projects of cinema and audiovisual (television) works (Lot 1) – Promotion, distribution, dissemination and networking of the cinema and audiovisual sector in the ACP States (Lot 2) – Professional development and training of ACP professionals in the cinema and audiovisual sector projects (Lot 3) The full Guidelines for applicant can be consulted on the Programme website (http://www.acpfilms.eu), and on the EuropeAid Calls for proposals and tenders website (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding-opportunities/index_fr.htm). he deadline for submission of proposals is 5 September 2008. Kind use of image – thanks to Turkairo according to Creative Commons BY...

Read More
The Writing is On the Wall
Jun05

The Writing is On the Wall

We’re delighted that Jozi born and bred legendary photographer and artist John Hodgkiss is FINALLY gathering a selection of his awe-inspiring work together for an exhibition in Jozi. Joined by artist Ellen Papciak-Rose, you must make the most of this rare opportunity to catch Johnny and Ellen’s oeuvres d’art during this beautiful month of June – it’s at our favourite Jozi suburb of Melville at the gordart Gallery from Sunday 5 June. An exhibition of digital compositions, photography, paintings and objet d’art inviting the viewer to – read the writing on the wall…literally, figuratively, and hopefully with some sense of humour and urgency. To be opened by Lorna Ferguson on Sunday, 8 June 2008, 5pm Preview Sat, 7 June, 1–6pm (The show closes Sat, 28 June) gordart Gallery 72 3rd Ave, Melville, Johannesburg / tel: +27 11 726-8519 Gallery hours: Tues – Sat, 10:30 –...

Read More
kidofdoom @ Fuel this Saturday
May29

kidofdoom @ Fuel this Saturday

If you haven’t caught kidofdoom‘s entrancing light sabre musical treat, make sure you get to Fuel this Saturday night 31 May 2008 for a sublime twist in the Unsound system line up – 9pm, R50 gets you in. No lyrics from kidofdoom – just some of the most hauntingly addictive, unclassifiable non-vocal music around. They come to UNSOUND SYSTEM with an open-minded approach to songwriting that transcends the obvious whilst rocking dancefloors. It’s epic, hypnotic, groove-soaked, driving, dark and uplifting – all at once. And it’s a sound that has turned South Africa’s indie scene on. Big time. We’re so super excited that this truly innovative band is playing, and welcome a shared attitude towards musicality – one that disbands convention in the quest for something truly original. Keeping your dancing shoes busy either side of kidofdoom are resident groove-riders Offbeat and Dexterity, armed with loads of wonky, wistful, weird and wonderful delights, and the klassikist who debuts here with an illuminating mix of 80s-retro-alt-pop-counter-culture-unclassics. Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: dance time! And to top it off Sassquatch is on visual duty, bringing his sharp eye and impeccable taste to the VJ booth. Home = boredom. Fuel Café = untold...

Read More

Good People of Africa, let us free ourselves

20 May 2008 Every person we have spoken to in the last few days about South Africa, is feeling strong emotions. Emotions that they want to put down and share. Emotions that have been building up for a long time. We would like to use this forum to invite you to have your say on the situation in our country, for many of us have kept quiet for too long. No hate speech will be tolerated – this is a place for people to express themselves freely but ALL comments will be monitored… This is not a space for you to criticise others’ thoughts, language or syntax or to try and be the ‘cleverer one’. This is a space to understand everyone’s point of view. Freedom of speech is of huge importance now, so South Africans and citizens of the world, share your thoughts, intelligently. You can go anonymously, but we invite you to tell us who you are, your age and where you are from. (click here to read full article and comment) Editorista will begin: My name is Sarah, I am 33 years old, I was born and bred in Johannesburg, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal , but I have been in Europe for 4 months. I have been privileged to live a rich, interesting life in South Africa and Swaziland. I am a young South African, not a politician and these are my thoughts: Good people of Africa, how can we free ourselves from these chains? So many of us are tarred with fear and hatred of each other, fueled by the evil teachings of our past that brainwashed us into categorising each other. How can we rid ourselves of these stains, these superficial concepts that claw so deeply within us? Once, Africa was a borderless place, and now, we withdraw into the labelling and naming that was imposed on us and today divides us. Excited by freedom and driven by a desire for new beginnings, so many citizens in our country have thrown themselves into the ‘growing business economy’ since ’94, striving for a piece of success, hungry for financial gain, often getting ourselves more and more into debt as we aim for bigger, better and more. In this money-hungry process, so many of us have forgotten about the poor (but not all of us, there are many people who do as much good as they can), with the rich getting richer and the middle class booming beyond belief (which has been a blessing for many people for which we are deeply grateful). But in our ambitious desires to achieve our economic, consumerist dreams(or nightmares), we...

Read More
Book for a MUMMENSCHANZ treat Now!
May29

Book for a MUMMENSCHANZ treat Now!

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to catch this legendary theatre group for a taste of their magic as they bring their much-loved performances to South Africa in June and July, watch a Youtube clip here, but otherwise, get booking. MUMMENSCHANZ, the Swiss theatre group described by magician David Copperfield as “truly magical” will be touring South Africa with their visual spectacle of illusion and make-believe in June-July with performances scheduled in Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg. At the 2006 Edinburgh Comedy Festival they were branded with “…more imagination and invention in two or three minutes of a single sketch than many artists have in their whole show…” During their Australian tour in the same year, the Sunday Morning Herald praised the show as “…a dazzling and affecting spectacle…” After more than 30 years of performing, they still get glowing reviews and attract packed houses wherever they perform – be it Australia, Europe, India or the USA. By using everyday objects and materials, such as cardboard boxes, rolls of toilet paper, masking tape, refuse bags, etc., they create ingenious costumes and expressive masks that transform into fascinating and funny creatures on stage. The MUMMENSCHANZ characters portray everyday human situations, effortlessly understood by audiences of all ages and across all cultures. MUMMENSCHANZ started out in the seventies with the goal to create a non-verbal theatrical language that would transcend the traditional barriers of language and culture. They have been hailed as revolutionary in their field, combining masks, mime, movement and lighting to create a unique kind of visual theatre that keeps audiences spell-bound. The masks belong to three different groups: versatile face masks, half-body or full body masks and three-dimensional masks. They achieved their first major success at the Avignon Festival, which led to engagements in Europe and North America. Subsequent tours throughout the seventies and eighties in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia including Festivals in Edinburgh, Spoleto, Berlin and Belgrade were met with overwhelming enthusiasm. On Broadway MUMMENSCHANZ defied all expectations. Hailed as “inventive, imaginative and sparkling with wit”, they remained at the Bijou Theatre for a three-year run, becoming a household name, an unprecedented feat for a group whose show does not contain any words or music. Their innovative style of theatrical performance, which inspired many other artists, was now fully recognized by the public and the critics. Film, television and advertisement work followed, bringing the company to an even wider audience. Mummenschanz “3 x 11” will be loved by young and old. See it from 10 -15 June at the SA State Theatre in Pretoria, 17 June – 5 July at the Baxter Theatre...

Read More