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Lo-Def Film Factory: Open Time – Lo-Def Film Factory

Many TV-watching South Africans remember the glorious hour each evening between 6 and 7pm when regular SABC programming would give way to M-NET’s Open Time – a channel one would otherwise have to pay for. Lo-Def Film Factory’s Open Time project was developed to create a framework for a group of young creatives across Cape Town to experiment with low-budget, lo-fi filmmaking from within their homes and communities. When in-person Digital Storytelling workshops were interrupted by the pandemic, mentorship and collaboration took place entirely over WhatsApp during lockdown. The filmmakers were equipped with basic filmmaking tools, resources, green screens and props to enable them to play with performing, directing, beat-making, voice-over, stop-motion animation and editing. This project is an eclectic collection of video to amuse and confound. Filmed entirely on phones, the work recreates the experience of channel-hopping, spanning the bizarre, the surreal and the chaotic – providing some much-needed ‘open time’ from the grief, fear and panic of the current moment.
Young Filmmakers:
Nathan Nkwamga
Paulina Bisala
Victor Jakara
Gomez Bakwene
Jeremiah Ndala
Lionel Zolo
Peacemore Patsika
Lisa Makumese
Milene Verwey
Nandi Tavares Calburn
Zia Francis
Quincy Vearey
Halo Verwey
Stembiso Sibanda
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Jopolo: Spaceships from pre-colonial Africa – Dilman Dila

Jopolo is an interactive graphic novel that re-imagines ancient African stories about star travel, about people who came from the sky and about those who went up there. It is a non-linear story presented in a series of images and texts, which have links that enable a reader to jump from any point of one story to any point in another story. The root story is of a man whose wife dies, and in grief he sets off for the stars to search for her, but all stories present an image of ancient Africa as one steeped in science and technology. Jopolo borrows from a traditional view point of science, which is inseparable from animist philosophies and so the technologies that humans create to better their lives are those that do not harm the environment or lead to extinction of other life forms.

 

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Jazz & Opera by the Charl du Plessis Trio – Charl du Plessis

Jazz & Opera by the Charl du Plessis Trio is a live recorded performance of standards and opera arias arranged in the signature crossover style of this award-winning jazz trio featuring Werner Spies (bass) and Peter Auret (drums). The project was recorded at Sumo Sound Studios in Johannesburg in June 2020 during level 3 of the National lockdown. Works featured on the programme include famous arias from operas like Tosca, Nabucco and Carmen intertwined with jazz standards like Take the A Train, I Love Paris and Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues. The Charl du Plessis Trio has won two SAMA awards and recorded seven albums. They regularly perform in Europe and Asia and was founded in 2007.

Piano: Charl du Plessis
Bass: Werner Spies
Drums: Peter Auret
Concept & musical arrangements: Charl du Plessis
Recording, mixing & mastering: Peter Auret
Videography & editing: Charl du Plessis & Peter Auret
Piano Technician: Rudolf Strydom for Piano Industry

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Introduction to 3D Animation in Blender – Bokang Koatja

The webinar will start with an introduction to available open source software for animation and visual development. Next will be an overview of the 12 principles of animation followed by a practical animation exercise using Blender 3D.

Credits:

Palamang Animation
Blender.org
Krita.org
Oliver Simonnet Creator of the MT-103 character rig
www.Blendernation.com

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In Limbo – Providences

Dans les Limbes is an inner journey into the Internet, as if there was nothing left but the planetary network, dreaming of itself. It is a philosophical tale, the story of a spirit, voiced by Nancy Huston, who wakes up in the limbo of our interconnected global memory, and meets its strange life, inhabitants, pioneers (Google CEO or Internet founding fathers, like Ray Kurzweil, Gordon Bell, Brewster Kahle, Laurie Frick, Cathal Gurrin, etc).
While drifting into this giant memory, exploring its dreams and fears, she starts chasing the essence of nostalgia. Are we building a new cathedral, for a new civilization, or the biggest cemetery of our history?

