Father Geek, and Dr. SOTHA along with Rigobert Song have returned with another installment of Ain't It Cool's hit Africa-AICN Friday column for all of you readers looking for the flickering projector's light to burst forth from the dark continent. Soooooooo, pull yourself up to the ol' terminal, top off that mug of java, and prepare yourseft for another painless injection of Afro-cine culture... SOTHA style. By the way Rigobert's back in true form this week with an excellant indepth analysis of the feature film "O Testamento Do Senhor Napumoceno" (Napumoceno's Will) by Director Francisco Manso, shot in Portuguese with English subtitles and slated for USA distribution.

DR.SOTHA here for your pleasure (or pain if you choose.) I'm working on
something in the pipeline of a project shooting in London currently. Let's
just say it involves football and 'This is Spinal Tap' type gags. Should
have coverage from the set in a few days, but for now, meet Nurse Pout - my
new assistant. She specializes in mouth-to-mouth, shocks (as in pad), and
raising patient's blood pressure.

If you'd like to get on her new CPR course e-mail us at Our South African Labs outside Benoni.

Nurse Pout, I know that's not all you do, but it's enough to entice them.

SOUTH AFRICA

* The South African National Film and Video Foundation has awarded
R6.9-million in grants towards the development of film and video projects
for the year 2000/2001.
This is despite inheriting a deficit on the Interim Film Fund and facing
start-up costs.

Although it was recommended that the Foundation delay granting funds for a
whole year while it got off the ground, the Foundation managed, through
prudent financial management, to award over R2-million more than it was
expected to.

Out of the 95 grants, 63 went to males and 32 to females. The R6 920 030
went to:

Development -- Documentary 14 projects -- Feature 12 projects -- TV series
13 projects -Production Documentary 15 projects -- Short film 5 projects --
TV series 1 project -- Animation 1 project -- Postproduction 1 project --
Training and education 15 projects -- Bursaries 12 projects. As a further
result of the inherited deficit, the bulk of the payments will only become
available in the 2001 financial year starting 1 April 2001.

"Even if we received the entire proceeds of Lottery money, the funds would
never be enough," says the chairperson of the Funding Committee Mike
Dearham. "It is even more difficult when we have this very limited pool from
which to satisfy the needs of so much talent. The amounts allocated to
individual projects have to be limited to enable a fair spread across the
applications received."

The applications for funding were received in sealed envelopes, and opened
only by Dearham and his assistant. Advisory panels were made up of persons
selected by the Council. The selections were made from submissions as a
result of public advertisements. From the recommendations of the advisory
panels, the Funding Committee trimmed a short list. Full council approved
the final list. All the applications and documentation are kept in secure
premises. The Foundation managed the unexpectedly high allocation through
severe austerity measures. It is negotiating for further funding from
various sources to make up for the deficit and to get the annual grants back
on track. (Is this the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel' for the
South African Film Industry? - DR.SOTHA)

* Pay-TV station M-Net has refuted claims made in a Sunday newspaper as
mischief making, inaccurate and a deliberate attempt to undermine M-Net s
credibility in the local film and television industry. The allegations
insinuate that M-Net s commitment to the local production industry has been
waylaid in the race to secure the rights to produce "Big Brother". Further
reference to previously commissioned, locally produced programmes (Massive,
Big City, Shaleen, The Cosmo Show) being dumped in order to pull together
the finance required to produce Big Brother are also unfounded. The decision
to commission Big Brother was based on its record breaking success in a
number of countries around the world. The genre of reality-TV is a global
entertainment phenomenon and Big Brother stands to be one of the biggest
local productions seen in South Africa. Over 120 jobs in the industry will
be created through the making of the programme. This is equivalent to, if
not more than, the number of jobs that could be created with three separate
productions. Total spend in the industry is what counts. Both Big Brother
and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire are international programme concepts that
are classified as local productions, continued Marques.

