FAR at DIFF

Photos courtesy of Shane Robinson/STAR

Make sure you get to see the collection of FAR films - they are moving, powerful and thought provoking.

Congratulations to all the members of FAR who made it possible to show their films at the Durban International Film Festival last week. It was icredibly moving to see the films, to witness peoples reactions to the films and to be part of an initiative that really sprang from peoples hearts.

The debate session held on the 29th was well attended and we thank Mandla Langa for his very thoughtful moderation. We also thank Eddie Manzingane from SABC for his passionate support.

FAR will be hosting a simliar session in Johannesburg at the Tri Continental Film Festival on 15th or 16th August - watch this space for details.

FAR is happy to announce that SABC has committed to the late of films not only in terms o TX, but also assisting to get the films showing within communities and to host television debates unpacking the films. The exact nature of this will be worked out the with FAR exec and SABC next week.

FAR voted in a management commitee to help get this and the festival circuit happening for th films. The management commitee comprises: Rehad Desai, Tendeka Matatu, Don Edkins, Desiree Markgraaff and Neil Brandt.

martine and thandeka

A film about 2 women one woman from the Congo – Martine and the other woman Thandeka from Zimbabwe. Martine has 2 children she fled the Congo during the war, in south Africa she was living with family and when the Zenophobia attacks took place ( her brother was beaten badly) her and her family fled to a police station and whilst at that police station there was an attempted rape on her 15year old daughter, eventually they ended up at Tifle Range refugee camp were she has no ideas what her fate is. Thandeka is from Zimbabwe and she married a south African man and has two children. During the time of the attacks Thandeka got caught up in the furore and ended up at a police station, later to be sent to Riffle range refugee camp. When she goes to visit her husband for the first time it is clear that the husband is no longer interested in Thandeka and Thandeka is left wondering whether to go back to Zimbabwe or stay in South Africa. This film explores the vulnerability of women during very trying times.



Shoot:
Caroline Carew - producer
Xoliswa Sithole - director
Natalie Haarhoff - camera
Lebo Mawasha - sound

Angels on our shoulders

Angels on our shoulders
24 min
English, isiZulu with English subtitles

Synopsis

Out of the destruction, chaos and trauma of the recent xenophobic violence a small group of Zimbabwean teachers tries to establish some structure and healing for the displaced children and for themselves. Their approach - the establishment of the Good Hope School, situated in a double-decker bus at the Rand Airport Displacement Camp. These are victims learning from victims.

Some routine and "normalcy" begins to emerge even against the backdrop of a cramped and under-resourced environment, and discord with the Department of Education's definition of a "school".

There’s no quick fix for the underlying trauma and pain that people experienced. However, their resilience and dignity shine through in this story, told through the eyes of the children.

The mad destructiveness of random hate is breathtakingly obvious through the film, without a single image of physical violence.

Producer/Director: Andy Spitz
Production: Left-Eye Productions

Baraka (Blessing)

Two days after South Africa experienced violent attacks against it’s black foreign nationals, thousands of people were displaced into temporary shelters across the country.

After the attacks, the Western Cape community of Masiphumelele went to the nearby Soetwater refugee camp to publicly apologise, inviting their foreign nationals back home.

The film follows the returning foreign shop owners to the overcrowded community of Masiphumelele. As the shopkeepers rebuild their destroyed shops, the community struggles to resolve the root causes of the conflict.


Digibeta, 24 min, 2008
Directors: Omelga Mthiyane, Riaan Hendricks
Producers: Marianne Gysae, Don Edkins
Production: STEPS

The Burning Man - Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave

Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave

Photos courtesy of Shayne Robinson


Running Time: 24 min
Director: Adze Ugah,
Producer: Desiree Markgraaff;
Mozambican Associate Producer: Joao Ribero
Production Company: Bomb

Nigerian filmmaker Adze Ugah shares his journey to reclaim the identity of the man the world has come to know as “the Burning Man” - Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave.

This is not a hard hitting expose of the horrific burning of a man, but a gentle exploration by Adze as he tries to understand who Ernesto was, what the events were that led to him being set alight and burnt to death and how this tragedy could have happened in South Africa 2008.

Adze journeys to Ernesto’s village in Mozambique to meet his family and the people whom he loved. He explores the underlying curse of poverty and the fragile chords of humanity and dignity.

This film seeks to make the ‘burning man’ a real person to the audience, a man who represents the pain and suffering of millions of real people living in poverty - people who are both victims and perpetrators of this crime.

This is a poignant thought provoking film.


Adze Ugah is a Nigerian Filmmaker living in South Africa. He works as a director and assistant producer for BOMB.

