I left South Africa a few weeks ago with such great pride and fulfillment. NYC PictureStart Film Festival Visits South Africa finished April 28th in Johannesburg with two back-to-back sold out screening nights. We had over 225 people attend the Potchefstoom screenings as well. The South Africa film festival project was a solid success on so many levels.

The three weeks I was in South Africa went by pretty fast and most of it was a blur. This is what I knew going to South Africa: that the event would definitely take place regardless. The funds had been raised through friends and family via Kickstarter and all was planned. But because this was a first time event outside of the U.S. for NYCPSFF there were a lot of uncertainties. We had no idea how many people would attend for one thing. We also didn’t know how we would be received. However, I started to get a feel of how things were shaping up by the end of my first week there.

The certainty started with my very first live radio interview. The show, Jenny Crwys-Williams on Talk Radio 702, is the number one cultural show in Johannesburg and apparently a hard get. Chris, Kevin, Thabo and Siya of Dark Horse communications, the media group that volunteered their services because they believed in what we were doing, scored that interview along with all the others that followed – Kaya FM, MIX FM, Getaway magazine. They organized a press night where I screened some of the films and talked about the festival. Interviews with a fashion show on Soweto TV, an interview on The African Channel and an interview on the biggest morning news show, Morning Live, ended my media run in Johannesburg. In Potchefstroom, we were also interviewed by the local university radio station as well as by the student newspaper.

I couldn’t have made this festival happen here without a lot of people. Steven Bosch, Director of NYCPSFF – South Africa was my main partner in crime. Steven is a lecturer of Communications at North West University, and I knew right away when I first met him last November that he was the one. I was right. Not only did Steven and I have many, many conversations about film, which always seals the deal with people I connect with, but he also went beyond the call of duty with helping out and getting things organized before I landed. This was his show and I was very happy about that. He has this love of film and this need to introduce film to others that inspires me.

There were many others that came forward to help with this project, starting with Werner Prinsloo, who I met in NYC at the end of summer of 2012. Werner lives in Johannesburg

and when I told him I was thinking about coming to Johannesburg in November to explore the possibilities of bringing NYCPSFF to South Africa, he opened up his house to me and introduced me to Chris (Dark Horse Communications) and also to Jamie Ramsay, a filmmaker based in Johannesburg, who started Kasi Movie Nights, an initiative to bring South Africa based films to rural townships via a mobile cinema.

Christoff Swanepoel was the first person I met in NYC who I started chatting about bringing the festival to South Africa. He works at North West University and set up the initial meetings with people in Potch, including Steven. Christoff is now again playing an integral part in the future of the festival for next year. Thanks Christoff.

Others to thank who stepped forward: Henry and Mariska at Videotheque in Potch. They were so excited about our festival and were very eager to help and I can’t wait to work with them again; Albert at Snowflake, the venue we screened at in Potch was also very kind and supportive as were all the students that volunteered their time to film, shoot, host and work the ticket counter; Russell and Darryl at Bioscope and their hard working staff, who ran ragged during our Johannesburg run. The Maboneng Precinct is happening and I was thrilled to have been part of this urban, hip environment.

The biggest accomplishment though was the response from the audience from our program and the feedback I received from the filmmakers who attended. We screened a total of twelve films. Six films were South African based films and six films were films I

had screened and received well in past NYC festivals.  It was truly an honor to screen all twelve films. Many thanks to Soham Mehta (Fatakra), Serge Kushnier (The Boyle Effect), Simon Toy (True Love), Aaron C. Peer (Poolside), Matthias Rosenberger (Spaghetti For Two) and Jim MacDonald (Heavy Lifting).  Your films were very well received and provided great shows to a new audience. I love all these films and was proud to screen them.

