In celebration of the start of this years Festival Du Cannes, The Bioscope has put together a special selection of trailers and clips from some of this year’s competition films. The evening will also include a selection of short films by some of the award winning directors premiering their films this year.

From local film Taking Back The Waves (Nic Hofmeyr), to some rare classics, Surf Cinema is one of best curations to date. We have even gone so far as to include a surfing film from Johannesburg with Surfing Soweto, the previous film by Otelo Burning director Sara Blecher which delves deep into the dangerous life of train surfing.

BUY TICKETS for SURFING SOWETO screening Sat 19th 7:30pm.

SURFING SOWETO

Over the course of 3 years the lives of three of the most notorious train surfers in Soweto: Bitch Nigga, Lefa and Mzembe were documented on camera. They were followed on to the top of trains hurtling through Soweto, into the heroin dens of Hilbrow, and jails with names like Sun City – all in the hope of understanding their frustrations and documenting the lives of the new generation of youth in Soweto.

Surfing Soweto is the story of this forgotten generation. Born too long after the demise of apartheid to have anything worth fighting for, but, at the same time, they are also born not long enough after it to reap any of the benefits of freedom. Much as train surfing is an articulation of their impotence and frustrations – so is the Film. By making SURFING SOWETO they hoped to give a voice to the unemployed and unemployable youth of Soweto. The people for whom the future holds little hope

BUY TICKETS for THE AFRICA PROJECT, screening Sun 20th May 5pm.

THE AFRICA PROJECT

The Africa Project is a film by Cape Town based filmmaker Jason Hearn. Jason was the Producer , Director and DOP of The Africa Film Project which started early 2009. The Africa Project is a surf film showcasing the best that this continent has to offer – its surfers, its waves, its people, it’s cultures and its places. 2 years may seem long to shoot a surf film, but according to Jason, theres no rush in Africa .Quality takes time. Enjoy.

Off-beat lo-fi folkster Tape Hiss and Sparkle is up in Joburg for one night only, joined with visual artist and singer songwriter Givan Lötz.

BUY TICKETS TO THE BIOSCOPE’S FIRST SCREENING OF THE FILM. 11th May. 9pm. R40

BUY TICKETS TO THE FIRST SCREENING OF SURFING SOWETO. 19th May. 7:30pm. R40, R50 for DOUBLE BILL ticket with Otelo Burning at 9pm.

It is 1989 and the struggle against apartheid has reached its peak. The story starts when 16 year old Otelo Buthelezi, his younger brother Ntwe and his best friend New Year are invited to the beach-house where their new friend’s mother is a domestic worker.

They watch Mandla Modise surf and he takes the boys into a world previously closed to them. It is exactly the opposite of the township where they live – a place under a constant and growing threat from political violence fuelled by Inkatha hostel dwellers on one side, and United Democratic Front comrades on the other. For the boys, who previously had a deep-seated fear of the sea, “flying on water” comes to represent freedom, and they are sold.

Soon, everyone recognises that Otelo is truly gifted on the water, a surfing star in the making. An older white man, Kurt Struely, approaches the boys, certain of their potential. He invites them to his home to watch some professional surfers on video. He also paints an enticing picture of the life they could have if they learn to master the waves. With practice, Otelo soon outshines his friend, Mandla, whose resentment builds even more when Dezi, New Year’s younger sister, falls for Otelo.

As the boys begin to win competitions, Mandla’s jealousy grows and eventually he betrays his friend. In exchange for money for a new surfboard, he sells Otelo’s brother out as a suspected informer for the apartheid security police.

When Otelo discovers the truth behind his younger brother’s death, he has to make a choice between the money, glamour, girls and superstardom of international surfing and justice for Ntwe. On the day Nelson Mandela steps out of prison for the first time in 27 years, the young boy makes a choice that will change his life forever.

Otelo Burning is the opening film for the 32nd Durban International Film Festival. The film is directed by Sara Blecher and is in Zulu with English subtitles. It stars Jafta Mamabolo (Generations), Thomas Gumede (A Place Called Home), and Tshepang Mohlomi (Izulu Lami).

DISCOVER GREAT NEW MUSIC

This month features LA.VI from Cape Town, and David Baudains.

Far Away Place [official] from LAVI on Vimeo.

The Bioscope has always strived to be the live music venue that offers public the chance to see new and exciting musicians and live acts, in an intimate setting in often never to be repeated live performances. The Bioscope Band Stand sees between 2 or 3 acts from Johannesburg and touring artists performing short sets, all intricate, all beautiful in some kind of way, and all deserving of your attention.

‘Rob van Vuuren – Live’ is the latest award winning stand-up comedy show written and performed by Rob van Vuuren who was, in 2011, once again identified by the Mail and Guardian as one of the 200 young South Africans you should take out to lunch. So yes he will accept free lunches.

2011 also saw Rob awarded the Breakthough Act Award at the inaugural Comics Choice Awards. Following the runaway success of the premiere of ‘Rob van Vuuren – Live!’ at the National Arts Festival the show walked away with the coveted Standard Bank Ovation Award for Comedy. Unfortunately there was no free lunch.

