Well, Egypt finally speaks up. Father Geek knew there was a film industry there. This column is full of cool info folks and our good old Doc has it for you every Friday morning just like clockwork.

DR.SOTHA here, and I would like to wish Sister Satan & LOBO the very best
for their new creation to the world, and insist that he visit Africa in the
not too distant future. I was a little perturbed that Fathergeek didn't
consult me first to do the delivery, but when he explained that I was in
Africa and he was in Austin, logistically it just wasn't possible. Maybe
another time.

There's nothing quite like a good screenplay before I go into
a major operation, it's like a good cup of green tea before bondage ummm did
I say bondage, I meant sleep. Where am I going with this, oh yeah, African
storytellers I would be overjoyed at the prospect of evaluating your
material on this column, should you show promise. So send me your opuses to
AfricaAICN@hotmail.com ...

Busty Nurse, the medicine please...

SOUTH AFRICA

* South African actress ALICE KRIGE, memorable for having played opposite
Mickey Rourke in Barbet Schroeder's "Barfly", has two projects on the go.
The first titled THE LITTLE VAMPIRE based on Angela Sommer-Bodenburg best
selling novel. Ulrich Edel (T.V veteran of "OZ" and "Homicide Life on the
Street") is attached to direct with Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Mcguire), Rollo
Weeks and Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I) set to star.

The second project THE CALLING by writer/director Richard Caesar is a
science fiction thriller, that has a woman doing her best to help prevent
the apocolypse. Laura Harris (II)(The Faculty), Richard Lintern and Nick
Brimble round out the cast.

* MALUNDE is about a young black boy who is struggling to make ends meet, he
meets an Afrikaans man, left behind by the new regime, an unexpected bond is
forged between the two, as they set out to rekindle their hopes of a better
future. Stefanie Sycholt scripted, and will direct with shooting to take
place in South Africa and Holland.

* English screenwriter Brian Tilley is developing PACKAGE DEAL: "When a
Scotsman vacating in Durban, South Africa falls in love with a beautiful
Indian lady, he is sucked into a taut conspiracy, involving methodical scam
artists". (Think Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner"). Shooting is expected to
take place in the UK and South Africa.

* Ross Devenish (Boesman & Lena - the 70's version) has adapted Marguerite
Poland's best selling novel titled "SHADES". Set in the late 19th Century, a
priest from England is sent to the mission of St. Mathhias just before the
Anglo Boer War, he is aware of a sense of foreboding that leads to tragedy
and bloodshed. (Merchant/Ivory anyone?)

* STONE COLD SHUFFLER from American scribe Kolton Lee concerns a down on his
luck boxer cum gambling addict in Johannesburg, who keeps landing up at the
wrong place at the wrong time, mayhem ensues as he tries to manipulate all
the opposing forces to land up with the money and the girl. (That's what we
need a South African version of "Lock, Stock. -- DR. SOTHA)

* TAKING THE RAP is in development at Fruitcake Films about a bakery owner
who makes and bakes his delicacies with marijuana. His business begins to
sky rocket (no pun intended) after his clientele begin to grow, until he
eventually monopolizes the local market. It's known fact that in this little
village, marijuana has been legalized for over a year, so the authorities go
out of their way to try and reinstate the law, to once and for all bring
back fair trade. (Damn this is a cool premise - DR. SOTHA). Adon Kyrus is
shaping up to direct.

* A live web chat has been arranged with The Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo.
It will be held on Wednesday July 19th at 12:30 pm EST (or 1730 BST-British
Summer Time), for 1 hour. The url is: www.uip.com/mummychat A FAQ with
Arnold and his wife Sylvia will be posted on my web site prior to the chat
and I suggest everyone take a look to get acquainted with Arnold and avoid
duplication of questions. Special Thanks to Sylvia Vosloo, Geoff Freeman
and Carlos Antonini for helping me to organize the event! Visit Arnold
Vosloo Resource Page www.members.home.net/abletree (Thanks Lou)

* The Encounters 2 - South African International Documentary Film Festival
closed on 1 July with the screening of "Waiting for Harvey" directed by
Stephen Walker and "Battu's Bioscope" directed by Andrzej Fidyk. e.tv has
commissioned three documentaries from the Close Encounters Documentary Film
Laboratory which ran concurrently with the Festival. The three films will be
screened at next year's Encounters Festival. They are "Coal Yard Boys" by
Sello Molefe, "Women Behind the Wheels" by Margo Fleiser and "The Battle" by
Claude Wittwen. (Send me your reviews - DR. SOTHA)

* M-Web Events are showcasing the movies and videos of aspiring filmmakers
online during the Standard Bank National Arts Festival. Viewers can see the
movies live and vote for their favourite. Visit THEIR SITE to see these flicks.