* PRESS RELEASE: The Film and Publication Board (FPB) would like to make an
urgent response to recent comments in the press regarding the controversial
television series Yizo Yizo. The FPB was drawn into the "Yizo Yizo" debacle
when asked this week to comment on the series during a Home Affairs
parliamentary portfolio committee briefing. Board CEO, Dr Nana Makaula,
emphasised that television broadcasters do not fall under the jurisdiction
of the FPB. The Board was therefore not responsible in any way for the
content, age restriction or broadcast of the programme. During the briefing,
senior Board members were asked to express their feelings about certain
aspects of the programme in light of the media attention which it has
received in recent weeks. Press comments which followed stated that the
Board "may well have banned Yizo Yizo" and emphasised the opinion of one
Board member who might have rated the series as child pornography.
Responding to the press report, Dr Makaula stated that "the Film and
Publication Board wants to make it very clear that it does not rate or
control television programming in any way whatsoever. Our examiners do not
classify television series for public broadcast. It has never made any
ruling on Yizo Yizo." Dr Makaula strongly emphasised that the Board has not
labelled "Yizo Yizo" as child pornography and that it would be improper to
do so. "Child pornography laws are intended to protect children against
sexual exploitation and victimisation," she said. Dr Makaula reflected that
in the past the Board has canvassed television broadcasters to adopt the
same classification guidelines that are used by the FPB to determine age
restrictions for feature films released in cinemas and on video. At present
this is not the case, however, since each television broadcaster makes use
of its own classification policies. Dr Makaula also responded to further
insinuations in the press that the Film and Publication Board has adopted a
censorial approach to its work. She maintained that the FPB does not
practice censorship, but that child pornography, which is clearly defined by
statutory law, is banned in South Africa. The FPB is responsible for rating
films for age appropriateness in order to protect children from harmful and
disturbing material. (and you guys in America thought you had it hard with
Jack Valenti - DR.SOTHA)

NORTH AFRICA

* Time for Rigobert Song:

Hello Readers. I've got a bit indulgent with you today and gone for an epic
African/Portuguese film with an equally epic review. Remember to e-mail me
about African film at my North African Office.

"O Testamento Do Senhor Napumoceno" (Napumoceno's Will) Producer/Director:
Francisco Manso -- Portugal/Cape Verde - 110 minutes In Portuguese with
English subtitles

O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno is an epic, or at least an epic farce,
from one of the world's least known but most culturally complex societies -
Cape Verde. This classic tale of the hollowness at the core of provincial
bourgeois life introduces English speaking audiences to Germano Almeida, one
of the outstanding writers in Portuguese today. With its novelistic breadth,
the film offers a bildungsroman of a man and a society so caught up in the
pursuit of conventional success and prestige it overlooks its true self
almost until it is too late. Discovered in 1462 and settled before Columbus'
arrival in America, the arid Cape Verde archipelago is arguably home to the
oldest, most thoroughly distorted culture in the world. Indeed, the
Portuguese used the islands as an advertisement for their missao
civilizadora or assimilationist colonialism. Neither fully African or
European, educated, mixed race Cape Verdeans served as bureaucrats
throughout the empire, though they played a leading role in the
anti-colonial struggle as well, as exemplified by Amilcar Cabral (see Mortu
Nega.) Cape Verdeans, scattered around the Atlantic Rim by geography and
economics for centuries, intuitively understood the idea of "transnational
identity" long before it became a buzzword in cultural studies journals.

The production of O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno reflects this complex
cultural heritage. The director, Francisco Manso, is Portuguese; the script
is based on a novel by Cape Verdean Germano Almeida; the actors are mostly
Brazilian including Nelson Xavier, Maria Ceica, Chico Diaz and Zezé Motta
and the soundtrack features Cape Verdean musicians Tito Paris and Césaria
Evora. This is the first truly Pan-Lusophonic film production and the first
to be commercially released in North America. Like Citizen Kane, O
Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno is structured around the riddle of its
hero's death. Why did Sr.Napumoceno Araonjo da Silva, a leading trader in
the islands,leave his estate to a heretofore unknown illegitimate daughter
Graça rather than his protege and nephew, Carlos, a sychophantic, carbon
copy of himself? The existence of Graça suggests a whole side of
Napumoceno's life few suspected, one he may have come to value above his
public self. His story unfolds in flashbacks through a series of audiotapes
he has made for Graça as a kind of apologia for his life.

At Napumoceno's request, the "Funeral March" from Beethoven's Eroica
Symphony wheezes pompously from a generator-powered reel to reel tape deck
wheeled beside his casket suggesting that our "hero" may not have been so
heroic (of course, neither, it turned out was Beethoven's.) In 1928
Napumoceno arrived barefoot in Mindelo, the archipelago's only deep-water
port, where he slowly worked his way up through the island's flourishing
"import-export" industry, that is, smuggling. His great business coup
resulted from mistakenly ordering 10,000 umbrellas for an island where it
hadn't rained for two years. Facing ruin, he invoked divine intervention,
unleashing an unprecedented deluge, reaping huge profits but destroying much
of the housing of the poor. By 1959 Napumoceno has become a prim,
self-important pillar of Mindelo society, opening a new headquarters across
from his mansion and becoming an enthusiast of technological progress and
all things American. He feels special kinship to another self-made man,
Abraham Lincoln, because they both started their meteoric careers as wood
cutters. One day during the excitement of a soccer match on the radio, he
impulsively and clumsily conceives a daughter with the woman who cleans his
office. Although he would prefer the child be aborted, he agrees to support
her upbringing on the condition of anonymity. Over the years, as he watches
Graça grow into a beautiful young woman, his pride and affection bloom. When
she dismisses his interest as the prurient advances of an old man, his
character begins to achieve a certain depth and pathos.