Congo my Foot

Congo my Foot

The film tells the story of Tino La Musica, a Congolese band based in Cape Town. Their story starts as the band, all refugees from Congo, play at their regular weekly gig at Club La Reference in Long Street Cape Town. They live and rehearse in a rundown block of flats in Gardens, but the mood is hopeful. Until suddenly they are evicted from their block of flats, a week before the countrywide xenophobic violence was to scatter and displace approximately 30 000 refugees around the country. The double impact of these events cause the band to fall apart. Musicians have lost their home, their togetherness and even their instruments. The film follows the story of Mohammed, the producer of the band, as he accompanies his sister to a community centre in Summer Greens, where she has found shelter for herself and her baby, Mohammed has found a temporary squat in a rundown building in Woodstock, he doesn’t know where the rest of the band is. Gradually he goes in search of the band members, hoping that they can get together again to play their weekly gig. He finds Tantino, the lead singer at Cape Town station, selling cd’s. Mohammed convinces Tantino to sing something, but he stops after a short while, he cannot continue. Instead he leads the crew to a Congolese Cape Town, a make-shift mall offering everything from hairdressing to foreign exchange. The film continues to follow Mohamed as he looks for the rest of the band. He finds Jino, a dancer, working on a construction site at the 2010 stadium in Green Point, Musa, the drummer, has taken a job as a security guard in Sea Point. Ironically the displacement caused by xenophobic attacks has caused these people previously earning a living from music gigs, to head into the job market as a means to survive. Mohammed is trying to muster up support from the group to perform again. He is surprised to find the singer/dancer, Ladi, with a transformed appearance staying with Papi, the administrator of the band. Enthusiasm is low; Ladi has shaven his Big Star hairstyle and goatee, as a symbol of having left behind his old persona and Papi responds: “what we do best is singing and entertaining; now they just want us to die”.
The film follows their struggle to get it together again, searching for instruments and finding the will to sing and dance again. We hope the search will lead us to the missing guitarist, Zinga, who everyone lost contact with after the incident at DuNoon. He’s cell phone no longer works, so Mohamed will have to move from Refugee camp to camp to find him. He hopes he can have the group playing at Club La Reference again, and that they can continue building a future together.

The film is co-directed by Okepne Ojang, himself an immigrant from Cameroon, living in South Africa for the last 9 years. OJ himself is trying to find sense in all that has happened and trying to determine whether there is a future here for him and his South African wife and child. His presence and voice is felt in the film, as it is clear that his hope is tied in with the hope that Tino La Musica will play again.

He collaborates with Camera/Director Kyle O’ Donoghue and Dylan Valley and producers Miki Redelinghuys and Lauren Groenewald from Plexus Films.

Affectionately known as Alex

AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS ALEX

Affectionately known as Alex is a verite snap-shot of life in Alex in the preceding months
leading up to the outbreak of xenophobic labelled violence in May 2008, ending up with a graphic description of the chaos and consequences of the tragic events which then spread like wildfire across the country.

The violence has now died down, and it is easy to abhor the actions against foreigners, and nothing can excuse it, but was this violence a cause or a result of a community put under severe pressure by poverty, lack of resources and frustration at corrupt officials who “are around to collect votes but disappear shortly after they are elected”?

First time filmmaker Danny Turken captures the rising tensions in Alex in the first half of 2008, giving the viewer some indication of the complex motivations of Alex residents who have nowhere else to turn in the face of a national government that seems to have forgotten they exist.

The film does not provide all the answers, but instead will leave the viewer asking questions about the responsibility of a nation to its most venerable citizens.

Language: Zulu ,Xhosa & English(with sub-titles)
Running Time: 24’
Director: Danny Turken
Producers: Neil Brandt & Khalid Shamis
Exec Producer: Joyti Misrty
Editor: Danny Turken & Khalid Shamis
Produced by: Luna Films
In association with: University of the Witwatersrand & NYU
Music: Ambient Sound

Nowhere else to go

Nowhere else to go

On the weekend of May 17 and 18 2008, violent mobs attacked “foreigners” in the Jeppe area, robbed them of their possessions and displaced them from their homes. More than 2000 men, women and children sought refuge at the Jeppe Police Station.

By the Monday the police station had transformed itself into a refugee camp. People from almost 20 African countries, most having come to Joburg to escape hardship in their home countries, found themselves thrown together, struggling to meet the challenges of life in a bewildering and turbulent environment. Food queues, overflowing toilets, rain, fights over resources, fear, suspicion, cooperation and kindness. It was in this environment that the Peace Marshals were formed – 18 men and women from across the continent – who worked together - tirelessly - to keep Jeppe Police Station from exploding/imploding.

This 12 minute film was made by volunteers who worked closely with the Peace Marshals, and documents three exhausting weeks that no-one who was there will ever forget.

Credits
Producer Jonathan Timm
Director Tumi Moraka
Camera: Tumi Moraka and Jonathan Timm
Sound: Bafana Makhado, Bonginkhosi Masango, Sakhile Radebe
Edit: Tumi Moraka, Thabs Mahopeloa

A debate on xenophobia hosted by The Star

Moeletsi Mbeki will chair a debate hosted by The Star newspaper on xenophobia next Tuesday, 17 June 2008 in the Wits Great Hall at 6 pm.

Discussants Kgalema Motlanthe of the ANC, and policy experts Wilmot James and Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen will take a critical look at government policy and make concrete proposals about how the country can move beyond the current impasse.

