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Film in the noughties: a decade review |
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2000 At the start of 2000, I’d just finished matric at Westerford High School. It might have been voted The Best School in the Country this year, but back then our Career’s Day definitely didn’t include the film industry, even if our sector officially started at the turn of the previous century and had been booming since the 80s. The year started with terror as everyone checked to see if the Y2K bug had wiped their harddrives, but 2 000 was a landmark year for the internet, as broadband became widely accessible internationally, even though we’re still waiting for the really high-speed version to arrive in South Africa 10 years later. Overseas, all the talk was about the Screen Actor’s Guild strike, which, together with Argentina’s currency crash the following year, helped kick-start the “runaway production” industry in the States. Mandy Ritchie founded Orange Films, while Egg’s Kim Geldenhuys won a Silver Lions at Cannes for Infinity for Bic Pens and TWA Hunt Lascaris, who also collected a Bronze for Welcome, Keith Rose’s spot for SATOUR. Charlie’s Angels topped the local box office. 2001 2001 will be remembered primarily for 9/11, which launched a still-ongoing war on terror. Cape Direct collected a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions for Fox Sports India, China, and Turkey, three Traktor spots they serviced for Cliff Freeman & Partners. These ads recently appeared in Boards’ list of the Spots of the Decade. Egg was listed as The Gunn Report’s 21st most awarded production house. Kim Geldenhuys, Gunn’s 15th most awarded director, was also named as one of AdAge Global’s Top 100 Directors. His BMW Land Speed Record spot was Gunn's 21st most awarded spot for the year. Bev Green founded Gatehouse, Janette de Villiers opened Groundglass, Aurelia Driver and Clare van Zyl started Monkey Films, Dan and Ann Roberts launched Terraplane, and Guy Duncan and Guy Ballantyne introduced Wipspace, their online client presentation system. AFS’ Warren Kushner appeared in Boards’ inaugural Directors to Watch; Greg Gray’s first commercial at Velocity won a Gold Craft Loerie for direction; and Freshwater Films’ Marc Sidelsky featured as part of Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase. Internationally, everyone started talking about branded content. 2002 In December, South Africa’s bid committee notified FIFA of their intention to bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. South African Dion Beebe was nominated for an Oscar for his cinematography on Chicago, while all the DOPs were discussing the merits of film versus digital, after Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones became the first blockbuster to shoot on high definition digital video, using a Sony HDW-F900. Daniel Levi featured in Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase at Cannes and was one of Boards’ Directors to Watch. Kevin Fitzgerald was named SA Fashion Week Photographer of The Year for the second year in a row and joined Egg in search of a new challenge as a commercials director. After a meteoric rise, Sunu Gonera, then with Peter Gird Productions, won the Best Overall Commercial VUKA. Velocity’s Greg Gray was featured as one of three CFP-E Shots Young Directors at Cannes. The Callsheet’s publisher-to-be Lance Gibbons formed Rocket Films with Debbie Cornell and Glen Wolter, while Sean Beukes left Velocity to launch The Asylum. 2003 The first issue of The Callsheet comes out in December, depressingly the same year that Myspace launched. Welcome to Dreamworld was our front page story. With Cape Town Film Studios’ launch delayed again into the second half of this year, we’re still dreaming… Faith Creations, Atomik Pictures, Razor Sharp Films, and Plank Film Productions all opened. Fresh Eye Films’ Jonathan Parkinson won a Silver at Cannes Lions for Lucy Moonflower, while Clive Will, then at Velocity, won two bronzes for Bi-Xenon for BMW and Swimmers for Apartheid Museum. Trevor Clarence was named Young Gun of the Year. Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster, while Big World Cinema was nominated for Best Short Film for Steve Pasvolsky’s Inja (Dog). JM Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for Literature, while a group of kids in Johannesburg sat down in a local cinema to watch 33 movies non-stop over two and a half days, earning themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records. South Africa signed a coproduction treaty with Italy. 2004 Miles Goodall’s Village Old Man Aides commercial appeared in The Gunn Report’s list of the top commercials of the year after winning a Silver Lion at Cannes and two Golds at the New York Festival. Miles also received a Bronze Cannes Lion for his Audi spot, while his Investec Fork spot won a Gold cinematography craft at New York. Laurence Hamburger’s first commercial, PF Jones for SABC 1, was also included in The Gunn Report’s Top 100 Spots after winning the Loerie Grand Prix. Egg were in the 100 most awarded production houses, while South Africa was eleventh. Daniel Levi was named Best New Director at MVPA. The Department of Trade and Industry introduced the Film and Television Production Rebate, which immediately attracted projects like Lord of War, Ask the Dust and To The Ends of the Earth, which helped launch