NORTH AFRICA

* Finally a whisper from EGYPT, "Feta" sent me a list of titles to acquaint
myself with the culture and intricacies of the land. I tried to do some
research on each, and this is what I found..."Al Abwab al Moghlaka" directed
by Atef Hetata, this is the plot synopsis I got from the imdb: The movie is
a balanced story about a adolescent boy, living with his mother, who is a
widow. in contemporary Egypt in which the fundamentalists gain influence.
The characters are diverse but none of them is a stereotype. For Europeans
Egyptian actors are quickly "over-acting", but in this movie they are quiet
and real persons. The story is developing and so are the characters. The
taboo in Moslim-countries about fundamentalism is seriously touched and in
this story logically connected with the search of life of an adolescent in a
country where sexuality is not yet a subject to talk about between mother
and son. I've admired the director and the actors for this sensible movie.

"Ard al-Khof" (Land of Fear) Directed by Daoud Abdel Sayed is a thriller
that found a theatrical release in various European countries, yet seems
untraceable in Africa ironically. "Feta" recommended it highly...can anyone
tell me where I could get hold of this (or even sent to me would be nice).

"Autre, L'" (The Other) Directed by Youssef Chahine with Nabila Ebeid,
Mahmoud Hemida, Hanane Turk and Hani Salama starring, concerns a romance
between a prince and a subdued girl, with terrorism added for good effect.
Chahine also directed a film in 1997 called "Le Destin" that has been
praised by critics across the continent. (Let's hear more about these
promising storytellers---send me info - DR. SOTHA).

"Pleasure Market" Directed by Samir Seif starring Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, won
several awards at last years Cairo Film Festival, including one for best
actor for Aziz. If anyone out there on the great big continent has seen
this, your thoughts would be most welcome.

Excellent, the ball is rolling. Egypt---you will be heard.

* "Quartier Mozart" Directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo of Cameroon origin, is
the story of 48 hours in the life of a working class neighborhood in
Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. As in Touki Bouki, director Bekolo is
attempting to connect with Africa's young urban population. The film
explores the sexual politics of the neighborhood through both male and
female perspectives. With the help of a sorceress, a schoolgirl enters the
body of a young man so that she can discover for herself the real "sexual
politics" of the quarter.

* "Tilaï" a 1990 film Directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso, was
the winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes 1990, director Ouedraogo's
follow-up to the widely fêted Yaaba is a moving tale of honor and family
ties on the plains of Burkina Faso. The story follows a man who returns home
after two years to be told that his fiancée has been married off to his
father. Secretly, the young man resumes his relationship with his new
step-mother despite the fact that this incestuous liaison is punishable by
death. Once discovered, the lovers narrowly escape to try to live happily
ever after, and would were it not for ya tilaï, or code of honor. As in his
earlier film Yaaba Ouedraogo contrasts the lively villages of his homeland
with the empty open plains, painting all in gorgeous earth-colored hues and
composing each scene without contrivance. The marvelous warm and relaxed
performances are perfectly complemented by the sparse and poignant score of
the great jazz musician, Abdullah Ibrahim. (Thanks to JOJO)

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* Some interesting African American news this week, the always outspoken
Spike Lee, despises the current Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot" because he
thinks the Revolutionary War epic downplays slavery. In a hostile and
sarcastic editorial in the "Hollywood Reporter's" "Sound Off!" column, Spike
states: "How convenient was it for screenwriter Robert Rodat to have Mel
Gibson's character not be a slaveholder?... 'The Patriot' is pure, blatant
American Hollywood propaganda. A complete whitewashing of history,
revisionist history. While holding myself back from shouting at the screen,
I kept wondering where are the slaves? Who's picking the cotton?" (Your
thoughts in talkback folks - DR. SOTHA)