“Rob van Vuuren-Live!” is an irreverent, honest and above all sidesplittingly funny perspective on many of Rob’s favorite subjects which range from dogs, flies, and Jehovah’s Witnesses to becoming a dad, adoption and giant mutant toenails.

This is a rare opportunity for Joburg audiences to watch the guy who shot to fame as the short half of the cult comedy duo Corne and Twakkie of the Most Amazing Show, (as well as the co-host of Crazy Games and SA’s Got Talent and the ou who Shucksed Shuster) do what he does best…make you laugh. For one night only on Friday the 4th of May Rob van Vuuren – Live will be on at The Bioscope.

Show starts at 7:30pm and tickets are R80

We regret there will be no free lunches.

What the critics have said:

“Comic Genius” Mail and Guardian “…engaging and very, very funny. ..a dynamic and winning storyteller. ..hilarious and touching… improvisational genius…warm, real, engaging and hysterically funny.” Natal Witness

“If Comedy had a God, Van Vuuren would be it” Cue

“That last one’s a bit much.” Rob van Vuuren

BUY TICKETS FOR THE SPECIAL SCREENING OF MAMA AFRICA. 3 MAY. 7:30PM. R10

THE GATA LE NNA FILM PROGRAM

‘Gata le nna’ in Setswana means ‘walk with me’. The saying is also the title of a popular song by the much loved South African hip hop artist JR. The film programme Gata le nna, Walk with me is part of the Shoe Shop project, which addresses issues of physicality and movement in public space, varying from the very basic notion of being on foot and walking to more complex questions of territorial segregation, mobility and migration within Africa and more specifically in South Africa.

‘Films that lead us to reflect on walking, even when there is not much of it, are often films that attempt to wrest a picture from reality and are not already subservient to the norms of its media representation, its invention or domestication.’ (Annett Busch, “The open field”, Shoe Shop 2012, 35-43)

The films selected for Gata le nna invite the audience to go on a journey with us, as we try to navigate the complexities of movement. Joan and Marie-Hélène (Curators)

For further information please visit www.shoeshopproject.co.za

The Open field: Walking backwards while walking forward Shoe Shop film workshop, Bioscope, 7 to 10 May 2012

The objectless enjoyment of walking could start when necessity ends, or it could begin amidst daily necessary walks just because the awareness of the everyday occurrence is changing all of a sudden. The pure possibility of walking can also be an ultimate escape strategy for somebody who is doomed to wait: “better you die on your feet” (Arlit, deuxième Paris by Idrissou Mora Kpai, 2005). To go for a long walk, to desert, can imply refusal and resistance against order in its broadest sense. Walking around in an area where walkers are not intended and undesired can make a pedestrian easily a prime suspect.

To show somebody walking in the context of film, from tip to toe, means to open the angle, to focus a figure in its whole and is driven by other interests and ethics then a medium-shot or close-up. The notion of walking in film is more often present in its absence, seldom expressed explicitly and should work here as a matrix of differentiation. The walk itself, the composure of walking, the iteration can contain a complex narrative and research which needs strategies to making it visible and is nevertheless all a matter of surface. To show somebody walking across Johannesburg can imply telling a story of the city itself.

During the three days workshop we will experience and work on possible narratives of walking in the urban context. Together with the filmmakers Andy Amadi Okoroafor, Khalo Matabane and Idrissou Mora-Kpai we’ll do walks and shootings and want to produce a short film on city-walks. We will screen films and film excerpts, discuss and reflect while walking.

Guests are Idrissou Mora-Kpai (Ithaca), Khalo Matabane (Jb) and Andy Amadi Okoroafor (Paris) Head of the worshop is Annett Busch (Brussels)

Preliminary Programme

7 May 5 p.m.

Wellcome and film screening of Too early, too late by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1981, 100’ English subtitles (16mm)

8 May

Morning and afternoon workshop sessions and walks

7.30 p.m. Indochina, traces of a mother by Idrissou Mora-Kpai, Benin/France/Vietnam 2010, 71’, English subtitles

9 May

Morning and afternoon workshop sessions and walks

7.30 p.m. Relentless by Andy Amadi Okoroafor, Germany/France/Nigeria 2010, 95’

10 May

Morning and afternoon workshop sessions and walks

7.30 p.m. Conversations on a Sunday afternoon by Khalo Matabane, SA 2005, 80’

Idrissou Mora-Kpai was born in Benin in 1967 Idrissou received his training in documentary and fiction filmmaking at the Babelsberg Film and Television School (Germany). In 1999, he moved to Paris, where he, together with Jeanette Jouili, set up mkj films, a production company principally devoted to documentary film. Idrissou’s films have been seen throughout the world and have received international prizes and awards. 1994 Model (short); 1995 Lettre Video (short); 1994 Ausländer (Foreigner), 9’; 1996 Fugace , 11’; 1999 Fake Soldiers Fiction), 24’; 2002 Si-Gueriki, The Queen Mother, 62’; 2006 Arlit, deuxième Paris, 78’; 2010 Indochina, traces of a mother, 71’.

