Uthemba

January 7, 2015January 8, 2015 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

KEY CREW & CAST

Director	Rudi Mayer	Cast	Lucas Tsiane
Producer	Rudi Mayer		Muntu Ndebele
Writer	Rudi Mayer		Aaron Mbuli
DOP	Rudi Mayer		Danney Maphalala
Editor	N/A		Anton Sibanda
Sound	Frank Muller		Jerry Ndabukelwayo
Y.O.P	1980’s		Patrick Ntuli
Running Time	93 min		Josef Mualefe
Language	isiZulu		Mandy Kunene
Genre	Crime / Drama		Patricia Mothibedi

SYNOPSIS

Themba is released from serving two years in prison for his best friend, Vusi. Upon his release, he discovers that Vusi, the car thief, has been sleeping with his girlfriend, Thandi. Themba decides to change his fate and become a snitch – helping the police put an end to Vusi’s on-going crime spree. Vusi has Thandi executed, blaming her for his current misfortunes. Themba moves the final chess piece into place, resulting in Vusi’s ultimate demise and capture.

20 Fast Facts About Us

October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

Framegrab from “Zero for Zep”

+ We work out of the Waterfront Film Studios in Cape Town

+ We have the only restoration facility in the Southern Hemisphere

+ We are a label of Gravel Road Entertainment Group in South Africa. See our Google+ pages here and here

+ It takes about 4-6 weeks to restore a film

+ All our films are from the 70’s/80’s in South Africa

+ Lots of films were made during this time because the government created a film subsidy that promoted the production of film. There were two subsidies: one that was geared toward white films being produced for white audiences and there was one for black audiences. The idea behind that was to create entertainment for the majority of the population to keep their minds off of any form of political unrest

+ We acquire distribution rights by tracking down these films and tracking down the owners. We then approach the owners and buy over the rights of the film

+ We identify restoration projects once we scan the films. We make the call then on whether or not there’s a commercial life on the film

+ We are trying to track down the actors from the movies to show you where they are now

+ Our most popular films so far have been “Joe Bullet” and “Trompie”

+ “Joe Bullet” has been coined South Africa’s first Blaxploitation film. It’s based off of the American Blaxploitation film “Shaft,” which was made in 1973. It was banned in South Africa when it came out in 1973. It has its own IMDB page

+ We’ve appeared on CNBC, SABC, DSTV for interviews. See all our videos here

+ We’re on Twitter here and Facebook here

+ We have our very first DVD coming out in stores across South Africa. It’s our restored version of “Trompie”. “Trompie” is so popular it has its own Facebook page here

+ We have just come back from France for the “Lumiere 2014” Film Festival where we showed our restored version of “Joe Bullet”. “Joe Bullet” is so popular it has its own Facebook page here

+ We appeared recently in Variety magazine

+ We’ve just joined Pinterest! Check out our awesome board here

+ We love YouTube. We have a channel here

+ The producer of a number of the films, Tonie van der Merwe, came with us to the Durban International Film Festival this year where he won an award

+ The first time these films were ever seen on TV was during the Mayibuye Film Festival on SABC1 earlier this year

Framegrab from “Fishy Stones” which showed in Johannesburg recently

Photos from Lumiere 2014 Film Festival in Lyon, France

October 16, 2014October 17, 2014 / The Starlit Path / 4 Comments

Recently In The News

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014 / Retro Afrika Bioscope / 1 Comment

Presenting lost Vintage African Movies to new generation of cinema lovers.

Local Filmmaker Honoured

TygerBurger

By Louisa Steyl

2014-09-22 00:00

http://www.tygerburger.co.za/188416/news-details/local-filmmaker-honoured-

South African company to exhibit at the Lumiere Grand Lyon Film Festival

http://www.filmcontact.com/africa/south-africa/south-african-company-exhibit-lumiere-grand-lyon-film-festival

Cape Town initiative to restore old films

SABC Online

2014-08-24 09:00

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/66ac09804536dc9595c495a5ad025b24/Cape-Town-initiative-to-restore-old-films-20140824

Honoring a Filmmaker in the Shadow of Apartheid

New York Times

By Norimitsu Onishijuly

2014-07-30

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/honoring-a-filmmaker-in-the-shadow-of-apartheid.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Afrikaanse Prente Herleef

Kouga Express

By Verslagger

2014-07-30 00:00

http://www.kougaexpress.co.za/170548/news-details/afrikaanse-prente-herleef

Tonie Van Der Merwe

On The CNBC Africa Silver Screen Show DSTv Channel 410

September 29, 2014October 8, 2014 / Retro Afrika Bioscope / 1 Comment

Watch the CEO of Gravel Road Entertainment, Benjamin Cowley interview and behind the scenes. Shot on location at Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town. For more information about the upcoming festivals and films, follow this blog and join the conversation with us here.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retroafrika

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RetroAfrika

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJuCi6pLpA&list=UUMR66tlg7C2Yp-10tHNH1SA

Benjamin Thomas Cowley – CEO of Gravel Road Entertainment Group & Founder of Gravel Road African Film Legacy Initiative

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014 / The Starlit Path / 5 Comments

Photos by: Patrick Ryan

Shot on location at the Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town

Ben started in TV more than 14 years ago where he was involved in both live and pre-recorded programs at Namibia’s one and only national broadcaster: NBC. Without giving away his real age…. He was VERY young and earned a salary of R50 per month for his sins.