Info: Lebo on (011) 633 2323 or email xenophobia@inl.co.za

Who is FAR, and who can get involved?

Anybody who wants to produce work that helps nurture tolerance around this issue is welcome to join FAR. There is no formal membership, if you do something around this issue with FAR, then you are part of FAR. People who want to make films simply have to submit a synopsis, treatment and a budget.

We have very real financial constraints at the moment, we have just over R100, 000 for five of the seven films, Don Edkins has just managed to raise the budget for two of the films that come from Cape Town. We have a commitment to license 6 x 24 mins from SABC - hopefully we will see the fee this side of 2008; we have produced 13 PSA's made by volunteers, with a little bit of cash from FAR.

The five films that are being made outside of Cape Town may be made on as little 25k cash; this is possible because of two things, a tremendous amount of volunteer work and we have reasonably established production houses behind all the films.

At present we are unable to financially support any more films, until we can raise commitment from the donors.

Claudia Rinke is heading up the efforts on this front and we can only remain hopeful that some donors see the worth of our work.
So yes, we are still entertaining proposals; help us turn the best ones into films.

Update from Richard Green - Asikhulume (Let's Talk)

Hi all,

Shot most of our film Friday & Saturday. Wooooooooooooow! Somehow some sweet old chaps who were in exile don't all have fond memories !

Landed me a real xenophobe in a place called Bottlebrush - even had me thinking untill the concert at the refugee centre - have spent the last week at the centre.

After the first few notes from the saxophone a few people raised their heads; a few more notes and the kids started to dance ................then the band played and the people started to dance...........and then we left.... the heads dropped back into their own brutalised worlds.

Richard and the crew.

'The Burning Man'

Photo courtesy of Halden Krog for The Times

Burning Man
Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave

Running Time: 24 min
A film by: Catherine Muller, Joao Ribeiro, Desiree Markgraaff and Adze Ugah
Production: The Bomb Shelter

This is not a hard hitting story of xenophobia, but the story of an individual whom, tragically, the world presently knows as the 'Burning Man'. Our intention is to create a film that reclaims Ernesto Nhamuave's identity and memory.(FAR member - Desiree Markgraaff, Producer - right)

We hope this documentary will explore who Ernesto really was - what he dreamt of, whom he loved, and who loved him. From the detail of the bed in which he slept, to the last family member who touched him before he passed away, to his favourite drink in the morning when he woke up, to the quirky little things that made him unique: which football team he supported, what the kids in his village remember most about him, who his best friends were. This documentary will be a collection of memories for man who belonged to a community and family. A man who never deserved to die.

The underlying premise of our film is that Ernesto in many ways represents the facelessness of poverty in our country. The tragedy of his story is that it took this most horrific, callous act before South Africans would sit up and take note. Ernesto's story - and the story of so many living below the poverty line - represents the human reality behind the NGO stats, the pop concerts to raise money for the poor, and the well-meaning speeches of civic officials. The fact is, pictures of human suffering still do not move a society to change. But Ernesto's life, and his untimely death, cannot be for nought.(FAR member - Adze Ugah - right)

' The Burning Man', is the story of a real individual who represents the pain and suffering of millions of ordinary citizens who are both the victims, and perpetrators, of this crime. We intend to make this a poignant, beautiful and thought provoking film.

A 2nd synopsis: Afrophobia (continued)

Working title: AFROPHOBIA
A film by: Sechaba Morojele

This documentary wants to understand the current “agrophobic” climate that exits in South Africa and where it comes from [1]. The theory that this documentary wishes to propose is that afrophobia is the conclusion of our failure to decolonise our minds and our socio-economic realities.

The documentary will investigate this theory by looking at the lives of two different South African people from recently violently affected “agrophobic areas” who have been living in abject poverty since and before 1994. From these two case studies we will try to understand/explain how poverty in South Africa is deeply rooted in South Africa’s extended colonial history and how 14 years after the birth of our new democracy the situation has actually gotten worse: “The poverty traps set by apartheid remain an important explanation for the persistence (and the worsening) of poverty in South Africa [2]"

Though South Africa is a better country from a political and human rights point of view, one can however argue that a corresponding socio-economic transformation has not yet taken place. The main reason for this is the so-called “elite compromise” where the apartheid corporate sector managed to force the ANC to accept a neo-liberal and globally orientated economic policy for the “New South Africa”. This policy produced an economic system that systematically excludes the poor half of the population from mainstream economic and political activity and prevents the possibility of any comprehensive redistributive measures.

This “elite compromise” together with the inheritance of a self-perpetuating poverty trap and the failure to control the influx of many African foreigners into South Africa could be part of the answer to the growing frustrations and “explosive rage” that our country has experienced in the recent weeks.

The other part, as will also be investigated in this documentary through interviews with the relevant scholars, professors, etc, relates to the increasing levels of afrophobia in the country. Though many have argued that the high levels of poverty and the lack of service delivery are at the root of the current afrophobia attacks, afrophobia itself must have had a significant role to play in the violence. This afrophobia, one wishes to argue stems from anti-black racism that is still rife in South Africa and etched in the psyche of both black and white South Africans. “We have failed to humanise our society through genuine freedom which leads to material and psychological liberation" [3].

