News Reports from the Townships

Yesterday was the last day of editing for the Khayelitsha group. They had one final hour to complete the news reports they had shot last weekend.

Mbo, Manez and Zintle’s group did a story on the tensions between coloureds and blacks in Delft, a divided township with coloureds (mixed race) and blacks at odds with each other. The group  used the Delft Library to find their interviewees and people spoke candidly about why these divisions exist.

Pelisa and her sister Spokazi chose to follow a lady as she cooked meals in her shack for a hungry queue of customers waiting outside. We watch as she dishes up mounds of rice and chicken stew, while talking about how she and other women will watch the World Cup together without the men. Pelisa then interviews the people sitting outside eating, wonderful on camera, she has been nominated by the group to present their reports.

Another group, Bokiswa, Ntombi and Thembile, focus on environmental issues and ask whether the government is doing enough to collect rubbish, and on the flip side, whether local residents are using these refuse bins.

We watch as one lady shows us the plastic toilet her family has been using for years – a small contraption with a tray that is cleared twice a week. The woman shows us her toilet and explains the realities of living with such basic facilities. It’s an eye-opener.

A group of boys, Andile, Juga, Terra and Shaun, cut together footage from a match they filmed at their local soccer field in Khayelitsha. The commentary is brilliant, and this was a good lead-in to the match reports they were assigned to film last night.

Everyday more young people turn up, wanting to be part of the workshop. Some are friends of existing students, others have heard about the workshop on the radio, thanks to Simcelile’s appearances. He’s been on both Khayelitsha community radio and UCT radio already. The word is getting out there and WFC is becoming known within these communities. It’s a great feeling.

James Farmer has joined us from the UK and is now filming the workshop. Welcome James! He’s already part of the team and we’re so happy he’s here.

The group from Gugulethu shot vox-pops in the local mall. Although in their mid-teens, they’re grasping the concept of filmmaking and have now completed their films about the funeral of an aunt last weekend, as well as a report on why people are buying fake Bafana Bafana t-shirts rather then their original counterparts. This is a hot topic, and people are debating whether real patriots buy fakes. We’ve talked about it in class and like all young people their age, status is attached to expensive clothes and some students are convinced that it’s imperative people buy originals at four times the price. The other camp argue that wearing Bafana Bafana t-shirts shows a person’s support for South Africa, so fake or original, it doesn’t matter. We’ll return to this topic as the World Cup approaches to see if opinions have changed.

Computers are slow due to small memory, so we’re asking our supporters to donate old laptops for this project. Especially with the younger students, the delay in playback leads to boredom and distraction. We’ve got only two working computers for the Gugs group and this is continually frustrating.

Panavision have donated a camera for James to use, so we’re incredibly grateful to them.  We’re also working out of an office in a very cool, bohemian part of Cape Town called Observatory. Thank you to Phillip and his wife for their support. Yet another generous gesture of support from the Cape Town community, amazing people, we couldn’t do this without you.