DV8 is the most nominated production company ahead of the South African Film and Television Awards, which will take place at the Pretoria State Theatre on Saturday, 20 February 2010. The nominees were announced on 18 November 2009 at Johannesburg’s Atlas Studios.

Dv8 lead the nominations thanks largely to the performance of Shirley Adams, Oliver Hermanus’ debut film which dominated the Durban International Film Festival earlier this year and leads the SAFTAs with nine nominations, together with T.O.M. Pictures’ A Place Called Home. Denise Newman is a shoe-in for Best Actress for her performance as a mother fiercely caring for her tetraplegic son in the Cape Flats.

Madoda Ncayiyana’s debut feature, Izulu Lami, has seven, giving Dv8 sixteen nominations. Child actor Tshepang Mohlomi will be an audience favourite for Best Supporting Actor for his debut as Chillibite in the road trip film.

T.O.M Pictures and Curious Pictures were in joint second place with 12 nominations. T.O.M. Pictures’ A Place Called Home leads the television drama category, just ahead of Curious Pictures’ The Lab, which has seven nominations. A Place Called Home is based on Jonathan Morgan’s novels, Finding Mr. Madini and Great African Spider Writers, about a writer who inspires and finds inspiration from homeless people living in Johannesburg. T.O.M. also has nominations for Lloyd Ross’ The Silver Fez, which must be the favourite in the Documentary category; Late Night with Kgomotso; and Soul City.

Curious Pictures’ The Lab, set in the world of high stakes business, was the most nominated drama series at last year’s SAFTAs. Curious Pictures also has nominations for Hopeville and Seduction 101.

Paw Paw Films’ followed up their International Emmy nomination for Sokhulu & Partners, with another four nominations for the legal drama. Izingane Zobaba, their Shakespeare in Mzansi adaptation of King Lear, also has six nominations, placing Portia Gumede’s young production company in third place in the rankings. Aquavision’s move into feature dramas this year was also well received. They share fourth place with Endemol after producing all the finalists in the wildlife category and earning five nominations for Tornado, their debut feature film about a horse whisperer in the Kalahari. Endemol’s Isidingo leads the hotly contested soap opera category with seven nominations, just ahead of Morula Pictures’ Generations (6). Endemol’s also nominated for Kids are Alright in the Gameshow category.

White Wedding, this year’s local hit and entry into the Foreign Language Oscars, has seven nominations, placing Stepping Stone Productions in fifth place. White Wedding will be buoyed by the news that they’re about to be released theatrically in the United States after sharing the Audience Award at Mill Valley with the Oscarhyped An Education, written by Nick Hornby (About a Boy).

Stokvel leads the Television Comedy category with six nominations for Penguin, while Carte Blanche dominates the Factual and News categories with five nominations for Combined Artists, who are currently producing the FIFA 2010 Final Draw at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 4 December 2009.

“We are happy to announce the nominees for the SAFTAS 2010,” said Azania Muendane, NFVF acting head of Marketing and Public Affairs. “The announcement comes after an extensive judging process that involved over a record 100 judges contributing in the dialogues and debates. The SAFTA’s committee would like to congratulate all the nominees, and wish them the best of luck for the awards next year.”

This year the SAFTA committee received 221 entries, which went through a process of filtration and then the final judging phase. The judging process was overseen by two chairpersons, Paul Raleigh and Coco Cachalia, with PricewaterhouseCoopers as the judging auditors.

There are still two major awards outstanding that the public can get involved in: the Life Time Achievement category will close on 31 December 2009 for public nomination and the Best Soapie Award entries will open in the new year. For more info, click here.
Kevin Kriedemann