#OnTheBigScreen: Art, Euro Film Festival and Kerkorrel

Johnny is nie dood nie

It's 2002 and four friends are having a braai on the Sunday after Johannes Kerkorrel's suicide. They reminisce about their days as students in Stellenbosch during the time of the Voëlvry tour in the late 80's. They were young, drunken rebels saturated in the protest music of Kerkorrel, Koos Kombuis and Bernoldus Niemand. Now, they have become disillusioned suburbanites. The death of their varsity friend, Johnny remains a mystery and still haunts all four of them, even after all these years.

Johnny is nie dood nie examines the impact of the Voëlvry movement on the personal and political development of a generation of Afrikaners, as well as the havoc the Bush War inflicted on the lives of thousands of young army conscripts.

The Voëlvry (Outlawed) Movement was a group of South African musicians who rebelled against the autocratic dictates of the apartheid government and allied themselves around the group called the “Reformed Blues Band” (GBB) a deliberate reference to the Reformed Church.

The film project was initiated in 2015 after acclaimed theatre director, Christiaan Olwagen completed playwright Malan Steyn’s efforts of adapting the theatre script (Eat Everything, referring to the GBB album, Eet Kreef, written in 2003) to a screenplay. The film is already seen as a breakthrough in South African cinema and would appeal to an international audience because of its generational theme. All over the world a younger generation of artists will try and make sense of “the sins of their fathers” to understand the world they live in.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Picking up where Guardians of the Galaxy – 2014’s highest grossing film of the summer – left off, Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the action-packed, irreverent, epic space adventures of Peter Quill aka Star-Lord and his gang of eccentric characters as they patrol and protect the universe, doing mercenary work in the wake of the popularity and fame they garnered from saving Xandar.

Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, the story follows the team as they fight to keep their newfound family together while traversing the outer reaches of the cosmos to unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favourite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.

Written and directed by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Dead): “It was truly gratifying and fulfilling that the Guardians’ characters spoke so profoundly to so many people all over the world,” says Gunn. “At the core of the film, the Guardians are a group of outsiders who come together and find a way to make it work. I think that’s what speaks to such a wide array of people. It’s a great feeling when kids come up and say they loved the film and that their parents and grandparents loved it as well. These characters were able to connect to all generations around the world from Thailand to South America to London.”

Rules Don’t Apply

An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty) for whom they work. It’s Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen, songwriter, and devout Baptist virgin, Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist.

Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes’ #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes’ behaviour intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.

The unconventional comedy offers a window into the often surreal realm of Howard Hughes, the billionaire movie mogul, famed aviator and legendary eccentric – who was both a rule-maker for many young stars and a rule-breaker - challenging the industry’s social mores and restrictive moral code. Elements from the real Hughes’ life are woven into a fictional comic tale that explores the changing landscape for women, the meaning of love and the transformative power of redemption and family.

Writer-director Warren Beatty, who admits to a long-time amusement with Hughes, says: “He could do whatever he wanted to do but there was a certain level of Puritanism that he never quite kicked,” but devised a story that utilized Hughes’ mystery and impact while avoiding a telling of the tycoon’s life. “I didn’t write a biopic of Howard Hughes at all,” says Beatty. “This is more a love story of two young people in 1958 who happen to be working for Hughes – a love story that explores the sometimes comical and sometimes sad consequences of American puritanism in the late 50s and early 60s when I first came to Hollywood.”

The Salesman

This characteristically taut drama explores how unexpected cracks can form in the foundations of a seemingly happy marriage.

In The Salesman, the future looks promising for amateur actors Emad (Shahab Hosseini), a teacher, and his wife Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), as they prepare for opening night on their production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. However, when dangerous work on a neighbouring building forces the couple to leave their home and move into a new apartment, a case of mistaken identity sees a shocking and violent incident throw their lives into turmoil.

What follows is a series of wrong turns that creates a simmering tension between husband and wife that threatens to destroy their relationship irreparably.

Farhadi’s study on the potent power of pride, guilt and shame treads the line between arresting drama and revenge thriller with masterful ease.