We cannot forget the role the media has played in igniting these current afrophobia attitude [4] and how it together with the middle class have shown a great sense of complacency towards the plight of the impoverished majority.

Though anti-black sentiments are a well known phenomenon within White South Africa, Black anti black sentiments need to be dissected to better appreciate afrophobia; how and when did Black South Africans start hating their fellow Africans and why and does this form part of a greater black colonised mind that harbours a great sense of self hate towards their own kind?

---

[1] It is important that we distance ourselves from using the word Xenophobia as this describes hatred towards all foreigners.

[2] Julian May 2000

[3] Andile Mngxitama in City Press May 2008

[4] “There are certain sections of print media that must be found guilty of xenophobia due to anti-foreign stereotypes created in their daily reporting,” MMP executive director May William Bird told Bizcommunity.com May 2008

UPDATE: SAfm interview tonight!

FAR was contacted today by SAfm producer Thamba Dlamini, on behalf of Eric Miyeni, and it has been arranged that FAR will be interviewed @ 19h30 tonight on the Eric M after dark show!

So listen to get the latest updates & happenings on what the passionate crew of Filmmakers Against Racism is covering across South Africa. More details will also be given about how you can donate, and what the funds are being used for!

Already the response has been amazing, donations are coming in, the public is becoming aware, positive things are being done by people with big African hearts. So catch the show, and feel a part of it.

Here was the email we received this afternoon –

I would like to propose an interview with one of the representatives from SA Filmmakers Against Racism / Xenophobia.

I am the Producer of an evening programme on SAfm, called Eric M After Dark hosted by Eric Miyeni.

Our show is about positive story we talk to people who are contributing positively to SA and other parts of this world. It would be our pleasure if someone can be available to do an interview with us today from 19:30-19:45pm just to give us and our listeners an insight about this wonderful initiative.

We are asking for this interview with a hope that it will send a strong message across to the perpetrators of this disgusting behaviour of xenophobic attacks that has put our country on the map for the wrong reasons.

I hope you will find this in order and your response in this regard will be highly appreciated

Regards

Themba Dlamini
SAfm: Producer / Eric M after

Like our earlier post received from Nonso Dike, with his visual poetic contribution, people are standing up and raising their voices. That is a good thing!

Be a part of it.

A visual poetic contribution by Nonso A. Dike

Blessed greetings comrade FAR officials.

Plz kindly find attached within, a prophetic visual poetry for FAR humble initiative. This was an experimental pilot project produced early April of 2007 with John Njaga Demps, me and Samora Sekhukhune. I remember someone in the crew asking me why so much poesy on "Unity" amongst Africans + SA filmmakers. Alas! Now we know why.

Anyways, on behalf of my crew members, attached is my content (visual) donation/support to FAR beautiful initiative. May the blessed team feel free to use it as a PSA if they deem it fit.

Long live AFRICA...!
Long live AFRICAN FILMMAKERS...!!
Long live FAR as a healing vehicle to us all...!!!

Meantime, Hallelujah Bless Up + oneness love to us all...!

Sincerely,

Nonso A. Dike

They called him Mugza - more about Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave

They called him Mugza", he was the faceless subject of the horrific image which will be seared into our memories and the global perception of our country alongside those of Nelson Mandela leaving prison or people queuing to vote.

Reporter Beauregard Tromp found out a few details about this man and the misfortunes that led him to become the world's most famous victim that day and wrote about it movingly. "Mugza" only had a nickname and was heading for a pauper's funeral, this report said, but at least he was being humanised.

The Sunday Times' Victor Khupiso gave us his name and spoke to a brother-in-law who said he would bury the body.

At the Germiston City Hall, two nondescript Mozambican men bedded down among their compatriots. Unlike the hundreds of weary bodies forced from their homes in Ramaphosa and Meyerton, the two brothers were there on Monday night to be close to their brother.

Fifty metres down the road, in a cold, steel, refrigerated hole, lay Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave.

For almost a week, the public knew him only as the flaming man. In Ramaphosa township, he was known simply as Mugza.

For Jose and Severiano he was a brother, a husband and a father who sought a better life in South Africa less than three months ago. Jose, a miner at South Deep Mine for 11 years, returned home regularly with money and gifts for the family. Severiano joined him four months ago.

Ernesto was struggling to make ends meet. As a security guard in Maputo, the money just wasn't enough to provide for his family of five.

A running joke in Maputo is that people would rather employ a security guard than install an alarm system because it's cheaper.

On Thursday, Jose and Severiano got a call from their brother-in-law, Francisco Kanze. Stabbed, beaten and with a cement block thrown on his head, Kanze would survive the attack on him and Ernesto in Ramaphosa on May 18.

The image of Ernesto burning to death would bring the reality of the xenophobic horror home to people around the world.

Although Jose and Severiano are strictly speaking cousins of Ernesto, the three grew up metres from each other near Inhambane, the tourism area 550km north of Maputo where hundreds of South Africans flock annually on holiday. Early on Monday morning, the pair were at Germiston mortuary to identify Ernesto's body.