Andy Amadi Okoroafor was born in Bauchi, Northern Nigeria in 1966. He pursued his education and a successful creative career in Paris. He is returning to Nigeria to fulfill his lifelong ambition of making films about contemporary Africa for a world audience. He is an acclaimed Art Director in advertising, fashion and music videos based in Paris. His clients have included Xuly- Bët, Jean Paul Gaultier, Kookaï, Virgin, Galeries La Fayette, to name a few. 1993 TV documentary on Xuly-Bët (African foremost fashion designer in Paris); 1999 launched Clam Magazine – quarterly magazine focusing on African creativity – distributed in France, Africa, US, UK, Japan, South Africa, Germany; 2000/2004 Art Director for Virgin Record France – Director of Imaging (Projects include: Francoise Hardy, Julien Clerc, Les Nubians, Nile Rodgers, Cheb Mami and many more) + Directed Music Videos; Relentless (2010) is his first feature length fiction film.

Khalo Matabane was born in 1974 in Limpopo village, South Africa. He has made many documentary films. Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon is the first chapter of a trilogy based on improvisation, shot in digital video (HDcam). Apart from dedicating his time as a director, he occasionally writes about cinema and politics. He has directed more than ten documentaries, a number of short and two feature films about South African issues, including the shorts Poetic Conversations (1996) and Love in a Time of Sickness (2001), as well as the documentaries Two Decades Still (1996), The Waiters (1997), Young Lions (1999) and Story of a Beautiful Country (2004). He was also awarded for his film Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005). State of Violence (2010) is his second feature film.

Annett Busch is a freelance writer, curator and translator who was born in Munich in 1969 and is based in Brussels. She was editor of the pop and cultural magazine SPEX (1997 to 2002), coedited the book, Ousmane Sembène: Interviews (Mississippi University Press, 2008), and has published a number of articles on African cinema in various magazines and readers. http://missingimage.com/; http://dictionaryofwar.org; http://ofapeoplewhoaremissing.net/

If you want to attend the workshop, please send a short letter of motivation and your biography to Annett, annett@kein.org until 1 April 2012.

Friday the 27th is a public holiday! We’re celebrating with the 6th, and final installment in the first series of Rebel Alliance nights and we have something very special planned.

During past nights, we’ve celebrated new music releases from Vampire9000, Jaysynth & Martianmartian. This time round, I’m proud to announce, we will be celebrating the release of not 1, but 2 fantastic new full-length albums from South African bands.

The first, Centipede Sing-a-long, is the 3rd album from explosive Pretoria noise-poppers, Make Overs!

The second, Lunchbox for a Sream, is an album from the now dead, greatly missed Centurion power-poppers, Greenisforturbo!

To celebrate these two releases, we have assembled two separate lineup’s of the kind of live performances, animations, short films and collaborations that the Rebel Alliance is built on!

Make Overs!
“Centipede Sing-a-long” album launch!
Live show with visuals by Sassquatch!
“Be Afraid” Music video screening!
“Meet the Monster” Marc Kannemeyer short film!

Greenisforturbo!
“Lunchbox for a dream” album launch!
My Skiprope Team! Live!
“Dinosaur” music video debut!
“Emma, Queen of the Dead” DIY Zombie short!

Plus!
“Slave Race vs Rogue Squadron” alternative educational video!
“Centipede draw-a-long” – a live illustration jam happening in the Chalkboard from 8AM! Draw your own centipede segment, see it projected on the Bioscope big screen and stand a chance to win hampers from SMACM and KRNGY Records!

Cover: R40
Hugs: Free
Times: Awesome

BUY TICKETS FOR THE SHORT FILM SELECTION THURS 19TH APRIL. 7:30pm. R40

BUY TICKETS FOR DITHERS FRI 20th APRIL. 7:30pm. R40

In 2011 Grayscale initiated Johannesburg’s first international urban art festival, City Of Gold. Due to the success of the festival and the amazing response from the artists and general public, the festival will take place again from the 15th-21 April 2012.

International cities like Berlin, New York and Sao Paulo are destinations for urban artists from all over the world. The aim of City Of Gold is to establish Johannesburg as a destination for those artists and assist the development of the local street art community. In addition to this, the festival seeks to highlight the positive aspects of urban art forms as well as involving the public to create a heightened awareness and appreciation for it. Various events will take place at different locations in Johannesburg and will showcase some of the finest international and local artists. The individual events and mural projects will attempt to activate and enhance sites in the Johannesburg CBD that are often feared or forgotten by the city’s inhabitants.

The individual elements that make up the week long festival include two exhibitions, large-scale mural projects, film-screenings and street art tours.

BUY TICKETS FOR BEVERLY HILLS COP 24 April 7pm. R40 / or R50 for double bill.

A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.

BUY TICKETS FOR COMING TO AMERICA 24 April 9pm. R40

An African prince goes to Queens, New York City to find a wife whom he can respect for her intelligence and will.