February 3, 2004
By Thomas Thale
LOCAL and international filmmakers are slowly discovering the allure of Joburg, turning it into a popular location for the shooting of commercials and feature films.
Film crews, often causing traffic backups, are steadily becoming a common sight around the Joburg, as the city's reputation as a filmmaking destination spreads.
The Gauteng Film Office (GFO) says that in recent years, there has been an upsurge in the number of feature films and commercials shot in the province, 90 percent of them in Joburg. Bruce Thackwell, a location scout who has worked in the province for 17 years and works as a location manager for Hotel Rwanda, agrees there has been a steady increase in the demand for Gauteng as a location for filming.
Hotel Rwanda is a feature film currently being shot at various locations around the city. Set in the city of Kigali during Rwanda's genocidal civil war, the movie tells the story of hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who saved the lives of thousands of helpless Rwandans.
Chief operations manager of the GFO, Tonny Sauls, says the film office has been inundated with queries and bookings from local and international filmmakers and television producers.
Set up in September 2000 at the behest of the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (GEDA), GFO is a Section 21 Company established by the Gauteng Department of Finance and Economic Affairs to promote investment by filmmakers in the province. The GFO promotes Gauteng internationally as a cost-effective but efficient filmmaking destination.
What gives Gauteng its competitive edge, says Sauls, is that it has the infrastructure and facilities that are equal to the best in the world and offers good, sunny weather all year round. "We have skyscrapers, mine dumps, shantytowns, green suburbs and, above it all, sophistication," raves Sauls.
Gauteng, says Thackwell, has a diversity of locations, ranging from the highveld to grassland. It is this appeal that made the producers of Hotel Rwanda choose Joburg as a location for the shooting of the movie, says Thackwell.
"Joburg is nothing like Rwanda, which is on the equator," admits Thackwell. But, he adds, what makes Joburg a prime place for filming is that it has trees that dominate the landscape, diverse buildings and roads. "We find a tremendous variety of looks in Joburg, more so than in other place. Gauteng might be small, but it's like a set." To illustrate his point, Thackwell points out that Hotel Rwanda is being shot at various locations including Alexandra township, Cresswell Park suburb in Roodepoort, Soweto Stadium, Rand Airport, and Modderfontein, all within easy reach.
Joburg also boasts a well-developed communications infrastructure. Johannesburg is home to the SABC, the public broadcaster, M-Net, the pay-TV channel, e-tv, the free-to-air TV channel, the country's major newspapers and most film and television production companies. In addition, the province, with its world-class international airport and developed transport infrastructure, is being punted as the gateway to the rest of the continent.
To encourage filmmakers to come to the province, the GFO endeavours to intercede with local authorities on their behalf to facilitate permission for filming. Sauls says the GFO is often approached by filmmakers with requests to negotiate with local authorities for the use of emergency services, permission for the closure of roads and other municipal services.
The organisation has now compiled a database of filming locations in the province.
The presence of film crews generates much needed revenue for the people of the province. "Film crews pay money to local actors and cameramen. They also pay the City for the closure of roads and for the use of some municipal services. In this way, much money is injected into the province," says Sauls. According to Thackwell, Hotel Rwanda will employ over 8 000 locals over its nine-week shoot.
Other notable movies to be shot in Joburg in recent years are Stander, Beat the Drum, God is African, Platinum, Tramline and Norman comes to Jozi.
As part of its campaign to promote Gauteng as a filming location, the GFO will host a filming indaba at the end of February, bringing together representatives from government, the Joburg metro police, plus local and international production companies. The indaba will explore "ways in which the GFO can further add value to the growth and development of the film and television industry within the province and in turn identify the necessary links nationally to help bring about a sustainable environment," says Sauls.
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