Jose held no hope that it was all a mistake. All he wanted now was to take his brother home. The body was sent to Germiston mortuary, hospital officials assured. Body number 1247 was pulled out. This time the entire body was burnt. The face was unrecognisable. Only part of a leg and a foot had escaped relatively unharmed.

"I knew it was Ernesto because of his toes. He has a birth defect on his middle toe," said Jose.

At the Germiston Community Hall, Mozambican official Edmundo Matenja has a ledger that is nearly full. Most of the names recorded in them are people looking for family members lost when they fled. At the back of the ledger is a list of six names, their fate known.

Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave would be number seven.

Excerpt by Beauregard Tromp
May 27 2008 The Star

An 8th synopsis: Two Camps

Two Camps

HDV – By Rehad Desai, Nicolaas Hofmeyre, Francesco Biagini, Tony Bensusan, Nami Mhlongo.
Supported by many others film activists and professional filmmakers
Editors Khalid Shamis and Lentsoe Serote, Ravi Desai
Equipment donated by Visual Impact, DV8, The Cameraman, Wits University
Production Company Uhuru Productions

This is a story about the increasing hardships facing refugees in the city of Johannesburg told through the experience of three African men; Leo, Chibombe and Patrick. Their stories will testify to the struggle for survival facing the most vulnerable and alienated in a city at the helm of the so-called African Renaissance.

Leo, originally from the Congo is an asylum seeker at the Cleveland Police Station refugee camp while Chibombe, his compatriot is a resident at the Jeppe Police Station camp. Patrick is Zimbabwean and has become a prisoner in his own home. His single room atop a block of flats is at the heart of the inner city area of Bertrams, which sprawls between the Jeppe and Cleveland camps. (FAR member Rehad Desai - pictured right)

Leo gained refugee status a year ago but remains unemployed, as he is the leader of the Congolese community in Cleveland. Softly spoken, articulate and incredibly charismatic, he is an archetypal leader and born orator who effortlessly conjures life in the Congo, his flight from persecution, and his experiences in South Africa. His investment in community has cultivated in him a distinct set of hopes for the future that are intrinsically linked to those he leads. Through him we are allowed a window into daily life in the refugee camp- both the overwhelming poverty and the very human elements that make it bearable. (FAR member Francesco Biagini - pictured right)

During the Johannesburg march against Xenophobia, Leo was selected to address the thousands who gathered in protest. He was involved in lobbying the United Nations Committee for Human Rights in Pretoria, and formed part of the committee that inspected the proposed camp the city council wants to relocate both the Cleveland and Jeppe camps to.

He defined from his expert position his fears about the location of the new camp; the migrant labour hostels that surround it have been implicated in the attacks against African immigrants in the area before and present a real security threat. (FAR member Nami Mhlongo - pictured right)

They* defeat the councils attempt to move them by winning a successful court interdict led by the Methodist Church. He and hundreds of others from the Cleveland camp are still waiting it out in Cleveland in the hope that they will be moved to a place of safety, with adequate sanitation and ablution facilities. But food is running low and tempers running high in Cleveland and the Jeppe camps.

Chibombi Mayenja is a Congolese refugee at the Jeppe camp. He was beaten and tortured in the DRC for allegedly leaking of information to the press about illegal mining operations. He was attached to the secret service and decided that he and young family needed to escape from the country. He now works as a motors parts inspector and was nominated by his South African co-workers as a shop steward; he is also vice chairperson of his trade union branch and has a good relationship with those he works with.

Still nursing a eye wound he received in a xenophobic attack, he speaks most convincingly about why he and his fellow Africans are being persecuted and powerfully describe the general and present plight of those refugees in the Jeppe Camp. The Jeppe Camp is highly organized and it is they who ensured the interdict route was taken and have agreed to passively resist any relocation that they have not agreed to make. (FAR member Khalid Shamis - pictured right)

Patrick Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean who is ethnically Ndbele. This has given him a language advantage and has ensured an easier integration into South African society. He was an MDC activist and was beaten and tortured by the ZANU – PF youth militia “The Green Bombers”. He arrived in Johannesburg 5 years ago and up until recently was up to date with asylum papers.

He describes being subjected to humiliating attacks by South African and what they are doing to others, how he fears to walk the streets, and tells us he is waiting to see what happens before he decides whether to leave the country or not. Patrick unwilling to face the wrath of Mugabe’s present reign of terror is planning to go to Mozambique and make home in border town where he can regularly cross over into Zimbabwe. After another vicious attack in early June, Patrick put the wheels in motion for this move. We intend to follow him to the border and watch him cross over.

A 7th synopsis: Asikhulume - Let's Talk

Provisional title: Asikhulume - Let's Talk
A film by: Richard Green and Associates and the Durban University Technicon

Running Time: 12 minutes
Beta SP
Zulu with English sub-titles

5-6 jazz musicians in their 70’s prepare for a concert. They have all returned from exile.

