Group dominate 48-hour film project
After a five-year break, the 48-Hour Film Project returned for its third edition magnificent at Riverwalk’s New Capital Cinema on 21 September.
The big winner on the day was Isago Ntle, the group scooping eight awards, including Best Film, for its Ikalanga titled movie, ‘Bu Dwilo: The Story of Tobetsa’.
Reflecting on the revamped initiative’s success, the man responsible for the Gaborone leg of the international project,
Tony Tabona revealed six months of preparation went into organising the event.
“We had a bigger response, both from participating teams as well as the attendance of the general public. We used a 215-seating capacity cinema and it was full. There’s definitely been an increase.
“Our last competition, back in 2014, had seven teams and now we had nine. We used a smaller cinema of 100-plus in 2014 and now we filled a 200-plus cinema!” said Tabona, attributing the growth to increased enthusiasm for film by the general public as well as the escalating number of multimedia graduates from various institutions around the country.
As well as Best Film, ‘Bu Dwilo: The Story of Tobetsa’ also bagged Best Directing. The group, which consists of AFDA students, will present their award-winning film at Rotterdam, Netherlands in March 2020. They will be up against over 130 films from major cities around the world.
Beaming with pride, the movie’s producer, who doubled as the director, Tricia Sello explained the picture was the prequel to ‘Gobe: The gift’ which they produced for the Johannesburg 48-Hour Film Project last September. The production managed to win the Best Newcomer and Video Editing.
“May I mention that both short films are set in a fictional world where the power of dance can be harnessed and be used for both good and evil. The film [Bu Dwilo] ends on a cliffhanger which is resolved by Gobe.”
Sello told Voice Entertainment that they decided on Kalanga titles to celebrate their indigenous languages and to show ‘there is more to Botswana than the Setswana that the world knows’.
“The idea is to present ourselves [Batswana] as a culturally diverse people to the international market.”