What started out as a film festival in Ginsberg has now been turned into the first Eastern Cape Film Festival, which will take place in East London next month.
The Ginsberg Film Festival, organised by Radio Ya Bantu, was first hosted last year at the Steve Biko Centre.
This year organisers of the event partnered with the Eastern Cape Information Communication Technology Initiative (Eciti) and transformed it into a provincial event.
“When Eciti partnered with us they said we should make this festival bigger than what it was last year and also not focus on the Ginsberg community,” said Radio Ya Bantu’s Nceba Mqolomba.
Mqolomba said festival was aimed at giving aspiring film makers an opportunity to work with established Eastern Cape filmmakers who are already in the field.
Some of the documentaries shown last year include Mark Fredericks’ Injury Time, Forgotten Heroes “The Story of Jack Dolomba”, Black Leopards (story of black rugby), Adventures of Bhamuza and the film Of Good Report. Films from Dollywood Productions were also screened.
The festival will now be hosted at the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre from August 8 to 10.
“We will have workshops that will equip those attending with the necessary skills to produce a short film.
“They will also learn about directing, script development and writing, producing and editing,” Mqolomba said.
The organiser said the province was known for producing award-winning filmmakers.
“In order to maintain that standard, we need to equip aspiring filmmakers. This will go a long way in producing Eastern Cape inspired content,” he said.
Eciti executive manager Mncedi Mgwigwi said the organisation not only focussed on technology related matters but also looked at the content that got transmitted.
Mgwigwi said they had asked some of their partners to be part of the festival as well.
“As an organisation, we have several partners in the film industry that we work with,” he said.
Some of their partners who will be part of the event include the ECDC, the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, Amathole District Municipality and OR Tambo District Municipality.
“We don’t want the festival to occur just once a year. We want to be involved throughout the year and we are hoping we will be able to drive a programme that talks film 365 days,” Mgwigwi said.
Mqolomba said during the festival they would be running a talent search for emerging script writers.
“There will be workshops for script writing. Aspiring writers can develop an Eastern Cape inspired script for the talent search.
“The winning script will get the opportunity to be developed into a short film that will be screened at our festival next year,” he said.
To find out more about the festival, go to their Facebook page, Eastern Cape Film Festival. — poliswap@dispatch.co.za
Ginsberg develops provincial event
The Ginsberg Film Festival, organised by Radio Ya Bantu, was first hosted last year at the Steve Biko Centre.
This year organisers of the event partnered with the Eastern Cape Information Communication Technology Initiative (Eciti) and transformed it into a provincial event.
“When Eciti partnered with us they said we should make this festival bigger than what it was last year and also not focus on the Ginsberg community,” said Radio Ya Bantu’s Nceba Mqolomba.
Mqolomba said festival was aimed at giving aspiring film makers an opportunity to work with established Eastern Cape filmmakers who are already in the field.
Some of the documentaries shown last year include Mark Fredericks’ Injury Time, Forgotten Heroes “The Story of Jack Dolomba”, Black Leopards (story of black rugby), Adventures of Bhamuza and the film Of Good Report. Films from Dollywood Productions were also screened.
The festival will now be hosted at the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre from August 8 to 10.
“We will have workshops that will equip those attending with the necessary skills to produce a short film.
“They will also learn about directing, script development and writing, producing and editing,” Mqolomba said.
The organiser said the province was known for producing award-winning filmmakers.
“In order to maintain that standard, we need to equip aspiring filmmakers. This will go a long way in producing Eastern Cape inspired content,” he said.
Eciti executive manager Mncedi Mgwigwi said the organisation not only focussed on technology related matters but also looked at the content that got transmitted.
Mgwigwi said they had asked some of their partners to be part of the festival as well.
“As an organisation, we have several partners in the film industry that we work with,” he said.
Some of their partners who will be part of the event include the ECDC, the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, Amathole District Municipality and OR Tambo District Municipality.
“We don’t want the festival to occur just once a year. We want to be involved throughout the year and we are hoping we will be able to drive a programme that talks film 365 days,” Mgwigwi said.
Mqolomba said during the festival they would be running a talent search for emerging script writers.
“There will be workshops for script writing. Aspiring writers can develop an Eastern Cape inspired script for the talent search.
“The winning script will get the opportunity to be developed into a short film that will be screened at our festival next year,” he said.
To find out more about the festival, go to their Facebook page, Eastern Cape Film Festival. — poliswap@dispatch.co.za
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