They discuss the current wave of xenophobia and killings. They tackle all the key issues as they dress and tinker with their instruments. Inter -cut with these images and voices are shots of the people who have been displaced and their homes that have been destroyed. Our jazz men remember the days in exile and how they were housed and fed and clothed and protected by other African nationals.

Finally they get onto the stage - the audience from around Africa. Sakhile Langa gives a welcoming speech and asks two youngster to read from the constitution with regards to foreigners.

The band begins to play, images of the collective audience.

A look at the irony of Mbeki’s leadership as the Renaissance President, the hope of all in Africa, and now at his end the collapse of “Renaissance”

A 6th synopsis: Affectionately Known As Alex

Affectionately Known As Alex
A film by: Danny Turken, supported by NYU, Wits University and Luna Films

Running Time: 24 minutes
Post Production: in post currently,

Treatment
After apartheid was established in 1948, and the government implemented the process of displacing black South Africans out of the city, the first official township in Johannesburg was born; her name, Alexandra. Unofficially, Alexandra emerged in 1912 and was proclaimed as a “native township.”

The township was proclaimed prior to the 1913 Land Act, and therefore, residents were exempted from the act and were free to purchase land. Despite the fact Alex is approximately only 12 km outside of Johannesburg, as a result of the lack of municipality administration and the lack of influx control, she quickly became known as “nobody’s baby.”

Throughout the 20^th century, Alexandra endured gangster wars, a belligerent political culture, health hazards and a severe housing crisis. Dissimilar to other townships that landscape the city, the lack of housing in Alexandra was and continues to be the constant source of tension and frustration for both the residents and the community.

Initially, when I approached the idea of making a documentary on Alexandra, I was set on observing the Jukskei River and its relationship to the community. However, after spending more time in Alexandra and understanding the people, the film evolved into an observational piece attempting to understand the township and those who live and work in it.

Through the progression of the film, the narrative shifts from a harmonious depiction of Alexandra and unpacks the tenuous relationships that extend further beyond its “bonafied residents” (those living in Alexandra for several decades and whose families are from Alexandra) and those who have recently moved into the township. It is further complicated by the escalation of immigrants into the township compounded by the lack of homes, jobs and structural improvement, and eventually toward the xenophobia crisis the country is facing today.

Although the film illustrates the mounting tension within the community of Alexandra, further interviews with specific characters in the film—notably, the leader of the APF, the woman grilling chicken feet and the two men discussing the bureaucracy regarding applying for RDP homes—will provide a greater context and understanding of the origin and motivation for the turmoil and violence that is ripping apart South Africa and its people, and will do so through the voices of the people of Alexandra.

A 5th synopsis: Tino La Musica

TINO LA MUSICA (Working Title)
Film By Camera/Director Kyle O’ Donoghue and Dylan Valley and producers Miki Redelinghuys and Lauren Groenewald from Plexus Films.

Miki/ Plexus Films, Cape Town
Running time: 24 minutes

The film tells the story of Tino La Musica, a Congolese band based in Cape Town. Their story starts as the band, all refugees from Congo, play at their regular weekly gig at Club La Reference in Long Street Cape Town. They live and rehearse in a rundown block of flats in Gardens, but the mood is hopeful. Until suddenly they are evicted from their block of flats, a week before the countrywide xenophobic violence was to scatter and displace approximately 30 000 refugees around the country.

The double impact of these events cause the band to fall apart. Musicians have lost their home, their togetherness and even their instruments.

The film follows the story of Mohammed, the producer of the band, as he accompanies his sister to a community centre in Summer Greens, where she has found shelter for herself and her baby, Mohammed has found a temporary squat in a rundown building in Woodstock, he doesn’t know where the rest of the band is. Gradually he goes in search of the band members, hoping that they can get together again to play their weekly gig.

He finds Tantino, the lead singer at Cape Town station, selling cd’s. Mohammed convinces Tantino to sing something, but he stops after a short while, he cannot continue. Instead he leads the crew to a Congolese Cape Town, a make-shift mall offering everything from hairdressing to foreign exchange. The film continues to follow Mohamed as he looks for the rest of the band.

He finds Jino, a dancer, working on a construction site at the 2010 stadium in Green Point, Musa, the drummer, has taken a job as a security guard in Sea Point. Ironically the displacement caused by xenophobic attacks has caused these people previously earning a living from music gigs, to head into the job market as a means to survive. Mohammed is trying to muster up support from the group to perform again.

He is surprised to find the singer/dancer, Ladi, with a transformed appearance staying with Papi, the administrator of the band. Enthusiasm is low; Ladi has shaven his Big Star hairstyle and goatee, as a symbol of having left behind his old persona and Papi responds: “what we do best is singing and entertaining; now they just want us to die”.

The film follows their struggle to get it together again, searching for instruments and finding the will to sing and dance again. We hope the search will lead us to the missing guitarist, Zinga, who everyone lost contact with after the incident at DuNoon. He’s cell phone no longer works, so Mohamed will have to move from Refugee camp to camp to find him. He hopes he can have the group playing at Club La Reference again, and that they can continue building a future together.

