Father Geek here with Dr. SOTHA's somewhat tardy Friday Column for Africa-AICN. It may be late but its still pretty coooooool! Rigobert Song's review this week is excellant as usual...

DR.SOTHA back for this week’s AfricaAICN column. Once again I must apologize for the lateness of the post, but when you’re in the throes of a double-amp beak transplant to a humanoid’s thigh, time evaporates. Nurse Hollis has been holding the fort, and will be rewarded with access to my vast patient’s database.

Send us your name and addresses to africaaicn@hotmail.com and I’ll make sure Nurse Hollis pays you a home call.

Nurse Hollis, I assure you, that’s all they need to know…

SOUTH AFRICA

* Fans of actress Charlize Theron are in a furious bidding war to win dinner with her in her own home - and already the bids have escalated to a massive $11,700. Theron is offering herself up to raise money for her favorite charity The South African Children's Charity Project, and although she won't promise to entertain the lucky winner at her home, she's agreed to at least discuss the possibility. Bidders can log on and bid, on the internet auction site E-Bay, where famous Hollywood couple Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are also giving fans a chance to meet them. Fans wishing to bid on the Douglas/Zeta-Jones meeting will be flown to Los Angeles and put up in a top hotel. They'll then be invited to a film set to watch their heroes in acting action. (Nurse Hollis wants to know if females are eligible – DR.SOTHA)

* CBS's Survivor: Africa which scored strongly in its season debut a week ago but didn't quite overtake NBC's Friends dropped significantly in its second week, averaging an 11.2 rating and a 17 share for the hour versus a 13.2/19 last week. Friends scored a 15.9/25 during the first half hour, but NBC's new sitcom Inside Schwartz which followed, lost nearly a quarter of those viewers in the second half-hour, ending up with a 9.9/15. (Survivor pulled in many of them, apparently, as its numbers jumped from a 10.3/16 in the first half hour to a 12.1/18 in the second.) CBS scored its best numbers for the night in the 9:00 hour with its drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which scored a 139/21. By contrast, the NBC sitcoms Will & Grace and Just Shoot Me pulled a 10.5/16 and a 9.2/14 respectively.

* The Molweni Township Film Festival & Tours is calling for entries for the Molweni Township Film Festival 2001. The festival will be held during Sithengi 2001, from 13 to 16 November. All interested filmmakers are requested to send their films to the Molweni Township Film Festival office. The best film selected will win a trip to Sweden to attend a film festival that runs from 18 to 23 November. The filmmaker will also win access to production and post production equipment (Mcexpress editing suite) for a week. Entries must be sent to:

2nd Molweni Township Film Festival; Ny1-Fawu Building; Gugulethu 7750

For more info contact Lungiswa on 083 7375262.

* Jonathan Wacks, an ex-Capetonian producer and director of film and television hits such as Repo Man, Powwow Highway and 21 Jump St, will be attending Sithengi to listen to pitches during the Pitching Forums. He will also participate in a Q&A session about his career and the state of the US and South African industries. Wacks will also give a workshop for Directors on 10 and 11 of November at Artscape. Additionally, he will be hosting a dinner during Sithengi - the proceeds will be donated to the Newtown Film and Television School. To date, apart from Wacks, the list of confirmed international participants at Sithengi Pitching Forums includes Bengt Toll (Gotheborg Film Festival); Pat Ferns (President and CEO, BANFF Television Festival); Diane Weyermann (Sundance Film Festival Script Lab, ex- Soros Documentary Fund); Nick Fraser (Documentary Commissioning Editor, Storyville, BBC Worldwide); Mette Hoffman Meyer (Documentary Commissioning Editor/acquisitions, TV2 Denmar! k); Claire Colart (Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, RTBF, Belgium); Pierre Merle (Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, ARTE); Jason Daniel (Head of Creative Development, FremantleMedia, Drama Series Production); Rudolph Wichmann (Producer, Nova Films, London); Olivier De La Haye (Producer, Odelion, Paris) and Julian Friedmann (Blake Friedmann Literary Agents, Scriptease Director). In order to launch an Italian Film Festival at Cinema Nouveau and to hold Producer Forums with African counterparts, a group of 10 directors and producers from Italy will be attending Sithengi.

