First graduation festival for film school
THE Port Elizabeth campus of a national film school is showing a powerful trio of short films in its first graduation festival this weekend at Nu Metro at the Boardwalk.
The Bird Street campus of AFDA Film School yesterday screened the three productions by students who finish their three-year course this year, and they will be shown to the public on Saturday from 12.30pm.
Third-year student Athenkosi Gabada, who produced one of the films as part of his motion picture medium course, said the graduation was an exciting moment.
“Although this is big for us as students, it’s also big for the industry as these are Eastern Cape stories and it’s time we started taking pride and ownership of our stories. They are very rich in culture,” Gabada said.
The graduation festival will see three films of 12 minutes each screened:
ý A Woman’s Choice, written and directed by Loren Buchner. This is the heartrending story of a married couple learning that their unborn baby will be severely disabled and the choices they then face;
ý Bear, written and directed by Wesley Roodt, which is loosely based on the inspirational true life story of Springbok rugby player Siya Kolisi;
ý The Walk Home, written by Sipho Bosa and directed by Sisanda Dyantyi, which is a harrowing look at how South Africa’s apartheid years and border war in Angola affected the friendship between two farm boys, one white and one black.
AFDA opened in Nelson Mandela Bay three years ago and offers the same syllabus as the other South African branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
It is also a member of Cilect, the international association of film and television schools.
AFDA Port Elizabeth dean Denise Roodt said it was a proud day for the 23 “talented pioneer” students completing the course they started in 2015.
“When we started, I said I wanted an Oscar – that’s the minimum I expect and we’ve got some good films,” Roodt said.
“Our films are among the best at AFDA, we’re going to show the world what we can do here.
“The graduation festival is not just a showcase of the films produced by our first-ever final-year students, it is also a celebration of the talent of our city and province and proof that the Eastern Cape is ready to take on the big boys in the film industry.”
Industry professionals, AFDA staff and the public assess all the productions, which make up half of the complete student assessment of the year.
Previous AFDA graduation productions have seen huge success locally as well as internationally.
In 2006, the AFDA Johannesburg’s honours film Elalini, directed by Tristan Holmes, won the Student Academy Award for Best Foreign Student Film.
AFDA graduation films have also won the Best Student Film eight times.