The film is co-directed by Okepne Ojang, himself an immigrant from Cameroon, living in South Africa for the last 9 years. OJ himself is trying to find sense in all that has happened and trying to determine whether there is a future here for him and his South African wife and child. His presence and voice is felt in the film, as it is clear that his hope is tied in with the hope that Tino La Musica will play again.

A 4th synopsis: Between the Mountain and the Sea

BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SEA (working title)
Film By Don Edkins, Omelga Mthiyane, Marianne Gysae, Riaan Hendricks (in order as pictured below)

HDV/Digibeta



South Africans have expressed the desire to reconciliate and re-integrate with the displaced foreigners who are living in dire conditions in refugee camps and community centres across South Africa.

What is the motive behind this reconciliation? Is it real? What awaits those who go back to the communities where the people who tried to take their lives and looted their belongings still live.

This film allows us to get close to the Soetwater refugee camp and the township of Masiphumelele where a dialogue and reconciliation process has started.

A 3rd synopsis: Two Brothers

Two Brothers
Joao Ribeiro and his Mozambique Team

Duration: 24 minutes
Delivery: Post Production:

Summary Synopsis

Sulemangy Mussa, 28, plasterer, Mozambican, working in Singamo (Durban) has planned to run with his friend Abdul (another Mozambican). They agreed to escape after collecting some of their things in the houses. Because Abdul didn’t return in time, Mussa has gone to look for him and discover his house on flames. They run to the police station and return but was already late. Abdul was burned alive in his house.

Abdul was married with a South African woman who has decided to stay.

These two guys where friends for long and their family are friends too. Mussa is returning now to Nampula where he and Abdul came from. He will now inform the family about that.

We’ve got contacts for Mussa father who is now waiting for his arrival without knowing about Mussa. We couldn’t stop Abdul to go and apparently he is on his way to Nampula. Will arrive in 2-3 days there. This story can be followed in to directions (Nampula – Abdul and Mussa family) and in Durban with Mussa widow who is perfectly localized.

A 2nd synopsis: Sechaba Morojele plans his film

SECHABA MOROJELE

Duration: 24 minutes

Basically I want to try and understand xenophobia and where it came from, showing;

It’s prevalence across all classes within “black” south Africa and trying to find reason for this: Is it due to being “boxed” up as a nation for so long? Is it because black South Africans feel better than the rest of Africa because of our so called western infrastructure?

The media’s role in promoting xenophobia and its (alleged catalytic) affect on the current attacks. Recently there have been complaints about this sent to the media ombudsman. How black foreigners being employed over locals at restaurants, in corporate south Africa, etc being a cause of certain frustrations.

Government’s role in fuelling deep distrust in the poor black communities for lack of or poor service delivery and poor economic policies. One will touch on why ANC (through an “elite compromise”) had to agree on a neo liberalism market fundamentalism economic policy as a prerequisite to end apartheid and how this policy was inherently bias against the second economies of the country. This inclusion is important to try and understand whether poor service delivery is simply due to the ANC or whether they inherited a system that made delivery virtually impossible in the first few decades of this new democracy.

How corruption in the housing industry is a cause of great grievance (in Hillbrow Nigerian landlords rent accommodation to foreigners and corruption within the RDP houses has given priority to foreigners).

The effect of the poor monitoring of the influx of foreigners since 1994 and how this has sparked resentment in the locals who feel they have to fight with foreigners for basic resources.

A 1st Synopsis: Xoliswa's story

Xoliswa story – women and their vulnerability
Film By Xoliswa and Carolyn Carew Born Free Media

Duration: 24minutes

I will follow 2 women

One is called Tembeka Junku who has a son who is 8years old, she is from Bulawayo, she had been living in Alex for the last 19years. The son is called Elson Bafana, her husband died in 2001. She is working as a cleaner; on Sunday 11May people came in her house and took clothes, on the following day the people came in and told her to leave (she had built her house) and they took money and they beat her.

They beat her up in front of her child and the police station could not assist her because the police force felt that the Xenophobia was too far spread and they could not help. She stayed at the police station for 2 weeks and on Sunday they moved her to Usindiso (a shelter for women in town).

Her son is not going to school, his school is in Alex. Were she is now she is not happy, she does not like the food, they have to wake up at 4am to bath and out of the bath by 8am, they have breakfast, lunch and supper, however she says that she does not like the food i.e they are allowed only one spoon of rice and she feels that she can not wake up her child at 4 am.

She is not sure where she will go and she is worried about the fact that her child is missing school.

2nd Story….Winnie Mandela took in a Congolese family. The woman who was taken in has a one year old child and Winnie felt that that the child would have died through to exposure (one of the characters I was going to film a woman called Lydia Chimanyange from Zimbabwe lost her 4 month old baby due to exposure at Cleveland police station). I am in the process of trying to get permission film the woman Winnie Mandela took in.

The film will explore the journey of these 2 women; I will also follow the 8 year old boy who witnessed his mother being beaten up by the people in Alex. The aim of the film is to explore the vulnerability of these women and the kindness of the South Africa person (W. Mandela) who took in the other family whilst the other woman is not sure of her future. She does not want to go back to Zimbabwe.

