Culminating a week of winning news, Tsotsi received the Critics Jury Award for Best South African feature film at the Cape Town World Cinema Festival on Saturday night (November 19th).
Expectations had been high all week for director Gavin Hood to clinch the premier prize for overall Best Feature in the international competition but, in the final analysis, he had to settle for the Critics' pick of the local crop. A robust line-up of twelve home-grown feature films (both in and out of the Official Selection) vied for the SA prize, including: uCarmen eKhayelitsha, Homecoming, The Flyer, Dollars and White Pipes, Crazy Monkey - Straight Out of Benoni, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, Faith's Corner, Lion of Soweto, Mama Jack, Wah-Wah and Zulu Love Letter.
The Critics' Jury gave special mentions to two other local films, uCarmen e Khayelitsha and Faith's Corner. They said Darrell Roodt, director of Faith's Corner, "went to the gutters to find a jewel."
But the panel of critics handed the SA crown to Tsotsi for "sublime" filmmaking that utterly captivated its audience.
Hood was not in Cape Town to receive his prize because he had just embarked on the long, arduous 2006 Oscar-nomination lobby in Hollywood, beginning with a screening of Tsotsi for the Foreign Press Association.
Earlier in the week, Tsotsi had nabbed the prestigious American Film Institute (AFI) Audience Prize. More silverware from Edinburgh and Toronto world cinema festivals, and news of a breakthrough 400-print release in the USA in February 2006, had also fuelled hopes for victory on home soil.
Honours for Best Feature Film in the festival's official selection, however, went to Private, a film that the jury described as "a master class in how to work with limited resources." Italian director Saverio Costanzo received a rousing ovation from World Cinema delegates in Cape Town for his film that, the main jury said, "explored the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in all its complexity."
A second film that also "scaled the high walls of religion and culture" struck the jury. They picked out Le Grand Voyage by Moroccan filmmaker Ismael Ferroukhi for Special Mention (in the Best Feature Film category). His powerful drama offered "a rare vantage point on one of the pillars of Islam."
Angolan cineaste, Zeze Gamboa ousted his South African counterparts in competition to claim the coveted Best African Feature film for The Hero. The movie heads up a new wave of cinematic excitement promised by Angola's transition to peace and stability. Jurors called it an "intimate and tender" depiction of healing, out of the "brutal truths of war".
Young, black and gifted South African actors yet again proved their world-class calibre when Presley Chweneyagae, in Tsotsi, and Mpumi Malatsi, in Zulu Love Letter, scooped Best Actor and Actress awards ahead of tough international competition.
At a red-carpet gala night at Artscape, bedecked with celebrities and the all-star cast of Tsotsi, the festival jury praised Chweneyagae's "ability to draw his audience into the soul of a despised character. This actor brought an impressive mix of compassion, rage and naiveté to his performance. We believe he has a bright future in South African cinema," said head juror, South African poet Wally Serote.
Mpumi Malatsi, who cannot hear or speak, stole the audience's hearts when she gave a brief 'speech' - a radiant smile and a skyward wave of thanks that expressed her joy at winning Best Actress. The jury was moved by Malatsi's "heartfelt emotive performance (in Zulu Love Letter). Without words, this young woman spoke volumes."
The honours capped a week of high energy and cinematic excellence that saw 120 movies screened in theatres all over the Mother City. Fourteen films had been selected in official competition, including three from South Africa - Richard E. Grant's Wah-Wah, Zulu Love Letter by Ramadan Suleman, and Tsotsi.
A special spotlight lingered over the ascendant talents of South African director Khalo Matabane. He won unanimous praise from jurors and earned the Lionel Ngakane Prize for Most Promising Filmmaker. Matabane's film, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, "marks the arrival of an original new voice on the world stage, and new possibilities for South African cinema," they said.
The official feature film panel lauded Matabane for his film's "formal innovations and for engaging the spirit of pan-Africanism within South Africa." And, in the broader context of the Cape Town fest, they also commended the organisers for building bridges to a wider pan-African culture, and to world cinema.
