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Press Release
October 2007
THREE SAFTA wins for HEARTLINES films
HEARTLINES films scooped three South African Film and Television Awards in Midrand, Gauteng, yesterday. It had been nominated for a total of 10 awards.
HEARTLINES, a film about second chances, won producer Mariki van der Walt (nee Pretorius) and director Angus Gibson the Best Movie for TV Movies award.
The Good Provider, a film around parental responsibility, received great honours too.
Patrick Mofokeng, who played conflicted father Solomon Sithole in the movie walked off with the Best Actor in a TV Drama award, while Megan Gill won Best Editor in a TV Drama for her work on the movie.
The HEARTLINES series of eight films about values was produced by Curious Pictures and broadcast on all SABC television channels over eight weeks last year. The films sparked a nationwide discussion about values. They have received critical acclaim and have won many international awards.
“A great deal of hard work went into the creation of the HEARTLINES series. We applaud Curious Pictures, the producers, for their commitment to this project and their excellence,” said HEARTLINES CEO Derek Muller.
“HEARTLINES congratulates Curious Pictures and all those involved with the films on all of their achievements and especially now, on these latest awards.
“This series and the national discussion it generated last year proves that society places a high premium on positive values. It is therefore fitting that the films have been recognised by their peers as among the best South Africa has to offer.
“We would also like to especially thank the SABC for its partnership with HEARTLINES on this critical project,” he added.
Other SAFTA nominations were:
Best TV Drama – The Good Provider
Best Director in a TV Drama – Barry Berk for The Good Provider
Best Actress in a TV Drama – Nthathi Moshesh in The Good Provider
Best Sound Designer in a TV Drama – Vulie van den Berg and Jim Petrak for The Good Provider
Best Cinematographer in a TV Drama – Mike Downie for The Good Provider
Best Writer/Writing Team in a TV Drama – Michelle Rowe and Jacqui L’Ange for The Good Provider
Best Hair and Makeup in a TV Drama – Lucy Ngwira for The Good Provider
HEARTLINES tackles South Africa’s key social issues – such as the HIV&AIDS epidemic, crime, violence and the breakdown of family and social structures – by using the mass media to drive national discussion on values and inspire action to live out, rather than pay lip service to the values they process.
The films are being rebroadcast on SABC2 from October 16, 2007. Heartlines, the film, is being rebroadcast in two parts on December 4 and 11.
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF HEARTLINES
For more information on HEARTLINES or interviews,
Contact HEARTLINES Executive Manager: Media Programmes, Zama Mkosi on 0834070052
OR
Ruth Molopyane at 011-341 0767 or 0846896676
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Press Release
October 2007
Re-screening of award-winning HEARTLINES films on SABC 2
The 8-part film series that generated a national conversation on positive values last year will be re-screened at prime time from 16 October at 19.30 on SABC 2. The multi-lingual films that touched the heart of all South Africans have garnered both national and international acclaim.
Winning a prestigious Canadian 2007 BANFF World Television Award for the film “The Good Provider”; a Special Recognition Award for the series at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, plus awards for the feature film ‘HEARTLINES’ from America, Japan and Mexico, has firmly cemented the winning partnership between producers Curious Pictures and HEARTLINES/The Mass Media Project.
In the soon to be held local 2007 SAFTA Awards “The Good Provider” - the heart-wrenching story of a father who is retrenched and is too ashamed to face his family – has received 9 nominations. The feature film ‘HEARTLINES’ has been nominated as best film in the feature film category.
Viewership of the 2006 screening doubled from the first film to the last, indicating that as word spread, more and more people were drawn to the films. SABC and HEARTLINES received several requests for a rebroadcast of the series, and many people have bought the DVD sets for re-screening at home and in group settings.
Against the backdrop of a South Africa in which the high levels of crime and HIV&AIDS continue to impede its progress, the aim of the HEARTLINES project is to engender hope. Recognising that all people of goodwill share the same universal values, HEARTLINES has set out on a journey that will hopefully culminate in people not only paying lip service to such values, but having the courage to LIVE them.
If all South Africans lived out values such as compassion, self-control, responsibility, forgiveness, acceptance, perseverance and grace (second-chances), the rationale is that the historically practised African culture of ‘ubuntu’ would be re-energised and change the landscape. This in turn would facilitate the kind of behaviour that appears to have been sacrificed at the altar of materialism and self.