Seven tales to tell - FAR synopses

Seven synopsis's have been submitted as the initial outline and direction to be taken by each of the South African production houses as part of their contribution to the ideals as set out by Filmmakers Against Racism.

There is still much work to be done, and unfortunately these things also cost money, and so it is hoped that this initial synopsis of each film will draw sponsors out of the woodwork, to donate much needed cash to ensure awesome productions that will have an impact. So please read through them and donate to make a difference!

Two updates on the run

Today's news from filmmaker and producer ZIVIA DESAI KUIPER of Uhuru Productions and the Tri Continental Film Festival.

"Things are bad at Soetwater Camp and I am trying to get permission for filming there – 3,000 people right on the sea front who are getting very angry as their wet blankets cannot get dried as well as many other issues. Going there tomorrow to assess the situation."

More about filmmaker XOLISWA SITHOLE:

" I grew up in Zim from age 3 until I was 20 years old, and boy oh boy did the Zimbawean people take in my family. As a result, I am very much a Zimbawean."

Xoliswa has been trying to tell the story of a community that protected 3 women from attack. However, there have been problems:

" I am in shit, the woman from Zim whose child died ( 4 months due to exposure last week) they have now refused to be filmed and I met a woman who was raped as well and now she does not want to do this!!!!!! I am going mad, I was to start filming tomorrow."

The Human Rights Media Trust

The Human Rights Media Trust was founded in June 2004. The aims and objectives of The Human Rights Media Trust have been constituted to utilize the capital and income from the assets of the trust without necessarily contemplation of any profits as such, for the benefit of the trust, its benefactors and entities as the trustees, in their sole and absolute discretion, may think fit and proper to receive such donations.

In particular, the trust will focus on the creation of feature films and documentaries relating to human rights issues as well as film festivals relating to human rights issues.

The trust will assist in the education, training and development of suitable previously disadvantaged individuals desirous of working in the film media industry.

Trustees

Joan Legalamitwa is a festival director in the North West Province and she was previously a Director of Encounters Documentary Film Festival.

Terry Bell is senior political journalist who writes on Africa for numerous publications.

Helen Fernand is a Human Rights Lawyer based in Cape Town.

Rehad Desai is a film producer and director and has extensive experience in the industry. He is the chairperson of the South African Screen Federation (SASFED).

Zivia Desai Keiper works in the film industry as a producer and festival director.

Michael Dixon is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and Administrator of Estates.

Peace March & Rally in Alexandra - 31 May 2008

HEAL OUR LAND PEACE MARCH & RALLY

The Community Policing Forum (CPF) of Alexandra, the African Diaspora Forum (ADF), Alex Religious Leaders, Concerned Alexandra Residents Forum joined by many other peace-loving South Africans, have been granted permission to hold a Peace March and Peace Rally in Alexandra on the last day of Africa Month, namely Saturday 31st May 2008.

Saturday, 31 May 2008
Routes and Times:

09h00 - Peace March leaves Alex Police Station
69 - 15th Avenue, Alexandra

10h30 - Peace March arrives at Wynberg Magistrate's Court
2nd Street, Wynberg off Arkwright Avenue, to hand over PEACE PROMOTING MEMORANDUM

11h30 -Peace march leaves the Court en route to the Alexandra Stadium down Rooseveld Street

12h30 - Peace March reaches Alex Stadium
12th Avenue

12h45 - 14h30 Programme: PEACE MESSAGES FROM INVITED SPEAKERS

PLEASE WEAR WHITE, AS MUCH WHITE AS POSSIBLE, BRING WHITE BANNERS AND FLAGS, BANNERS WITH PEACE PROMOTING MESSAGES. HELP ALEX HEAL - HELP HEAL OUR LAND.

Information issued by convenors: Community Policing Forum-Alex: Thomas Sithole: 082 459 3306

Concerned Alex Residents Forum: Bongi Dhlomo-Mautloa: 082 566 6303

African Diaspora Forum: Marc Gbaffou: 083 514 7367 Rayban Sengwayo: 071 430 3729

There will be safe and secure parking at the Police Station and Stadium

Water and ablution facilities will be available at the Stadium

Alexandra Safety Ambassadors, Marshals, Metro Police and SAPS will be out in full force to assist marchers.

SEE YOU ON SATURDAY, 31 MAY 2008

Together - a Public Service Announcement

TOGETHER:

A Discussion on Xenophobia - 01 June 2008

PUBLIC DEBATE

Displaced on Africa Day

Xenophobia Refugees in Cape Town South Africa/Displaced Voices




Displaced on Africa Day


TAC calls on the UN










On May 22nd 2008, some 400 Mozambicans boarded buses that would take them to Park Station where they would catch trains to return home. Their stories presented disturbing accounts of persecution and fear. Some were literally leaving South Africa with the shirts on their backs. What emerged were promises to return to this country for lack of work prospects elsewhere, while others spoke of a desire to avenge what had happened. These pictures were taken at the refugee camp in Primrose, east of Johannesburg.