What’s The Story - October 1st

The Forum Film Community presents “What’s The Story” - October 1st 2009 @ 7pm Shapa….
A revealing look at the anatomy of South African storytelling.
We will be exploring the tough subject of the identity of South African storytelling, and whether it is something filmmakers should consider when developing their stories.

The Forum Film Community Hosts its Second Live Event!

The Forum is an online meeting place for South African film makers to ask questions, give answers, and share ideas; coupled with a series of live events. Our first event was a great success with attendees from varying disciplines in the local industry coming together discuss the changing landscape of film in South Africa. To review that event please check out www.theforumsa.com and watch the video which over 800 people have viewed already!

The second event dedicated to nurturing the South African Film Industry is entitled, ‘What’s the Story?’ We will be exploring the tough subject of the identity of South African storytelling, and whether it is something filmmakers should consider in developing their own stories.

Confirmed members of our panel include John Barker whose greatest showcase to date has been the internationally acclaimed and profoundly successful road trip story “Bunny Chow”; and Bryan Little, director of “Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do” a Rock ‘n Roll documentary about Bellville band Fokofpolisiekar’s rise to fame.

We look forward to having you at our event, Thursday 1 October, 7pm at Red Light Studios, 22 Cloverleaf Business Park, 78 7th Avenue, Maitland. Please make use of www.theforumsa.com and feel free to email us at theforumfilm@gmail.com with comments or questions.

The Forum is yours. Use it, enjoy it, and let’s start making some great movies.

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The Changing Landscape - July 23rd

Red Light Studios and Readwrite present “The Changing Landscape” at the Forum - July 23rd 2009.

Apart from being an online meeting place and blog for South African film makers, the Forum will be presenting ongoing live events to foster our ideal of a vibrant and cohesive film scene. We’re starting with a series of interactive panel discussions and talks by industry leaders but will also be hosting workshops and screenings in the not too distant future.

The Forum is a voluntary association born from a shared need to find answers and make friends. We concede that South African film is currently in a bit of a Twilight Zone, with the embarrassing implosion of the SABC doing little to reassure us we have an industry worth fighting for. Yet, recent success stories like White Wedding reaffirm our belief that the future for film in SA is bright. We’d like to add our flame to the growing light. On its inaugural voyage The Forum takes a long hard look at the SA movie scene and attempts to establish the state of play.

The philosophy is fairly straight forward: If you want an answer, then ask someone who knows - and share it. That is exactly what we’ll be doing - asking a lot of questions.

A panel of experts including top Producer Zaheer Goodman Bhayat, maverick director Hein de Vos and groundbreaking innovator Simon Hansen will attempt to help us get a meaningful picture of where we stand in the film landscape, and where we want to be. The discussion promises to be energizing if not conclusive and the audience will be encouraged to take part in a meaningful dialogue with the panel. The Forum is about having conversations, not attending lectures.

Who is our audience? Who is making the movies? We’ll take a look at the changing role of technology and the coming of age of digital cinema. What opportunities for innovation are open to us as part of an emerging market? The interplay between various media are key to the success of the global film market, let’s find out to what extent this is already happening in our industry here at home.

We will also be screening selected scenes from Hein De Vos’ upcoming Orgie based on the Andre P. Brink novel by the same name. It’s a dark, intensely personal exploration of the love affair between the author and Ingrid Jonker which is already making waves in the industry. Orgie is a visually rich and sensual drama that claims to remain true to the surreal and poetic nature of the book. What we’ve seen so far has left us very curious indeed. Come have a look for yourself.

The Forum will of course be filmed and we will make edited portions of the event available online. You will also be able to join us for the event live via Skype.

Click here to R.S.V.P