A variety of state-of-the-art resources such as values discussion guides accompanied by shortened versions of the 8 films on DVD have been developed to be used in communities and institutions. Encouraging the community to live out values, programmes are in progress for schools, government, business, correctional services and youth. Also in the pipe-line for television are films dealing with crime, poverty and HIV&AIDS as well as 60-second inspirational values adverts and a regular HEARTLINES Minute reflecting positive news.
Don’t miss the re-broadcast of the award-winning HEARTLINES films
from 16 October on SABC 2 at 19.30 every Tuesday.
16 October: The Miners (Acceptance)
23 October: The Good Provider (Responsibility)
30 October: Crossroads (Forgiveness)
06 November: The Bet (Self-control)
13 November: The Good Fight (Perseverance)
20 November: The Piano (Honesty)
27 November: The Other Woman (Compassion)
04 December: HEARTLINES the feature film (first half)
11 December: HEARTLINES (second half)
For information on the re-screening of the series contact the HEARTLINES office at 011 771 2540.
To order resources call 0861 44 22 88, orders@heartlines.org.za
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Press Release
August 2007
HEARTLINES captures cinematic attention in Japan, winning the Special Jury Award.
The HD feature film ‘HEARTLINES’, which forms part of the widely successful national series HEARTLINES aired on SABC during 2006, has won the Special Jury Sony Digital Cinema Award at the 4th annual SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL Digital-Cinema Festival, taking place in Japan’s Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture on July 14th through July 22nd, 2007.
The SKIP-CITY Festival is an international competition focusing on the most cutting edge contributors in Digital Cinema (D-Cinema) throughout the world. Uniquely combining movie entertainment and cinema creations from all digital technologies from around the world.
HEARTLINES feature film was selected from 433 submissions from 69 countries and regions to be included among the 12 selected nominees of the international feature length competition section. HEARTLINES was prestigiously awarded the honor of SPECIAL JURY PRIZE by the SKIP CITY festival’s panel of international film jurors.
Film Director, Angus Gibson attended the SKIP CITY Festival in Japan and was honored with the SPECIAL JURY PRIZE/ Sony Digital Cinema Award by the Festival’s International Jurors Panel including; Mabel Cheung (Director, Hong Kong), Coleman Hough (Writer, USA), Peter van Bueren (Film Critic, The Netherlands) and Akira Morishige (Producer, Japan). Mr. Gibson accepted a certificate and trophy from festival organizers and was awarded 1,000,000 yen by Festival Sponsors Sony and Sony Marketing.
HEARTLINES has received acknowledgements at various international festivals in 2006 including; Goteburg Film Festival in Sweden, Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles, FESPACO in Burkina Faso, New Orleans Int. Human Rights Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, African Film Festival in New York, WORLDFEST in Houston winning a Remi Creative Award and was awarded the Best South African Feature at the Durban Film Festival.
The original HEARTLINES Series was a collaboration between Curious Pictures and the Mass Media Project, SABC and FNB.
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Press Release
5 July 2007
HEARTLINES/The Mass Media Project scoops a prestigious international award at the 2007 Banff World Television Awards in Canada.
The Good Provider, an episode in the HEARTLINES series, was awarded a prestigious “Rockie” in the Best Family and Youth Program category at the closing ceremony of the 28th Banff World Television Awards.
Produced by Curious Pictures, and directed by Barry Berk, The Good Provider was competing against an international selection of programmes from Britain, USA and South Korea; including the groundbreaking gay teen series South of Nowhere and the controversial US documentary Ithutheng: Never Stop Learning. The Good Provider was one of only four South African finalists selected for competition. .
The Banff World Television Awards were created to honour excellence in international television. Since their inception 28 years ago, the awards have grown in standing, and today the Festival is recognized as one of the most important international industry events of the year. Over 800 international programme entries, from 38 countries were submitted for competition. This extraordinary number of entries, along with the reputable make-up of the Awards jury, makes the Banff World Television Awards among the most valuable recognitions within the global television community. Given the sheer numbers of entries to the festival, and the quality of submissions, it is a remarkable achievement to secure a “Rockie.”