* On Saturday 6 October, Metamorphosis, the South African documentary about the life of the outrageous drag queen Granny Lee, made its North America television début when it was broadcast on Canada's new PrideVision channel. The 52 minute documentary was directed by award-winning writer/director Luiz DeBarros and produced by Marc Schwinges for Underdog Entertainment. Metamorphosis was commissioned by SABC3 and first broadcast on the channel on 30 July 2000. PrideVision TV is the world's first Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) television network to broadcast 24/7.

* South Africa's music community has been deeply shocked by the sudden death of one of the country's greatest popular arrangers and composers, David Pollecutt, who collapsed and died last Saturday morning at a Johannesburg Gym. Pollecutt was the composer of the music for the hit show African Footprint. His music for the television series Shaka Zulu has been heard in every country in the world. Pollecutt was the composer of countless jingles and themes, and wrote hundreds of songs and music for stage productions and films. He was a regular guitarist in Vinnie and the Viscounts. Pollecutt is survived by his wife Laura, his daughters Larissa and Samantha, and his sons Michael and Brendan. He will be buried on the morning of Friday, 19 October at St. Columba's Church in Parkview. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

NORTH AFRICA

* Time for Rigobert Song:

Hello Readers, this will be my last review of African-American documentaries (at least until I come across more of them), and it’s a fitting ending with ‘We Shall Overcome’ – an uplifting film about the power of song to break the barriers of separation and apartheid. Remember to e-mail me at rigobertsong@hotmail.com with your African film perspectives. Now onto the review:

We Shall Overcome Produced by Jim Brown, Ginger Brown, Harold Levanthal and George Stoney -- Directed by Jim Brown -- Narrator: Harry Belafonte -- 58 minutes

We Shall Overcome became the anthem that set America marching towards racial equality. By tracing the sources of song, this pathbreaking film uncovers the diverse strands of social history which flowed together to form the Civil Rights movement. Narrated by Harry Belafonte We Shall Overcome begins in an isolated wood frame church deep in the Sea Islands of South Carolina where spirituals like "I Will Overcome" helped blacks endure the long and brutal years of slavery. Veterans of a 1945 tobacco strike in nearby Charleston explain how it seemed natural to make "We Will Overcome" their rallying cry.

At Myles Horton's Highlander Center in Tennessee, white folk singers like Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan first encountered the song from the strikers and changed the lyrics to "We Shall Overcome." These "Peoples' troubadours" began teaching the song to the young activists of the Civil Rights movement. Over historical footage of themselves during the Sixties, the SNCC Freedom Singers. Julian Bond and Andrew Young reminisce about what this song meant during the sit-ins, voter registration drives and protest marches of those heroic years. We hear popular folk singers Peter, Paul and Mary introduce the song to audiences across the country and Joan Baez sing it at the 1963 March on Washington.

The film concludes with an inspiring montage of peace, antinuclear and environmental activists around the world singing "We Shall Overcome." In one moving scene, Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa sings the song and adds. "When we sing 'We Shall Overcome,' what we will overcome is injustice, is apartheid, is separation - all that is dehumanizing."

Other films have chronicled the events and personalities of the Civil rights movement; We Shall Overcome goes directly to the unique vision which moved millions. As Bernice Reagon says, "Every time you hear the song...you're talking about people coming together, organizing, so they can transform their lives." Some critical response to the documentary: "This extraordinary song remains at the heart of an extraordinary movement and receives here the acclaim it deserves." -- Washington Post -- "An excellent study of how American folk culture can provide the songs and symbols around which great social movements define themselves." – Le Monde

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* Movie funnyman Chris Tucker is in training to play the American President for a new movie - visiting troops in Virginia. The Rush Hour 2 star is set to play the American leader in new movie Mr. President and he's getting in practice by boosting morale at Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. Tucker actually likes the idea of being the President - he's particularly fond of the idea of having Air Force One as his private jet. He says, "I call my plane Air Force 5. My leather seats are the colour of my skin - chocolate peanut butter."

