Finalists for loveLife documentaries

In partnership with Born Free Media and SABC and supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund the hopeful filmmakers have used the facilities at Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking in Milpark, Johannesburg over the past two weeks and will return there to edit later this month.

Born Free media executive producer, Carolyn Carew, says the selection process was difficult as there were potentially six other strong ideas. "We wanted to ensure that we had a story per province and that they work in terms of the organisation's communication strategy and target audience for the Make YOUR Move campaign which is designed to encourage behaviour change and ultimately prevent the spread of HIV among young people."

Themes

• A World Within is based on the lives of four young hip hop artists from different backgrounds who have a passion for music. The aim of the documentary is to unleash the interest around the poetry of music, culture and the challenges of the music industry.
• iSitimela is about the experience of using trains in Johannesburg and how the different people and activities on it make it seem like a world in itself.
• Jiva Majiva is about a tavern in a rural village in Limpopo which uses under aged children known as Jika Majika to dance and entertain the patrons in exchange for money and alcohol. This film explores the influence it has on the children and the ensuing lack of focus on their schoolwork and plans for the future, also teenage pregnancies and the high rate of HIV/Aids in the village. The film will concentrate on the children, the community, the tavern owner and patrons, and the royal family who has been unable to control this.
• United Mates of South Africa is a documentary to infuse the diversity of different cultures in South Africa, in this case particularly the Afro Chinese culture. Different ethnic groups, cultural upbringings and backgrounds are respected in South Africa and this will document the rainbow nation as a whole.
• Where is the love? is a documentary about breaking the cycle of teenage pregnancy by involving community leaders and role models. This will be shot in a contemporary way, which intertwines dance, poetry and music throughout the documentary.
• Driving force is about one of the young filmmakers' voyage through life after he was released from jail for robbery. It also looks at the life-long lessons learnt from the traditional circumcision school in the Eastern Cape.