SOUTH AFRICA has one of the oldest film industries
in the world. Up until the present (2002) this industry has
been situated primarily in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Although
possessing a small but thriving video industry, the province
of KwaZulu-Natal has had no film production industry to speak
of. A strange quirk of history seeing that this province contains,
in a relatively small geographical area, the most varied locations,
topography and the most diverse range of ethnic and cultural
groups in South Africa, including better year round weather
conditions than Cape Town.
It was with
the realisation of this potential and a general frustration
at the lack of infrastructure and crew that local filmmaker
Keith Blair founded The KZN Film initiative in the city of Durban
in 1999.
After acquiring
some film equipment the Initiative produced their first short
16mm film entitled "Pisscat." This slapstick comedy
was screened as part of a workshop at the Durban International
Film Festival, and although still in a work print stage generated
rave reviews and had those present in hysterics.
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Upon
realising the future potential of The KZN Film Initiative, we
were fortunate enough to have film enthusiast, broadcast and
special effects expert, Leon Breytenbach sign up as our project
co-ordinator.
At a Kodak and South African Society
of Cinematographers (SASC) film workshop held in Johannesburg
under the direction of SASC director of photography Tai Krige,
the KZN crew joined others and worked on a 30 second promo for
MTV and shot a 3 minute music video for a UK band called Zero
Seven. The band was at the time (Feb 2002) second on the
UK charts.
The films were shot on Kodak 35mm
film. The KZN Film Initiative's latest venture was a 3 minute
music video under the direction of SASC DOP Duane Rogers and
assisted by Mike Inglesby SASC called "Why"
by local artist Garth Taylor. It was shot entirely on location
in KZN on 16mm film, and was telecined to Betacam SP then edited
by Leon and Keith on Adobe Premiere 6. The music video will
have its first screening on local TV stations.
With assistance from The KZN Film
Initiative, Kodak South Africa is currently hosting a film conference
at the International Convention Centre in Durban starting Sunday
21 July 2002. The aim of the conference is to introduce the
province of KZN and it's assets as a location to film makers
around the world. Feedback
will follow.
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