1975 marks a turning point in Napumoceno's life and that of his country. It
is the year of independence from Portugal; old icons are smashed; the old
provincial economic and cultural dependence on Europe represented by
Napumoceno's class seems destined for the "dust bin of history;" Cape Verde
is on the verge, of pursuing an autonomous, self-reliant development path.
Napumoceno, sensing that his time has passed, retires from public life to
dictate his memoirs for Graça.

Now at age 61, when he least expects it, when he thought his life was over,
when the islands are embarking on a new life, Napumoceno falls in love,
probably for the first time, with a beautiful young woman, Adélia. Their
relationship, as much spiritual as physical, unfolds in long walks along a
beach littered with shipwrecks, symbolizing the sacrifice of his life and so
many others to the empty dreams of success. Since he is the only person in
the film actually to interact with Adélia, she may in reality be his dream,
the dream of a deeper, more authentic involvement with himself and the
islands. In fact, he calls her "the dream of my life" and my "gazelle," even
though it is unlikely he has seen many gazelle on Cape Verde. It is ironic
if altogether appropriate that when Napumoceno finally falls in love it is
with a dream but then isolated islands are always over-populated with
dreams. Like every dream, Adélia vanishes as mysteriously as she appeared,
swept away by her sailor/lover and the allure of the beyond. Napumoceno thus
joins a long line of disappointed Cape Verdean dreamers, people like the
frustrated soccer player, Mane in Fintar o Destino. This prevailing mood of
sadness of a people who have always had to look for their dreams elsewhere,
is evoked by Cape Verde's national musical form the elegiac morna,
brilliantly interpreted in this film by Cape Verdean diva, Cesaria Evora.
Napumoceno's own parting advice to Graça is: "Be tenacious in everything you
do - and love."

* At a select breakfast gathering at MIPTV, Canale + announced that Africa,
the series which has taken five years from conception to completion would go
on air in August. SABC3 has purchased the series which embarks upon an
unprecedented look at Africa. It has deliberately avoided the usual
preconceptual world image of Africa as a continent of starvation, wars and
desolation. It reveals Africa through the eyes and voices of African people
living within their specific landscapes of desert, savannah, forests and
mountains.The opening sequence of the series makes the point that all
mankind, no matter what race or colour rose from the continent of Africa.
The project was supported by National Geographic, Thirteen/WNET New York,
Canale Plus and Explore International. The budget for the project was US$8
million. The production was headed by Bristol-based producer Andrew Jackson
who took two years to shoot the series in 11 countries.

* CNN is to open a bureau in Lagos, Nigeria, bringing the number of CNN
bureau in Africa to four. The new Lagos bureau complements CNN s existing
Johannesburg, Nairobi and Cairo bureau and provides CNN for the first time
with a strategic presence in West Africa. The addition of Lagos brings CNN s
total bureau network to 42. Staff will be equipped with state-of-the-art and
lightweight newsgathering technology to allow film, audio and on-line
reports to be filed quickly for CNN s multi-platform services. CNN is
available in 15 million homes across Africa. The network has reciprocal
affiliate relationships with 18 local broadcasters and has 14 regular
contributors to CNN World Report.

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* In a step toward becoming the next HBO, STARZ! Pictures is moving forward
with its first original film, the $8 million-budgeted feature "Joe and Max,"
with German actor Til Schweiger to star as German boxing legend Max
Schmeling for director Steve James ("Hoop Dreams"). STARZ! Pictures expects
to develop two to three originally produced films this year, with that pace
expected to increase to a target of four to five films next year, STARZ!
Pictures vp original films Paige Orloff said. "Joe and Max," written by
Jason Horwitch, will trace the real-life rivalry and unlikely friendship
between the greatest heavyweight boxing champions of the 1930s: "The Brown
Bomber" Joe Louis and the fair-haired Schmeling. The role of Louis has yet
to be cast.