Thabo Mvumvu, an emerging filmmaker from Gugulethu in Cape Town, accepted the National Lotteries' Newcomer award on a night when the doyens of South Africa's fast-growing industry gather to recognise both new and seasoned talent. Still clutching the camera he was using to film the gala event, Mvumvu thanked his township crew and actors who had the get-up-and-go to make "budget-less" films. He called on the industry to support the initiatives of his co-operative venture, Molweni, in making more films. "We got what it takes and we have the scars to prove it," he said.
Mvumvu stepped up to the stage later to receive the desirable Jameson Short Film Award, a cash prize from the Irish Whisky makers that is given in twenty cities around the world. Mvumvu's 26-minute film, What Goes Around Comes Around, about a reveller who wants to take revenge on his muggers, was shot on location in the Cape Flats. "All we needed was a camera, tapes and the actors," said Mvumvu.
The Festival's Short Film Jury recognised the work of Belgian director Daniel Cattier for his 16-minute film, African Middleweight, shot in Belgian and Lingala, about a boxer who is told by his European promoters to throw a fight, at the time of Congo's independence. Cattier's film edged out 12 other competitors in a strong field that boasted eight South African entrants.
Francois Verster underlined his standing as a pre-eminent documentary filmmaker when he won Best film in this genre for The Mother's House, shot in Afrikaans. The documentary film jury was fulsome in its praise for a director who crossed race and gender lines to tell an intimate story in a women's household. They said his brave, risky film went "against the rules of storytelling" and departed radically from conventions.
Raoul Peck's powerful rendition of survival of the Rwandan genocide, Sometimes in April, was a clear winner of the Human Rights Network Jury award. Sponsored by rights organisations around the world, this jury recognises feature films that "educate, inform and raise consciousness." The panel was impressed by the film's "strong sense of place and authenticity." South African actress, Pamela Nomvete, who took a lead role in the film, accepted the award on Peck's behalf.
Another powerful feature, Paradise Now - "a gripping insiders' perspective" of Palestinians under Israeli occupation - earned a special mention next to Peck's picture.
Youthful and witty German director Hans Weingartner won the Signis Jury Prize for his Dogme-style movie, The Edukators, a popular choice of Cape Town festival audiences. Clearly enjoying his time in the laid-back seaside capital, Weingartner wished his audience "Peace, Love and Happiness."
A significant part of the Cape Town World Cinema Festival is the co-production forum, an aspect of the Sithengi market. Every year filmmakers are given a platform to pitch feature, documentary and short film projects to producers, distributors and agents from Africa and around the world. Some strike deals or create business relationships that are integral links in the long chain of securing movie investment. Each year, incentives are given to projects that were pitched best at the market. The National Film And Video Foundation (NFVF) award for Best Documentary project went to Hanli Prinsloo for her upcoming Oupa.
Matthew Brown won the Best Feature Film project prize, presented by the Hubert Bals and Goteborg Film Funds, for Leaving the Cape. Brown developed the script in Amsterdam and is currently working with Big World Cinema in Cape Town to make it a reality. He also wins an opportunity to advance his project with an all-expenses ticket to the Cinemart in Amsterdam where he can look for backers.
Festival director and CEO of Sithengi, Michael Auret, also announced that a number of young filmmakers who had developed film ideas in this year's Sithengi Talent Campus will get the opportunity to screen their work on SABC Africa.
The award for Best Director went to Vietnamese director Minh Nguyen-Vo. The jury commended his film Buffalo Boy for its "unforgettable images and timeless rhythms."
Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke and Paula Markovitch won Best Writer for the screenplay of Duck Season. "We were impressed by a sharp, beautifully constructed story fuelled by a lively imagination. The writers crafted unpredictable teenage characters and gave them just the right words," said the jury.
The jury congratulated filmmakers for engaging the most urgent conflicts facing the world today. The films offered "glimpses of hope", they said.
They encouraged South African film industry to "build on its current momentum by seeking out and supporting stories told by black South African filmmakers."
Posted on 216082005