Iranian-French drama film directed by Asghar Farhadi. A high school teacher (Shahab Hosseini) seeks revenge against the perpetrator who attacked his wife (Taraneh Alidoosti) in their apartment. The young couple play the lead roles in a local rendition of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Meanwhile, their personal relationship takes a hit after moving into a house that was previously inhabited by a woman who allegedly pursued a career in prostitution.

Directed by Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, in addition to awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. This is the second Academy Award win for Farhadi, who won it previously for A Separation in 2012.

The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch

The next art documentary in the Exhibition on Screen season uncovers the fascinating world of medieval Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch. After 500 years, Bosch’s paintings still shock and fascinate us, and this Exhibition on Screen documentary delves into the vivid imagination of this true visionary. Who was Hieronymus Bosch? Why do his strange and fantastical paintings resonate with people now more than ever? How does he bridge the medieval and Renaissance worlds? Where did his unconventional and timeless creations come from? The answers to all these questions and so much more, will be revealed in this remarkable new film from Exhibition on Screen, directed by David Bickerstaff.

The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch features the exhibition Jheronimus Bosch – Visions of Genius at Het Noordbrabants Museum in the southern Netherlands – the largest ever Bosch retrospective, with 36 of his 44 surviving masterpieces on display. This amazing exhibition, which brought the majority of Bosch’s paintings and drawings together for the first time to his home town of Den Bosch, attracted almost half a million art lovers from across the world – and museum’s opening hours extended to 1am on days to accommodate the phenomenal demand.

Accompanied by expert insights from the exhibition’s curators and leading cultural critics, the film delves into Bosch’s fascinating life and explores the details and stories within his works – including close-up views of the curiosities hidden within his brimming canvases, from cannibalistic clergymen to three-headed birds – as never before seen.

The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch releases on Saturday, 06 May for four screenings only: 06, 10 and 11 May at 19:30, and on 07 May at 14:30 – at Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg, Brooklyn Nouveau in Pretoria, Ster-Kinekor Gateway Nouveau in Durban and at V&A Nouveau in Cape Town. Bookings are now open, and the running time of this production is 100 minutes.

Love By Chance

A film about two aspiring actors from South Africa who are independently chasing their dreams in the US, trying to break into an extremely difficult and over saturated Hollywood industry. They meet by chance in Atlanta, Georgia, the ‘Hollywood of the South’, aka ‘Hotlanta’, but between the everyday struggle of auditioning, dealing with daily rejection, self-doubt, financial hardship, crazy friends and a mad dating scene, there is little time for love.

The film is produced by Atlanta-based, independent and experienced producer Ty Johnston-Chavis, co-producer Errol Sadler, associate producer Cristina Davis, line producer James Few, and producer Davis, along with the South African producers behind the hit romcom ‘Mrs Right Guy’, Dumi Gumbi and Catharina Weinek.

The strong male cast includes Lawrence’s co-competitor Nicholas Nkuna, and US co-stars, Clifton Powell, of Ray, Rush Hour and Grand Theft Auto; and E. Roger Mitchell who co-starred alongside Denzel Washington in Flight and Equalizer. South African actors Atandwa Kani, Altovise Lawrence, Nicholas Nkuna and Denise Ziman star in this new comedy directed by US based Samad Davis.

Director Davis describes Love by Chance as a pioneering film because it brings together US and South African talent and bridges cultural and continental divides against the backdrop of a comedy.

“As an African-American, I am fuelled by my vision of bridging cultural gaps between Africa and the United States through the power of film and television,” says director Samad Davis. “The Top Actor Africa brand was built on this premise and the film Love by Chance embodies that mantra. Being able to work with the right South African and international talent, both in front of and behind the camera, is priceless.”

The European Film Festival

The European Film Festival is back for the 4th time at Ster-Kinekor’s Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban from 5 to 14 May.

The line-up of films represents 12 countries, including Ireland and Croatia for the first time. Each film reflects the skills and take on the world of filmmakers who are not limited by national borders.

The 2017 selection is a mixed pot in terms of film themes which span from animal rights to family dynamics. Dramas and documentaries, comedies, tales of grief and a children’s adventure sit side by side on this eclectic and exciting programme.

Click here to read more about the festival.

For more information on the latest releases and standing a chance of winning a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie hamper, click www.writingstudio.co.za here