Fast-forward several years, he found himself in the fantastical world of TV Commercials hoping this industry to be full of excitement, glitz and glamour. Needless to say, this pre-conceived notion couldn’t be further from the truth! Becoming a slave of the ad world for many years, he at least got to play with really expensive toys and very soon learned that there’s no problem in the advertising world that the client’s money can’t solve.

His passion has always been in story telling and creative filmmaking, so it was a no-brainer that when the slightest opportunity to jump ship came ….he took the plunge.

The Legacy Initiative (Retro Afrika Bioscope) is Ben’s baby and it’s his responsibility to nurture it and allow it to grow to its full potential. He works closely with the original filmmakers, film owners and national film, video and sound archives in sourcing/locating all the old films and getting them to Cape Town to restore them and ultimately get them onto a platform where the public can view them.

Ben is balding and proudly accepts it!

Benjamin Cowley, Katlego Maboe and Tonie vd Merwe on the Expresso Show on SABC

CEO of Gravel Road Entertainment Group at the press launch of the Mayibuye Film Festival in Johannesburg

Lennox Mncedisi Gxasheka – Data Lab

May 1, 2014 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

Photos by: Patrick Ryan

Shot on location at Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town

Lennox has been intrigued by film from a young age. When he became a working professional, he jumped at the opportunity to work in the duplication of movies onto video format at the “Six Street Post Production” facility in Johannesburg, now known as “The Refinery“.

His training included all aspects; working on tape decks and ultimately producing the master copies for various television stations.

When the industry made the transition to digital, Lennox began training on the Final Cut program in order to work in the data lab facility. Using these abilities has been working on the restoration process whereby master copies can now be duplicated onto DVD’s.

Jonathon Joubert – Picture Restoration

April 30, 2014 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

Photos by: Patrick Ryan

Shot on location at Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town

Jono started his career in post production as an editor working on Final Cut and Avid, before becoming involved as a data lab operator doing digital deliveries, tape play-outs and mastering for feature films.

With a passion and love for film, along with a technical mind-set, film restoration became an obvious choice for Jono. He happily spends countless hours at a time painstakingly painting each and every frame of film. The aim is to bring it as close to its original and perfect form as possible.

This attention to detail might not always be noticed by audiences, but the opportunity to restore a piece of South Africa’s history- and the knowledge that it has been done right- is what brings him satisfaction.

Kyle Stroebel – Colourist

April 29, 2014April 29, 2014 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

Photos by: Patrick Ryan

Shot on location at Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town

Forged in the fiery cauldrons of a film school far, far away….. Kyle served under some of the greatest mentors Table Mountain’s shadow has ever witnessed. Over the years he has finely tuned his eyes with the help of these Masters’ gifts (and a staple diet of chicken nuggets and protein shakes), into a force to be reckoned with.

Accustomed to darkness, with only the light of his monitors to keep him company, his pale complexion is a testament to his acute attention to detail, colour gradients and ravishingly pale good looks. After emerging from the cut-throat realm of commercials into the light of long-form post-production work, Kyle has numerous international feature film notches on his belt. Many have been screened at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals.

Having mastered his craft on the digital platform, he has a refined touch for film restoration and has partnered with his Telecine in a somewhat twisted matrimony.

Rest assured that upon emerging from Kyle’s editing suite you’re guaranteed of leaving with a pretty picture, both on-screen and off.

Philip Olckers – Audio Restoration

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 / The Starlit Path / Leave a comment

Photos by: Patrick Ryan

Shot on location at Waterfront Film Studios, Cape Town

Philip is an award winning audio engineer and sound designer, specializing in the final mix of sound tracks for feature films. This includes all aspects of post-production sound recording and mixing. He is also an accomplished score composer, having focused this aspect of his skill set on short films to date. Philip has worked on numerous international feature films, including “Fast and Furious 6” and “The Last Stand”. He was an assisting Sound Engineer and Foley Mixer for “Die Wonderwerker” which was nominated for a SAFTA for “Best Sound” (South African Film and Television Awards). He has assisted and worked alongside Barry Donnelly on a number of SA’s biggest feature films, and has final mixed a number of TV series and local feature films. Philip currently works out of the Waterfront Studios, where his knowledge of sound restoration & mixing is being applied to the Retro Afrika Bioscope project.