The Good Provider was screened locally on SABC as part of the critically acclaimed HEARTLINES series. The Good Provider tells the story of Solomon, a proud father who loses his job, but is too ashamed to tell his family. Solomon leaves his home to seek work as a manual labourer, but his absence leads his son to spiral into delinquency. The film is ultimately a tale of redemption as Solomon learns that a father’s responsibility is not only to provide money, but also love and support.
The victory at Banff is not the only accolade bestowed on the series. The HEARTLINES series has been well-received at international festivals, and has already received international recognition. The HEARTLINES feature film, screened as the final episode of the series, was accepted for screening at a number of important international film festivals, including Sithengi (South Africa), The Gothenburg International Film festival (Sweden), The Pan African Film Festival (Los Angeles) and FESPACO (Burkina Faso). In May 2007 HEARTLINES was awarded the “Best Fiction Film Award” at the New Orleans Human Rights Festival, as well as a “World Fest Award.” The HEARTLINES feature film was also nominated for a Banff World Television Award in the “Made for Television Movie” category.
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Press Release
31 May 2007
Prestigious award for HEARTLINES Series.
L – R: Buhle Dlamini, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Garth Japhet
The Andrew Murray – Desmond Tutu Prize for the Best Picture and Sound Production was awarded to Executive Director Dr Garth Japhet and the HEARTLINES team at an exclusive ceremony in the Boland town of Wellington, Cape on May 31.
This local, public recognition of the 8 films that were broadcast on all SABC channels last year that were accompanied by a national conversation on values, has been affirmed by the accolades received from all segments of society.
“On the assumption that the promotion of values, using God as the authority base is the most effective way to deal with major social problems, you contributed significantly to nation building and transformation in South Africa.” – from the citation that accompanied the trophy.
In what previously has been confined to Afrikaans theological publications since the Andrew Murray Prize was first awarded in 1979, the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize was instituted this year in the new categories of English Literature and Film Production.
“The historical symbolism of a prize named after two such distinguished theologians as Dr Andrew Murray and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is truly inspiring and HEARTLINES is privileged to be the first recipient in this inaugural category.” said
Dr Japhet
Other recipients in the new English category were Prof Wentzel van Huysteen for his book “Alone in the world? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology” and Prof Cornel du Toit for his article “Secular Spirituality versus Secular Dualism: Towards post-secular holism as a model for a natural theology”.
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Press Release
March 2007
Curious Pictures feature film “HEARTLINES” accepted to screen at five international film festivals on three continents.
Curious Pictures, producers of SAFTA award winning dramas Hard Copy and Tsha Tsha, are making international inroads with the 2006 feature film, HEARTLINES.
HEARTLINES, the feature film first screened at Sithengi Capetown Film Festival in November 2006 and has since has been accepted to five international film festivals on three continents worldwide, Europe, Africa and North America.
HEARTLINES screened early this year in Europe at the Goteburg International Film Festival in Sweden. Göteborg International Film Festival is the biggest public film festival in Scandinavia. Each year, some 450 films from 60 countries are screened for 115 000 visitors.
In February, HEARTLINES screened at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, California. This year Golden Globe winner Forest Whitaker was the celebrity host for the opening of the festival and with an attendance of over 200,000 people, the Pan African Film Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious Black film festivals in North America, screening over 150 films made by or about people of African descent from the U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the South Pacific, Europe and Canada.
Additionally in the month of February, HEARTLINES screened at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso. This biennial film festival founded in 1969 is a competition of exclusively African films.
The latest additions to the HEARTLINES international screening invitations come from the United States and include the Atlanta Film Festival and the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, both festivals will screen HEARTLINES in the month of April.
HEARTLINES, was the final episode in the widely popular HEARTLINES series on SABC. It is a film about second chances, directed by Angus Gibson, produced by Mariki Pretorius and featuring actors Mpho Joseph Molepo, S’thandiwe Kgoroge, Mbongeni Ngema and new comer Mduduzi Mabaso.
The Heartlines initiative is a partnership between the Mass Media Project, The SABC and FNB.
Additional high-resolution photos upon request
For further information please contact:
Curious Pictures
curious@curious.co.za
www.curious.co.za
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