* Soulman Issac Hayes famed for his theme song to Shaft and for voicing the character of Chef on South Park is preparing to host a British concert in honor of firefighters killed and injured in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. The charity concert is organised by the L. Ron Hubbard Foundation and the Church Of Scientology and will be held at Scientology founder Hubbard’s home in East Grinstead, Surrey in England on October 21st. The concert will also feature a performance by film composer Mark Isham. Proceeds will go to the New York Fire Department Relief Fund.

* Comedienne Whoopi Goldberg has been named the recipient of the 2001 Mark Twain Prize For American Humor - becoming the first woman to receive the award. The ceremony will air on November 21st in America under the title On Stage At The Kennedy Center: The Mark Twain Prize. Taping of the show will take place on November 15th, and will include testimonials by a cast set to include Harry Belafonte, Ken Burns, Billy Crystal, Tommy Davidson, Alan King, Mike Nichols, Caroline Rhea, Wanda Sykes, Bruce Vilanch, and Robin Williams. Previous recipients of the prize include Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters and Richard Pryor.

* Hollywood funny girl Whoopi Goldberg gave cameramen a headache when she appeared on a pal's TV show recently - by ordering them to avoid shots of her bum. Whoopi agreed to star on Drew Carey’s celebrity comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a favor to the comedian. But the buxom actress is self-conscious after putting on weight, and was adamant that viewers at home should not get a peek at her behind. She reportedly instructed Carey, "Nobody wants to see that view, so you can shoot me in any direction - as long as my butt isn't in it!" (Let’s not get arsy – DR.SOTHA)

* Screenwriter Brad Kaaya -- who did significant rewrites on Universal Pictures' upcoming "How High" for Jersey Films -- has been brought back to the studio fold on three assignments, two of which are Jersey features. For Jersey, Kaaya is writing "Keep It Cool," an urban children's movie described as "Little Rascals" meets a younger version of "Friday." The story, which takes place during the course of two to three days, is about the adventures of two kids in Harlem who try to raise money to go to summer camp, but things keep going awry. Magic Johnson is co-producing. Also at Jersey, Kaaya is rewriting an untitled youth-oriented urban golf project in the vein of "Caddyshack" and "Happy Gilmore." Originally picked up by Jersey as a pitch from writer Chuck Wilson in low-six figure deal, the story traces the escapades of a young group of urban characters in a conservative country club environment (HR 6/18). The third project sees Kaaya rewritin! g Overbrook Entertainment's "Preaching Ain't Easy," a starring vehicle for comedian Cedric the Entertainer.

* Paramount Classics has wrapped up a distribution deal with FilmFour for rights to Alan Taylor's "The Emperor's New Clothes." The Paramount Pictures specialty unit will distribute in North America, Latin America, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Separate rights deals have been completed for the film in Italy with Mikado, Germany with Senator, Spain with Alta and Israel with United King. FilmFour, which will screen "New Clothes" this week at the London Screenings, will distribute the film in the United Kingdom. The romantic comedy recounts the untold fable of Napoleon Bonaparte's secret return to France to reclaim his throne and imperial glory. Iben Hjejle and Tim McInnerny star alongside Ian Holm, who plays a double role as Bonaparte and Eugene Lenormand.

* The Associated Press reports that Snoop Dog will be getting more than a rap on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper after police found over 7 ounces of marijuana on his tour bus Wednesday. The rapper, whose vampire movie Bones premieres this month, was in one of the two buses for his "Puff, Puff, Pass" tour (the name a reference to marijuana etiquette) when they were stopped for speeding outside of Cleveland. Claiming to smell marijuana smoke, police searched the bus, finding approximately 200 grams of pot. Snoop faces charges of marijuana possession and possession of paraphernalia, both of which are misdemeanors and carry a combined possible penalty of $350 in fines and up to 30 days in jail (Sounds like the dog will have trouble sniffing his way out of this one – DR.SOTHA)

DR.SOTHA REVO & OUT