* Grammy-winning producer Dr. Dre is jumping back into the film game with
the soundtrack to "Diablo" and an acting role in "Training Day." The
"Diablo" soundtrack, which Dr. Dre will executive produce and release on his
Aftermath label, reunites Dr. Dre with director F. Gary Gray and New Line
Cinema. Dr. Dre recently wrapped shooting a role in Warner Bros. Pictures'
"Training Day" opposite Denzel Washington for director Antoine Fuqua (The
Replacement Killers).Written by David Ayer, "Training" tells the story of a
grizzled LAPD veteran (Washington) who shows a rookie narcotics cop (Ethan
Hawke) the ropes during his first day on the soul-destroying inner-city
beat. Dr. Dre plays a young cop who is a member of Washington's crew.

* The life story of R&B legend Ray Charles is being prepped for the big
screen. Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment has made a long-term deal
for the option on all entertainment rights to Charles' life story with plans
for a feature film, "Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story." The deal
marks the first time Charles has signed off on his life story as inspiration
for a feature film. Crusader has moved quickly in developing the project,
hiring newcomer Jimmy White to pen the script and scheduling a fall start
for production. Crusader president Howard Baldwin said the company will hire
a director in the coming weeks. The story will follow Charles'
rags-to-riches story from his poor beginnings in Albany, Ga., to his rise
through the music industry while battling racism, drug use and problems in
love. Charles, 70, lost his sight to glaucoma at age 6.

* Cuba Gooding Jr. and "Saturday Night Live" comedian Horatio Sanz are in
negotiations to star in the indie buddy comedy "Boat Trip" for Brad Krevoy's
Motion Picture Corp. of America and German-based International West
Pictures. Shooting is slated to start May 9 in Brazil. The project is the
latest in an effort to revitalize MPCA and is the second to come under a
pact between Krevoy and IWP, a joint venture between Germany-based Gemini
Film and Commerzbank. IWP CEO Gerhard Schmidt said his company plans to
produce five to 10 feature films budgeted at $10 million-$20 million with
MPCA under the agreement. He said. "Boat Trip" was written by Mort Nathan
("Kingpin"), who will make his directorial debut on the project. The story
revolves around two straight men (Gooding and Sands) who embark on a
Caribbean cruise in search of love and romance only to slowly realize that
they are on a gay cruise.

* Newly launched indie distributor Urbanworld Films has paid mid-six figures
to acquire worldwide distribution rights to Warning Films' urban comedy
"Higher Ed," the directorial debut of Jean Claude La Marre starring
rapper-actor Pras. The company is targeting a summer theatrical release in
five to 10 markets throughout the United States. The film also stars Aries
Spears, Hill Harper and Leila Arcieri in the story of the adventures of an
inner-city man (Pras) who goes to college on a track scholarship in an
attempt to leave his troubled lifestyle behind. La Marre also wrote the
script, has a role in the film and co-produced with Darryl Taja and Patrick
McIntyre. Urbanworld president Stacy Spikes will executive produce with
Pras.

* Echoing similar findings by researchers in the U.S., a study by Britain's
Communications Research Group has concluded that ethnic minorities are
barely represented in some of the most popular British TV programs. In one
week on BBC2, the report said, the only ethnic minority characters seen on
the channel's top 10 programs were cartoon characters in The Simpsons. The
study also noted that although ethnic minorities tend to be increasing on
British TV overall, they were simply filling roles that have traditionally
been played by whites. "We were struck by how few of the ethnic minority
characters we observed were displaying cultural diversity," the report said.
(Cue a Spike Lee statement in the next few days - DR.SOTHA)

* Music lover Michael J. Fox was ecstatic when he was presented with an
acoustic guitar autographed by his favorite musician James Taylor at a
fundraising event last week. Fox was given the present by his former Spin
City co-star Barry Bostwick moments after receiving boxing great Muhammad
Ali presented him with the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian award for his crusade
against Parkinson's Disease, from which both Ali and Fox are suffering. On
receiving the guitar, Fox, who had to quit his hit sitcom when his disease
became too difficult to manage, strummed a few chords then headed backstage
where he discovered the second part of his gift - a note inside that read,
"Dear Michael, Call me for lessons. JT."

Thanks for asking, yes I will be back next week with more. Tomorrow I'm
playing football with the English national team. They're playing me up-front
because they want a small and agile, African lynchpin in their offense.
Apparently they think they can pass me off as a Scouser. Whatever it takes.

DR.SOTHA REVO & OUT