Sam Ntuli to host film festival
Thokoza Film Festival will host a four-day film festival, which will take place at the Sam Ntuli Sporting Complex as well as online on a date to be announced in October.
Submission for entries will be open on May 16 and the deadline will be August 31. Entries should be sent to filmfreeway/ThokozaFilmFestival.com According to the organisers, this will be the first film festival of its kind to be hosted in an informal settlement and will open its doors not only to local but international film-makers as well.
“We will screen up to 10 hours of both short and feature films. In addition, we will also have smartphone content.
Two of the founders of the festival are international award winners in the film industry. This first instalment of the Thokoza Film Festival awards will be hosted under the theme Tell your story to the world,” said the PRO Nontando Masondo.
“Categories for this year will be best feature, best short film, best documentary, and best smartphone film. Every year we will add other categories until all criteria of creativity are recognised and celebrated.
“The objectives are to honour, celebrate and encourage the upcoming generation of filmmakers and improve the quality of production houses within the South African film industry. It is also to encourage economic development through entrepreneurship, to teach the world about the rich history of Thokoza and to nurture and develop talent in the local industry,” Masondo, explained.
She said the organisers have also taken the initiative to visit local high schools around Thokoza and engage with learners and educate them about filmmaking from pre-production to post-production.
“The high school filmmaking programme is designed for the smartphone award category. For this category, the Thokoza Film Festival team will go to high schools around Thokoza to educate learners about scriptwriting, directing, editing, camera and producing. After the training learners would be expected to shoot a film based on social ills such as GBV, teenage pregnancy/abortion, substance abuse, domestic violence and HIV/Aids.
“The school film teams will compete against other schools in the smartphone award category. Kasie FM Radio has agreed to broadcast interviews starting from April until August and on the dates of the festival in October.”
Interested filmmaking enthusiasts may contact the Thokoza Film Festival and Extreme Film and Music Media information’s public relations manager, Nontando Masondo on 063 040 6272 or email nontando@thokozafilmfest.co.za
