The Gauteng Film Commission, together with the Gauteng Department of Education, the Department of Sport, Arts Culture and Recreation and the Joburg Film Office, will be celebrating the 41st Anniversary of the Youth uprising in June 1976 by showcasing local film content and hosting workshops by industry experts from 10th to 18th June at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto. The GFC will host ten film training institutions who will present the services they render to the film & TV industry.
June is celebrated as Youth Month in South Africa, with a specific focus on 16 June, also known as Youth Day. Youth Month pays tribute to the school pupils who lost their lives during the 16 June 1976 uprising in Soweto. This tragedy became a rallying point that inspired a nation and its people to rise up against the brutal apartheid system.
The Youth Expo seeks to inspire and support aspirant filmmakers to create real changes in their communities through film and offers guidance on how to access funding for production and bursaries. To encourage high school learners to consider the film industry, the project will conduct workshops on careers in film and television for Grade 11 students.
The concept of audience development has become more broadly defined during the past decade, and some of the considerations are audience retention, new audiences, cultural diversity, social and rural inclusion. Using non-traditional viewing spaces, the project will conduct audience development screenings in community halls, churches and outdoors at local parks.
The objectives of the Youth Month events will be:
- To pioneer a generation of filmmakers, literature and films that will form the foundation of South African film development and production.
- To pave the way for the telling of authentic South African stories in the film medium.
Among those who will be taking part are:
Exhibiting Film Institutions
- Nemisa
- Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking
- House of Queen
- National Broadcasting Institute
- Brown Panther Incubator
- City Varsity
- Animation SA
- Academy of Sound Engineering
Film Agencies:
- Gauteng Film Commission
- Johannesburg Film Office
- National Film and Video Foundation
Workshops
A series of workshops will be facilitated by leading industry experts who will provide candidates/learners the opportunities to acquire knowledge and professional skills so that they can understand the audio-visual industry. The workshops will be held from the 10 – 15 June 2017:
|
DATE |
TOPIC |
SPEAKER/LECTURE |
INSTITUTION |
|
10 June 2017 |
Animation introduction Radio introduction |
Natasja Van Niekerk Thabang Petla |
The Story Teller Pod Nemisa |
|
11 June 2017 |
Production Make-up |
Bhekinkosi Ndlovu Queen Matlatle |
City Varsity House of queen |
|
12 June 2017 |
Sound Directing |
Mocke Jvan Veuren Connie Mosegedi |
Academy of sound engineering Big Fish School of Digital |
|
13 June 2017 |
Permits & Locations Graphic designing |
Mpho Tshabalala Thabang Petla |
Locations Scouting Nemisa |
|
14 June 2017 |
Incubation hub Special Visual effects |
Zanele Mthembu Monique Griffith |
Brown Panther Media Joburg Film Office/Studio Joburg |
|
15 June 2017 |
What are the jobs on a movie set & what they look for in people they hire Photography |
Monique Griffith Bhekinkosi Ndlovu |
Joburg Film Office City Varsity |
Films
GFC have partnered with Civics Academy who will be showcasing five minutes video clips before the main shows, on issues ranging from;
- Introduction to Democracy
- Importance of Elections
- What is the role of the legislature
- Justice and Human Rights
- What is Inflation
- The Film and Publications Board will also screen a five minute clip on its classification systems across such platforms as films, television and gaming.
|
DATE |
FILM |
SYNOPSIS |
VENUE |
|
11th June 10 Minutes
|
Main movie: The Hangman and Sibusiso’s Handprint
Video: Introduction to Democracy
|
Director: Zwelethu Radebe When the truth of his Father’s disappearance is brought to the surface on the eve of his execution, Khetha, a prison warder working in The Gallow’s death-row prison in Pretoria South Africa 1989 must either choose forgiveness or live forever with regret of failing to accept the truth. Q & A Session with Filmmakers |
Black Eagles Hall
|
|
10th – 18th Daily screenings
10 Minutes |
Main Movie: Kalushi – Story of Solomon Mahlangu
Video Clips: Film & TV classification
|
Directed by Mandla Dube Kalushi is the true story of 19-year-old hawker Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu (Thabo Rametsi), from Mamelodi, a township outside Pretoria. He is brutally beaten by police. Kalushi goes into exile following the 1976 Soweto uprisings to join the liberation movement. He returns from military training in Angola but en route to their mission, his friend and comrade, Mondi (Thabo Malema), loses control and shoots two innocent people on Goch Street in Johannesburg. Mondi is severely beaten and tortured; Kalushi is forced to stand trial under the common purpose doctrine. The state seeks the highest punishment from the court, death by hanging. Kalushi uses the courtroom as a final battlefield. His sacrifice immortalises him into a hero of the struggle and an international icon of June 16, 1976. |
Black Eagles Hall |
|
12 & 14th June Duration: 90 Minutes 10 Minutes
|
Main Movie: Love &Kwaito
Video clips: What are free and fair elections and Why should I Vote
|
Director: StephinaZwane The film follows the lives of two young siblings facing life on their own. Following the death of their parents from alcoholism, young Love is forced to take on the role of protector and caregiver for her little brother, Kwaito. Thrown into an adult world, navigating school, loss and other challenges; this coming of age story shows the heroic and often sad exploits of the child-headed households that are so common on the streets of Kliptown, Soweto. Q & A Session with Filmmakers |
Black Eagles Hall |
|
15th June Duration – 110 Minutes 10 Minutes
|
Main movie: Vaya
Video clips: Justice and Human Rights
|
Director: Akin Omotoso Beginning on a train travelling from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg, Vaya focuses on three passengers and follows each of them into the city. They’re strangers to one another, yet bound by interlocking destinies and a shared naïveté. Q & A Session with Filmmaker |
Black Eagles Hall |
|
13th June Duration – 48 Min 10 Minutes |
Main movie: Uprize
Video clips: What is inflation
|
Directed by Sifiso Khanyile On the morning of 16 June 1976, a group of school children in Soweto gathered peacefully to protest the mandatory inclusion of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. By nightfall over 200 of them lay dead, mowed down by apartheid armed forces. Forty years later, this film looks at the world that made these kids, and how in the absence of political leadership, they stood Speaking to artists, writers, musicians, teachers that inspired them, and some of the former student leaders themselves, we get a glimpse into 1970s South Africa and the cost of the fight for quality education and freedom. Q & A Session with Filmmaker |
Black Eagles Hall |
|
13 – 15 June
|
Main movie: Beyond the River
|
Directed by Craig Freimond – Two men from vastly different walks of life have one thing in common: to win gold in the most arduous canoe marathon. But there are a few things in their way. One has a marriage on the verge of collapse. The other is on the run from the law, and his so-called life. |
Black Eagles Hall |
|
17 & 18 June Duration – 48 Minutes 10 Minutes |
Main movie: Thina Sobabili
Video clips: What is the Legislature and what is the judiciary |
Set in Alexandra township, South Africa, a brother and sister journey through life knowing they have no one but each other. Schoolgirl Zanele falls in love with an older man, and a series of events are set in motion and reveal much more. Q & A with Filmmaker |
Black Eagles Hall |