Many kudos but crew far from raking in the cash
DESPITE scooping 19 international awards‚ being shortlisted for an Oscar and receiving global recognition‚ you would think the creators of The Wound (Inxeba) are rolling in cash‚ but that could not be further from the truth.
During an exclusive prescreening of the film hosted by TshisaLIVE on Wednesday night, producer Elias Ribeiro gave the audience a glimpse into some of the challenges they have faced to make their dream of bringing the eye-opening film to local screens.
Ribeiro revealed that some members of the team had worked free‚ while cast members had earned a pittance and they had got into a lot of debt for marketing costs to take the film to Oscar prescreenings in Los Angeles.
He said he had been brought onto the project to help with foreign funding as the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) had initially rejected their requests for funding on four occasions.
However‚ the NFVF had come on board after seeing the international attention the film got.
“The NFVF saw the film again at post-production stage, but had no contribution or say in the production process,” Ribeiro said.
“They came on board after we got an invitation to the Sundance Film Festival and they gave us a chunk of change to put their logo on it. We weren’t desperate [for funding from them].”
“The misconception is that we are rich guys exploiting other people’s culture, but the truth is [screenplay writer] Malusi [Bengu] worked free on this film for about four years. I might get paid soon.
“Niza [Jay Ncoyini] cannot really afford six months of rent and food with the salary he earned working really hard on this film. We are still trying to make financial sense of this endeavour.”
He later explained that while 80% of the film’s budget had been raised before the project wrapped up‚ the main creators had had to forgo a salary until the funds could be raised.
“We got funding from international film bodies and from winning awards‚ like at the Venice Film Festival‚ but we really had to make it up as we went along.”
He said the biggest achievement of the project was how it had started dialogue about issues which were previously swept under the carpet.
He also said that 85% of people who attended Oscar pre-screenings of the film had given it the thumbs up and thought it should have been nominated for an Oscar.
The film was shortlisted for a nomination in the Best Foreign Film category ahead of the 2018 Oscar Awards‚ which cost the producers millions to market and campaign.
“Historically‚ for a film like this to make more than a million or two in the box-office is unheard of,” Ribeiro said.
“We basically need a miracle to actually fulfil the prophecy that we are going to be rich off this film.”
“The big question is how do we pay the rent now? And we have been lucky enough to get funding for our next project, which helps a lot.”
The film has courted controversy since the trailer for it was released early last year.
It was criticised by traditional leaders and social media users for its portrayal of the Xhosa initiation ceremony.
One of the film’s writers‚ Thando Mqgolozona‚ said he had been labelled a sell-out by those closest to him for this portrayal.
He said his motivation to make the film had been to show that black men could be more than what society dictated they should be like.
Protesters from the Man and Boy Foundation reportedly staged a sit-in at the Film and Publication Board offices in Centurion this week to demand the film be cancelled or edited.
Ncoyini responded to this action‚ saying that if they had seen the film they might possibly not feel the way they did.