Produced, written and directed by Antoine Viviani
Written with Jérémy André, Alain Damasio, Léa Todorov, Bojina Ponayatova
 Voice over: Nancy Huston
 Featuring: Gordon Bell, Cathal Gurrin, Raymond Kurzweil, Kevin Warwick, Paul Miller, Laurie Frieck, Liesl Capper, George Dyson
Editing: Pierre-Alain Giraud, Lucas Archambault
Sound editing and sound mixing: Raphael Hénard, Pierre Bariaud

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Breathing Space – Search For Productions

From the Producers of ‘The Revlon Girl’ comes an all-new, original production starring Natasha Sutherland, Michelle Douglas and newcomer Lauren Urmson. This year, 2020, marks the centenary anniversary of the passing of Olive Schreiner (died 11 Dec 1920), and Breathing Space celebrates the life of this great ‘daughter of South Africa’ through the lens of excerpts of her own writing, mainly through her letters.
Suffering from severe asthma, Olive Schreiner spent much of her life as a ‘wandering Jew’ in the elusive search for a place where she could, literally and figuratively, breathe more easily. She knew all too well the plight of the displaced, the homeless and the outcast. Deeply moved by the suffering of others, this remarkable visionary, mystic, prophet, activist, social and political reformer ‘wrote with her blood’ and fought the fight of the marginalised. Her quest was not merely one of finding personal ‘breathing space’ but one of finding breathing space for all.
Exploring Olive’s life mainly through her correspondence and journals, Breathing Space delves deeper and gives a glimpse into the greater complexities and subtleties of this woman who was ahead of her time.

Cast:
Rebekah Schreiner Natasha Sutherland
Olive Schreiner Michelle Douglas
Young Olive Schreiner Lauren Urmson

Directed by Alan Farber
Theatre Director Michelle Douglas
Written by Michelle Douglas
Director of Photography Justus de Jager
Editor and Sound Bevan Visser
Production Manager/Stage Manager/Art Department Loren Nel
Make up Sigrid Shaw
Make up Assistant / Runner Carmen Gerber
Production Assistant Gavin Joffe

With special thanks to Dave Robinson, Debbie Joffe, Neil and Linda Urmson

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Human Study #1 from a Distance – Ateliers Patrick Tresset

Human Study#1, 3RNP is an installation where the human becomes an actor. In a scene reminiscent of a life drawing class, the human takes the sitter’s role to be sketched by three robots. The machines, minimal stylised artists, are only capable of drawing obsessively. Their bodies are old school desks on which the drawing paper is pinned. The drawing sessions last 20 min, during which time the human cannot see the drawings in progress. The sitter only sees the robots alternating between observing and drawing, sometimes pausing. For the spectators, the sitter is an integral part of the installation.
The robots were initially developed by Tresset to palliate a debilitating painter’s block. Even if the way the robot draws is based on Tresset’s
technique, its style is not a pastiche but rather an interpretation influenced by the robot’s characteristics.
Tresset continually works on the computational system controlling the robot’s drawing behaviour, and for each exhibition, the systems are tuned again until they produce interesting drawings. Using autonomous
robots to draw from observation enables Tresset to further his exploration of the drawing practice.

Credit: Patrick Tresset

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How to Pitch an Animated Show Idea! – Mike Scott

You have an animated show idea but aren’t sure how to go about pitching it? I can help you with that! I’ll take you through the process of putting together a show deck for your animated show idea, along with sharing my own experiences of getting my own show Moosebox picked up by Nickelodeon and onto web and TV. Having helped with putting many show decks together, I’ll explain what some TV and network execs are looking for when they see a new animated show idea, and also suggest some ways you can give you and your show the best chance of success. This is meant to be an interactive experience involving some structure but also questions and answers.

Credits: Mike Scott

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How to create Augmented Reality Artworks the Easy Way – Thuthukani Ndlovu

Thuthukani Ndlovu will be hosting a 1 day workshop which provides a hands-on introduction to Artivive App (the augmented reality tool for artists) and pinpoints the potential of AR as a new way for artists to express and differentiate themselves. Participants will be able to use the tool without any prior technical skills. They will learn how to augment photos, paintings, drawings, graffiti or tattoos as well as learning how videos and 3D objects can be overlaid onto a physical space and viewed through mobile devices. Artists will get the chance to create their own animation and they will be guided as they add an AR layer of animation to bring the artwork to life. Participants should have good access to the internet because the platform that will accommodate their work requires a strong bandwidth. Thuthukani will also share some of the work he has done as a digital artist, as well as curated work featuring AR artworks created by other artists with The Radioactive Blog (eg Giving Poetry Wings). This workshop is ideally for Digital/ visual artists, and participants have to RSVP to receive the workshop schedule and link.

Credit: Artivive