November 28, 2006
By Tammy O'Reilly
THE once vibrant movie culture in townships will be revived as two film agencies hold screenings in community centres around Johannesburg.
Township Bioscope is a joint initiative of the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC), a provincial agency responsible for developing and promoting Gauteng's audiovisual industry, and the Film Resource Unit (FRU), a non-governmental African film and video distribution agency.
A total of 96 films will be screened in 19 townships across Gauteng until March 2007. In Johannesburg, the screenings will take place in Slovoville Jabavu, Lenasia, and Orange Farm.
"The Eyethu Cinema in Soweto and others around townships throughout South Africa were lively social gathering places which pioneered a love of film," says Terry Tselane, the chief executive officer of the commission. "Sadly, the advent of television in the late 1980s eroded much of this communal film culture.
"The GFC, in partnership with organisations such as the FRU, would like to see this collective culture restored. Equally important is to find alternatives to the established distribution networks to make a wider choice of content available to the broader community."
The project also aims to establish a network of film clubs in tertiary institutions and in townships to continue the project beyond March 2007. Independently produced films that capture the South African experience and landscape will be shown, and all of them are suitable for all ages.
Among the movies to be shown are educational films on the country's political history, and movies focusing on HIV /Aids, abuse and the environment. Full-length feature films include Drum by Zola Maseko and the Oscar-winning local drama, Tsotsi.
Entrance to the screenings is free. For more information call the Gauteng Film Commission on 011 833 0409 or the Film Resource Unit on 011 838 4280/1/2.
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