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Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

No-One Would Have Predicted the Return of the Drive-In

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Nelson Mandela Bay was recently singled out by President Ramaphosa during his last address to the nation as a COVID 19 hotspot. This news has unsettled many and as a result, the entertainment industry has had to think of innovative ways to safely host patrons during the pandemic. The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) embarked on a series of drive-in projects, which they view as a solution to continue to promote South African Films while observing COVID 19 regulations. 

This coming weekend (20th & 21st November) in Port Elizabeth, four premium South African films from 2019 and 2020, will be screened to a Drive-In audience by Eastern Cape based creative industries events company Rhizome Creative who have been appointed to stage these screenings in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“There are so many riveting South African stories that are preserved on film and its exciting to be part of a project that brings them to local audiences and celebrates the best of what South Africa’s film industry has to offer.” said Rhizome MD Buli G Ngomane “The best part about these events is that they are low risk and a great way for Nelson Mandela Bay residents to be entertained yet safe.’

The Drive-In screenings will be held at Maranatha, behind PE International Airport, a field that was selected in order to contribute employment opportunities for the young adults at the Children’s Home.

The films to be featured range from the gripping documentary about Lord Timothy Bell of the legendary PR Firm Bell Pottinger, to a short film called The Letter Reader set in rural South Africa, The comedy Bhai’s Café as well as South Africa’s submission to the 2020 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, Knuckle City.

INFLUENCE is a profile of the morally slippery British reputation manager, Lord Timothy Bell. Born into a modest working-class family, Bell climbed his way to the heights of global power, first spinning Margaret Thatcher into the “Iron Lady”, then working for the successors of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet; later branching out into France, Africa, Russia, the Middle East and elsewhere. In 1998, Bell co-founded the legendary PR firm Bell Pottinger, which quickly earned a reputation for representing even the most unsavoury characters, regardless of the circumstances. In tracking the particulars of Bell’s extraordinary life, the film examines the politicization of modern communication over the last 40 years—the winding journey from advertising to algorithms; television to Twitter. INFLUENCE examines how Bell and his associates shaped and co-opted the very institutions on which our governance systems are premised, quietly entrenching one of the most sophisticated—and successful—business ventures of recent times: the weaponization of democracy.

THE LETTER READER tells the story of Siyabonga, a 12-year-old boy from Johannesburg who is sent to a village in KwaZulu-Natal to live with his grandmother while his parents are sorting out their marital problems. As a city boy who is not accustomed to doing household chores, Siyabonga struggles to adapt. He discovers the power of words as he reads letters that put a smile on people’s faces, until one day, a letter with bad news lands in his hands.  

https://youtu.be/3McPXQ9Z1qk   

KNUCKLE CITY shifts between the childhood and adult lives of the sons (played as children by Inga Mtshizana and Elethu Mfombi) of legendary boxing champion turned gangster Art Nyakama (Zolisa Xaluva). Cut to 2019 and the boys have grown up to follow closely in the footsteps of their father.
Dudu (Bongile Mantsai) has become a womanizing professional boxer and Duke (Thembekile Komani) is now a career criminal, chasing money and thrills at every turn. But Dudu is about to age out before he’s had his chance at fame, and the fight promoters have a lot more faith in the young talent coming up behind him than they do in his comeback chances. With Duke set to be released after a three-year stint in prison, Dudu enlists the help of his brother’s criminal connections to try to get himself one last shot — but both end up with a much bigger fight than they bargained for.

https://youtu.be/S40S3cyfvRU

BHAI’s CAFE Bhai’s Indian Corner Cafe has been an institution in the Cape Town suburb of Wynberg for more than forty years, and together with his wife, Mary, Magan Bhai Patel runs the little shop with a twinkle in his eye and an ever-present practical joke up his sleeve. But when the all-too-suave Patrick Amanzi arrives with an offer to purchase the property, with intentions of redeveloping the neighbourhood, Bhai and Mary are faced with a difficult decision which threatens to pull the family apart.

To make matters even worse, Bhai’s beautiful daughter, Rashmi, has unknowingly started dating the handsome young Patrick, and when the truth comes out and intentions are misinterpreted, the chaos that ensues starts to threaten the community too. In the end, Bhai and his eclectic family will have to pull together and rally the community behind them if they wish to save the day and give a new-found love the chance to blossom and bloom.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.