Sudhir Nandgaonkar, artistic director of the International Film Festival of Mumbai comment, “We are very excited to have the films of Anant Singh and Videovision Entertainment participate in our festival. The focus on these films strengthens the ties between South Africa and India, especially in the year that we celebrate 100 years of Satyagraha, the doctrine of Mahatma Gandhi which was born in South Africa.”
The retrospective will be launched with a screening of Sarafina! at a gala event on Saturday 10 March at the Chavan Centre in South Mumbai, with high profile personalities of the Indian film industry to be in attendance.
The Videovision films selected for the Festival span a period of than more 20 years. The Stick and Sarafina! were made during the apartheid years, while Cry, The Beloved Country was the first SA film to be made in post-apartheid SA. The Afrikaans Paljaswas SA’s first film to be submitted for Academy Award consideration while The Long Run is against the backdrop of the gruelling Comrades Marathon.
Red Dust is a multi-award winning film that explores the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was set-up to heal the wounds of apartheid and Yesterday, which received SA’s first ever Oscar nomination, was the first commercial isiZulu film which dealt with the HIV/AIDS pandemic facing Africa.
Producer Anant Singh comments, “I am honoured that the Mumbai Film Festival has recognised us with a retrospective of our films. This acknowledgement is of special significance to me as a South African filmmaker of Indian origin and it is also an accolade that is shared with the thousands of people that have worked on all these films as it recognises their exceptional talents. I am delighted that the Festival has selected The Stick which was produced during the apartheid regime and was banned by the authorities.”
While in India, Singh will be making an announcement about co-productions planned with Indian film production companies, including the sequel to the hit comedy Mr Bones, which will be shot in India.