Lance Samuel’s Out of Africa onto the international service stage. The Wooden Camera won the Crystal Bear at Berlin. Lots of South African feature films started being made. 2005 In the year that Facebook and YouTube launched, Yesterday and Hotel Rwanda were up for Oscars, uCarmen eKhayelitsha won the Golden Bear at Berlin, and Drum brought home the Stallion of Yennega from FESPACO, where Max and Mona was named Best First Film. Danny Kleinman’s Playstation campaign won a Gold Lion after shooting here with McKenzie Rudolph. Velocity’s Greg Gray won a Silver Lion for Virgin Atlantic Love Story. Campaign called it their top international ad of the year, with Egg’s Kevin Fitzgerald’s Wonderbra Deer in the Headlights second. Velocity’s Keith Rose became the first South Africa inducted into the Clio TV Hall of Fame for BMW Mouse, while his two Playstation spots, Duel and War, were Ad Critic’s favourites of the year. Velocity was named as one of the world’s top 20 production companies in Boards, while The Gunn Report recognised Sub Urban as one of the top production companies. Freshwater Film’s Slim won the CFP-Shots Young Directors Award at Cannes, with The Asylum’s Anton Visser in second place. 2006 Tsotsi won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, while Dion Beebe won for his cinematography on Memoirs of a Geisha. The Death of Kevin Carter lost out in the Best Short Doc Category and Charlize Theron didn’t win for North Country, but Tristan Holmes’ Elalini won the Student Oscar. At the Emmies, Conrad Murrey won for Special Effects on The Triangle; Francois Verster won for A Lion’s Trail; Yesterday was up for Outstanding Made for Television Movie; and Orphans of Nkandla was up for Outstanding Informational Programming – Long Form. David Goldblatt won the Hasselblad Foundation International Award and Pieter Hugo won the World Press Photography Portrait category. The Asylum’s Taryn Kosviner won the CFP-E/Shots Young Director Award. Egg were the only South African prodco to feature in The Gunn Report’s Top 25 after Brent Harris won two Silvers at Cannes. His Axe Coinage and Rubiks Cube spots were both listed 26 in The Gunn Report's top commercials count. Bioscope Films, Wild Talk Africa and the SAFTAs launched, while Sithengi ended. An Inconvenient Truth made greening mainstream. 2007 Joburg-born Gillian Gorfil produced and initiated Blood Diamond, which was up for five Oscars after shooting in South Africa. Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for Last King of Scotland, shot in Uganda. Egg’s Kim Geldenhuys and Velocity’s Keith Rose were named in Shots’ list of the Top 100 Creative Minds, while Greg Gray’s Love Story was one of their Best Commercials of All Time. Egg were included in The Gunn Report’s 25 Most Awarded Production Companies; Velocity’s Adrian de sa Garces won a Gold at the Dubai Lynx Awards for Sony Wega TV Kick; and Zamile Vilakazi was named Agency Producer of the Year at the First Boards Awards. Deryck and Beverly Joubert won an Emmy for Eye of the Leopard; Camera Carrier’s Louis Gouws broke the world record for side wheel driving through the smallest gap; The Stunt Company made the world’s largest human mobile; and Three Amigos won a Peabody. Rogue Star Films, feelgoodfilms and the iPhone were launched. e.Sat, Telkom Media, ODM and WOW win broadcaster licenses. 2008 Brent Stirton won his fifth World Press Photography Award, this time in the Contemporary Issues category. Pieter Hugo won the Discovery Award at Recontres d’Arles, while Mikhael Subotzky joined Magnum and won the ICP Infinity Award for Young Photographer of the Year. Don Edkins produced Why Democracy?, the world’s largest ever factual media event. Taxi to the Dark Side won the Best Documentary Oscar. Home Affairs and Sorted were up for International Emmy Awards, while Okuhle Media and Ochre Media won MIPTV’s Content 360 Competition. Keith Rose’s Allan Gray Beautiful won the Loeries Grand Prix and a Silver at Cannes Lions. Jump’s Michael Middleton also collected a Silver for Exclusive Books Interview. Greg Gray’s MTN Clap won Bronze, but earned a Silver at New York, where Keith Rose’s Sasol Questions won Gold. Bouffant’s Dean Blumberg was the only South African director in The Gunn Report. Shy the Sun, RGB and Alpha, 2.0 Media, and Cape Town TV were all launched. 2009 Five South African crew were nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards, with Generation Kill, 24: Redemption and No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency up for 19 and winning three. Endgame, Invictus and District Nine were up for five Golden Globes, while Diamonds and Crusoe were up for 11 Gemini Awards. Sokhulu & Partners was up for an International Emmy and District 9 was our first blockbuster. The Soweto Gospel Choir won a Grammy for Best Motion Picture Song for Down to Earth, their Wall-E duet with Peter Gabriel. They also performed at the Oscars. Telfer Barnes pulled focus on Slumdog Millionaire, which won the Oscar for Best Cinematography after being shot on the Si2K digital camera, which was partly developed in South Africa. Slumdog Millionaire was based on a novel by Pretoria-based Vikus Swarup. The Profoto Awards were relaunched, while Bird on a Wire, Harry & Co, Hammersmith & Elephant, 7 Films, Catapult, Blue Panther and Disko opened. The TV sector collapsed thanks to the SABC. Kevin Kriedemann | |||
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