The film, a co-production with Giant Films in New York, was well received by the Jury, who said; ” ‘A movie about courage, the film is beautifully shot, socially relevant and still manages to offer humour as it reveals a growing grassroots political literacy in South Africa’s informal settlements.’ Well done to Dara and Chris….its been a pleasure to work with you guys! 
For more info visit www.dearmandela.com
Fireworx Media is excited to have two films selected for the Good Pitch pitching sessions next week. An innovative pitching forum hosted by P2P, Good Pitch Squared is inspired and supported by the Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation and the Sundance Institute documentary film program. The Event is a unique forum that brings together documentary filmmakers with NGO’s, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues- to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society. Fireworx will be presenting Riaan Hendricks Film, The Devils Lair, and Francois Verster’s Film, The Dream of Shahrazad.
More than 3000 prisoners are released back into South African society every month. Their criminal record denies them the opportunity of finding meaningful employment, thus further reducing chances for rehabilitation.
Many become the bone and marrow of the illicit drug trade, the main source of income for gangs and the root from where most other illegal and violent crime stem. (more…)
Gugu & Andile, the feature, directed by Minky Schlesinger and produced by Luna Films (now Fireworx Media) was selected in competition at FESPACO, won three awards at the AMAA’s (African Movie Academy Awards) and screened at the London African Film Festival. The film has been selected for the Rotterdam Film Festival in February 2010 and will then travel to the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.
SEA POINT DAYS, a feature-length documentary film directed by local Emmy-award winning filmmaker Francois Verster has been selected for the Sterling World Feature Competition at the prestigious SilverDocs Film Festival to be hosted by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel in Washington DC later this month. The film has also been nominated for the festival’s coveted Cinematic Vision Award, and festival programmers have described it as being “amongst the very best the documentary form has to offer”.
The 2009 African Movie Academy Awards hit Nigeria on Saturday 4 April and the cast and crew of uGugu no Andile have returned to South Africa with three winning statues. uGugu was broadcast as a six-part mini-series last year as part of ABC1′s Shakepeare In Mzansi festival and was entered into the AMAAs as a 90-minute feature film.
The Awards honour movies and movie-makers across the continent and uGugu was nominated in 10 of the 24 categories.
Continuing its successful festival run, SEA POINT DAYS, a feature-length documentary film by Emmy award-winning South African filmmaker Francois Verster, won the Best Editor prize at the prestigious DocNZ Film Festival on Wednesday night, which runs at different cities throughout New Zealand during February and March. The film was also a finalist in the Best Cinematography category.
Following its successful world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, SEA POINT DAYS, a feature-length documentary film by Emmy award-winning South African filmmaker Francois Verster, has been selected for screening in the prestigious Joris Ivens competition section at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). It is one of the few South African documentaries ever to receive this honour, and the only South African film in competition at IDFA this year.