I was also proud to show the South Africans the films that their own are producing. Filmmakers, crew and/or actors of all but one of the South African films attended. They were so humble and appreciative and I was impressed by their passion and enthusiasm. I saw them talking with audience members about their films through out the end of the evening. Every one of them thanked Steven and I profusely. Bringing this community

together was a goal we had and we succeeded in that regard. Thank you Miklas Mannake (Kanye Kanye), Garon Campbell (Umkumbhi Wethu), Daniel Levi (Henry), Vaughan Coetzee (Brunch), Zee Ntuli (Bomlambo) and Alexander Melck (Waterborne), not only for being so supportive and thankful to us, but for your professionalism and your intense talent.

Audience members also brought smiles to our faces many times over the course of the week. They loved all the films. They appreciated all the films. They appreciated the festival

being brought to South Africa. Our Facebook likes jumped over 100 people in the last week and our Twitter followers also jumped up in numbers.  Most asked me to bring the festival back next year.

And, we will return. Towards the end of our run in South Africa, potential sponsors for next year’s festival approached us. No commitments yet, but the interest is strong. So, on that note, I can confidently state that we will be back in February 2014. We will add Cape Town to the mix along with more initiatives. NYC PictureStart Film Festival Visits South Africa will be bigger and better.

I left South Africa with such great pride in the people. Thanks Potch! Thanks Joburg! Thanks to the filmmakers for their great work!

NYC here we come: June 2 – 6, 2013. Get ready to watch some great films from all over the world and particularly from South Africa.

More pics from the event:

Steven and Ben chatting to the audience

l-r: Garon Campbell (director, Umkhumbi Wethu), Miklas Mannake (director, Kanye Kanye), Steven Bosch, Ben Arredondo

Student volunteers at Potch event

Johannesburg audience members waiting for screening to start

Last year NYCPSFF did a little exploring. After being approached over the years about taking the festival on the road, I decided maybe this is the year, so off to South Africa I went.

When I arrived in Johannesburg last November, my only knowledge of South Africa had been what I picked up in movies like Lethal Weapon 2, Invictus and District 9. I was too busy in the weeks leading up to my trip to learn about the region. I left NYC a week and a half after Hurricane Sandy, where I had been homeless for a week after the storm. Adding further inconvenience, I had to unexpectedly renew my passport at the last minute . It wasn’t until the Johannesburg airport that I bought my South African guidebook.

In the summer of 2012, I met my friend Christoff in NYC who worked at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He liked NYCPSFF, and we talked about the possibility of starting up a sister festival at the university. I went to South Africa to see what I was getting into. I met Christoff and his colleagues at the university. We drank cheap beer, talked films, and explored bringing PictureStart to Johannesburg. I was excited and encouraged with how keen they were to get this project off the ground. Apparently, there had been a film festival at the university for many years, but it no longer existed. They eagerly wanted to start up another film festival. I was pretty sure we could start something. We gave ourselves through mid-December to decide if we would move forward.

In the meantime, I decided to explore South Africa. And in doing this, one of my adventures had me taking the train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. This economy train  ride was 26-hours long. My friends in Johannesburg thought I was nuts. But I really wanted to see the countryside, and I really wanted to explore South Africa. This very long, uncomfortable train ended up being a turning point for me in regards to film festival.

Prior to this train trip, when people asked me, “Why South Africa for a film festival?” my best answer was because I was approached, and there is interest and support there for the event. But I was moving forward never truly having a clear answer.

On the train ride back from Cape Town, the answer became clear. Throughout my trip, I had a difficult time keeping a seat. Every time I got up to get food or go to the bathroom, women and their children would take my seat. I ended up hanging out with the director of the train, who felt sorry for me because I completely stood out. After a night of very uncomfortable sleep, I woke up to a half-emptied train and about three more hours of our trip. There’s no Internet on board, no surprise. I decided to watch E.T. on my laptop. Before I knew it, I had a small crowd surrounding me – a mother and her son, a man of about 70 years old, a couple of pre-teens, a little African boy about 5 years old and others. The 5 year old came and sat next to me and was instantly mesmerized with the images and the sound. It saddens me that I can’t remember his name. He kept lightly touching my laptop to see if it was real. I’d found a meaningful reason for a film festival in South Africa.