* I know this technically belongs in the coaxial section, but what the hell,
Steve Harvey star of his own sitcom on the WB. Apparently, while waiting
spotted a newspaper story that referred to the network's black-themed shows
that were moving to Sunday night. The article failed to mention the names of
the shows, which are "The Steve Harvey Show," "For Your Love" and "The Jamie
Foxx Show'' and just referenced the color of the cast members. Harvey was
quoted as saying, " I felt degraded at that moment. I felt un-American at
that moment. I felt isolated. Why is there always this separation in the way
that TV critics ever talk about us?" For more on this story visit THEIR SITE !

* And finally I believe congratulations are in order to the Wayan Brothers
who soared to the top of the box office last weekend with their "gross-out"
hit "Scary Movie". Going back to "In Living Color", a great skit modelled on
Saturday Night Live, which fostered such box-office draws as Jim Carey and
Jennifer Lopez, it's a wonder it took so long for them to pierce the public
zeitgeist. My only reservation about the success of "Scary Movie" is the
inevitable deluge of spoofs this will greenlight (no doubt, with at least
half been toplined by Leslie "I will work for food" Nielson). Nevertheless,
good on ya'.

AFRICAN COAXIAL

* South Africa did best in the Media section of the Cannes Lions
International Commercials Festival which took place from 19 - 24 June. It
won two Lions out of the 16 categories. Bester Burke D.Arcy (Cape Town) won
the Best use of Television for its Ally McBeal commercial for Cosmopolitan
Magazine. In the Best use of Mixed Media, the Cape Talk commercial won a
Lion for Ogilvy & Mather Rightford Searle-Tripp & Makin (Cape Town). Ogilvy
& Mather Rightford Searle-Tripp & Makin won in the Corporate Image category
for the Volkswagen commercial. (Thanks to "Lili")

* Broadcast design and animation company Delapse has won 31 international
and local industry awards for its innovative work. The most coveted award is
the North American- based Broadcast Design Association (BDA) Gold Award for
'Total Package Design-On-Air' for SABC 2's 'Made in Africa' campaign. The
BDA received 2 400 international entries this year. Delapse is the first
South African company to win this award - one of only two GoldAwards
presented in this category. At the recent National Television and Video
Association's Avanti Awards, Delapse was a dominant force, winning two Gold,
one Silver, two Bronze and 14 Craft Awards.

* Christian Lau and Antoinette Steinhobel from the Camera Guild have
initiated a project called "The Film Fridge". They are collecting recans,
shortends and other unused 35mm and 16mm film stock. Logical Designs has
donated the use of a fridge in Cape Town in which the already collected 80
rolls of film are being stored. The film is to be used by any individual or
group who are shooting on little or no budget. The film is given for free,
with the proviso that the film is processed within a month or it is
returned. "We will not give away
film for use on budgeted commercials. The aim is to allow more ready access
to a pool of film stock for developing and experimenting filmmakers.So far
we are prepared to do dip tests at a small fee (R30), on a per shootbasis.
Some of the stock is from two years ago, but we have a large portion from
this year," says Lau.Contact (27) (0)82 693 8476.

* All you BUSH fans out there, the band secretly performed to 800 specially
invited guests at the Pyramid in Turfontein. Their publicist told the press
they were trying to emulate the Violent Flemmes indie-underground movement
from the 70's. It certainly got South Africa talking, with pro and anti
remarks being made by die hard fans in the press. My personal favorite "They
fucked us, but why'd they have to fuck us so hard".

Answer to last weeks question was James Earl Jones - Darth Vader who played
opposite Richard Harris in Cry the Beloved Country. No question this week,
instead I thought I'd give you Afro Geeks 2 anagrams of a famous actress,
it's her last name. Unscramble the letters and find the answer: HORNET or
THRONE

That's it for this week palookas. Send me your success stories, limbs,
breasts (real or otherwise),specimens, etc... to AfricaAICN@hotmail.com and my staff of fetching nurses will hop right on it.