Genre: Commissioned Documentary for Al Jazeera
Egypt, 2011, (1 x 26)
Directed by Francois Verster
Produced by Neil Brand & Shameela Seedat
Status: completed with various broadcasts on AJE
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/artscape/2011/06/201161915345231307.html
Abeer Soliman is a charismatic public storyteller, recasting the classic tales of One Thousand and One Nights to reflect modern-day Egypt and to explicitly push for change. (more…)
Genre: Feature Documentary
South Africa, 2008, (1 x 90′)
Directed by Francois Verster
Produced by Francois Verster, Lucinda Englehardt and Neil Brandt
Status: Completed, various international broadcasts
www.seapointdays.co.za
For European Sales contact www.mercurymedia.org
After his previous documentaries When the War Is Over (about two former fighters against apartheid) and The Mothers’ House (about three generations of women in a township of Cape Town), South African director François Verster turns his focus to the Sea Point suburb of Cape Town. (more…)
Genre: Feature Documentary
South Africa, 2007, (1 x 52′ / 1 x 72′)
Created by Ruth Cowan, Directed by Jane Lipman
Produced by Neil Brandt and Bridget Pickering
Status: completed and broadcast
From tyranny to democracy. Fourteen years after the defeat of apartheid, South Africa’s fledgling democracy is acclaimed for its constitutional promise of comprehensive human rights and unprecedented judicial reform. (more…)
Documentary, South Africa, 2005
Directed by Bridget Pickering
Status: completed
Dreams of a Good life is a film of laughter, fear and the solace of sharing. Five women talk about life, love and how their dreams for the future have changed since finding out they are HIV positive. The women now examine their relationships with men more openly than ever before.
Documentary, 2008
Directed by Francois Verster
Status: completed
Commissioned for Al Jazeera English and broadcast
in 2009
Abel Selaocoe (16) hails from a poor township called Sebokeng near Johannesburg, South Africa. His mother is a domestic worker and many of his family members are unemployed. A few years ago he started playing the violincello, and quickly rose to be one of the country’s top young classical musicians, thereby challenging stereotypes in an environment where such music is often still seen as a “Western import” inimical to indigenous black culture…
Experimental, South Africa/Italy, 2005
Directed by Dan Jawitz and Alberto Iannuzzi
Status: completed
Images of South Africa, its nature, people and cities, without comment, edited to an hypnotic score, GLIMPSE draws a unique portrait of the people and landscape of South Africa at the tail end of it’s first decade of freedom. Short and long shots, slowed down and accelerated, close-ups and vistas; collectively, they give a kaleidoscopic impression of this country, more than a decade after the end of Apartheid.
Documentary, South Africa, 2006,
Directed by Francois Verster
Status: completed
Worldwide Distribution contact http://www.doc-co.com/
African Distribution contact
loreley@fireworxmedia.co.za
Documentary, South Africa, 2008,
Directed by Danny Turken
Status: completed
Produced as part of the Filmmakers-Against-Racism Collective
http://filmmakers-against-racism.blogspot.com/
Cutline: A gripping insight into the frustrated reality of life in Alexander Township, filmed in the months preceding the outbreak of xenophobic violence in May 2008.
Documentary, South Africa, 2008,
Directed by Richard Pakleppa
Status: completed
Distributed by http://www.firsthandfilms.com/
Angola Saudades is a people’s story told from the street up, one which through the eyes of 5 engaging individuals living in a contradictory world, captures a unique moment in Angola’s history, a country just coming to terms with the reality of peace after nearly three decades of civil war.
Documentary, South Africa, 2006
Directed by Portia Rankoane
Status: completed
For Broadcast & DVD Sales contact: loreley@fireworxmedia.co.za
“Tsietsi, My Hero” is the tragic life story of Tsietsi Mashinini, the unsung hero of the ’76 Soweto student uprisings that brought Soweto to a standstill and launched the final 18-year phase that led to the end of apartheid. (more…)
Documentary, South Africa, 2002,
Directed by Francois Verster
Co-produced with Rapid Blue, ICE Media, IDC and the BBC
Status: completed
Winner of a 2006 Emmy for “Outstanding Artistic and Cultural Achievement”
Broadcast sales agent: See First Hand Films. http://www.firsthandfilms.com
Documentary, 2009
Directed by Bridget Pickering
Status: Completed
Commissioned by Transparent Productions, Spain
In a world where individualism has become the religion, there are very few people who believe in making a difference to other people’s lives, in changing their world. Phuti Ragophala is the principal of a tiny primary school (about 100 students) about 400km from the big lights of Johannesburg. (more…)