Film can be powerful sometimes. We all know that. Film entertains and sometimes  teaches. We know that as well. The group watching E.T. was amazed though. Amazed by a film that was over 30 years old! I instantly remembered the feeling of watching E.T. for the first time when I was 10 years old. Their awe taught and enlightened me so much, not just about the magic of E.T. and the power of the moving image, but it explained to me why I do what I do: screening films and supporting the work of filmmakers and performers. I love the look of an artist revealing their work to an audience. I love the look of an audience member being entertained.

After the train ride, another reason for the festival emerged. Back in Johannesburg, the first week of February, through my friend Werner, I was introduced to a South African filmmaker, Jamie, who started an initiative called Kasi Movie Nights, a mobile cinema initiative that brings locally produced films to townships, rural areas and places in need. It’s a pretty simple concept – driving a big truck with a huge screen around Africa and showing films. Most of these people have never seen a film. There are no cinemas available at all in these rural townships. I found another reason to host the film festival in South Africa.

I left South Africa with a new purpose – to return in April having planned NYC PictureStart Film Festival visits South Africa, the first of the NYCPSFF visiting series and what I hope is an annual event. I’m fortunate to have dedicated people in South Africa supporting this project. I always describe NYCPSFF as a grassroots, no-frills, non-glitz and glamour type of film festival. It’s a film festival that focuses on the work of emerging filmmakers and less about red carpets and celebrities. It’s a film festival that prides itself in programming a line-up of the highest quality international short films to our audiences. It’s the film festival that emerging filmmakers feel at home because we are like family.

However, we operate NYCPSFF on minimal resources. Because of this, we do need a little help raising funds. We were approved for a Kickstarter campaign and we are hoping this will do the job. It’s a difficult process though, so we really need your help. Please join us in our efforts and support the festival today.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438138708/nyc-picturestart-film-festival-visits-south-africa?ref=email

Please go to www.picturestartfilmfestival.com, or

LIKE us at http://www.facebook.com/NYCPSFF

Many thanks,

Ben Arredondo,
Executive Director,
NYC PictureStart Film Festival

This is the first official blog post for PictureStart WORDS, and I’m thrilled to get it off the ground.

As most of my friends know, I watch a ton of movies. Every day, all day long. Most people listen to music as they work, I listen to movies in the background. I play a lot of the same movies over and over, and when a favorite scene is about to come on, I stop and actually watch before returning to my work . Of course, every now and then I get taken in. And even though I’ve seen these movies a hundred times, they never get old.

Today I’m swamped with festival planning. Movies that I’ve played in the background so far today are: GIANT, CASABLANCA and THE DARJEELING LIMITED. As I write this, E.T. is playing. There’s something about movies that keeps me going throughout the day; that keeps me thinking; that keeps me informed and more importantly, keeps me inspired.

I’m pretty open minded when it comes to movies. I give everything a chance and I try to find something redeeming in everything I watch. It’s rare that I completely do not like something. I appreciate the effort that goes into creating and entertaining. Each year, for the NYC PictureStart Film Festival, about 250-300 short films are submitted for competition. In addition to the staff I have screening these short films, I personally watch every single film submitted, all the way through. I learn something from every film I watch. There’s always something in each movie produced that someone, somewhere can take from it.

At PictureStart, our mission is to showcase outstanding short films from emerging filmmakers from all over the world. I know I’m not alone in the inspiration I find from what I see on the big screen. I know this from the now thousands of short films that I’ve watched for this festival. In this blog, I will write about these movies and let you know how PictureStart is progressing in the time leading up the festival’s premiere on June 2, and throughout the year. I’ll also give you tidbits or back stories of classic films and our favorite stars. And as l live in one of the most beautiful cities to be caught on film, every now and then you will get some background info and pictures of films being shot in New York.

E.T.’s still playing in the background, and he, Elliot and friends are about to rise up off the ground on their bikes as they escape from the authorities. Have to go now before I find myself tearing up in front of the screen.

Hope you enjoy PictureStart WORDS as much as I’ll enjoy writing.

-Ben Arredondo, Executive Director, NYCPSFF