Township surfing movie wins audience award in Brazil

Directed by Sara Blecher (Surfing Soweto) and shot in Durban, the film about a group of young township kids who discover the joy of surfing, opens in nationwide cinemas in South Africa on 11 May 2012.

"The film played to a packed cinema and was highly praised and applauded by the audience," says Barbara Sturm, curator of the Cinerama.BC Festival. The festival's organisers exhibit films and documentaries from both well-known and new directors from around the globe. The focus of the festival is on ways of bringing human empathy and sensibility to the big screen.

The Brazil win is the latest in a series of accolades for film. It recently bagged 13 nominations at the 2012 Africa Movie Academy Awards, announced in Ghana, and also won the Best South African Feature Film award at the fifth Cape Winelands Film Festival (CWFF) in March.

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Authenticity and sensitivity

"This latest win is wonderful news," says director Blecher. "The cast is mostly made up of young up-and-coming actors, some of whom have come through our workshop process and who are integrally involved in the real world of the story. Their performances are natural and convincing, giving the film an authenticity and sensitivity that captures audiences' imaginations. It's particularly exciting to win an audience award in a country like Brazil, which has so many similarities to ours."

Helen Kuun, CEO of Indigenous Film Distribution, which is distributing the film in South Africa, says audience awards bode well for films. "Oscar winner, Tsotsi, began its journey to the Academy Awards by winning the audience prize at the Edinburgh film festival," she says. "Audience awards are great indicators of how cinemagoers will respond to a film. This latest win has given us even more confidence that the film is set to become another South African classic."

Stars a new generation

The film is in isiZulu with English subtitles and stars a new generation of exciting young actors including Jafta Mamabolo (Generations), Thomas Gumede (A Place Called Home) and Tshepang Mohlomi (Izulu Lami).

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