Talented filmmakers from Alex have decided to do it for themselves and not sit back with folded arms because of a lack of funding.
IDN Multimedia Company, which has set out to fund the production of its first drama series entitled, Edlozini, (which means ancestors) with part funding from Midrand-based organisation Extreme Youth, is also appealing to potential funding partners to join forces.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Alex News at the Sankopano Centre, one of the founders of the Alex-based company, Thandi Mashinini, said the three directors of the company – her, Eric Moloi and Nqobile Dube – share a common and long-standing vision that ‘we will not quickly produce a begging bowl in our endeavour to get some work done’.
“We’re not going to fold our hands and be hamstrung by a lack of funding and then sit back and let our creative minds go to waste. We’re going to club our meagre resources together from our hollow pockets and get the work done while we continue to put the word out there in the hope that some Good Samaritan will one day spring to our rescue,” said Mashinini.
“I am a firm believer in self-reliance and people picking up their bones and dusting themselves off to carry on with the work. Even the Bible says it that the good Lord only helps those who strive to help themselves.
“I am certain our cries will not fall on deaf ears but that someone, somewhere, will hear our cries and will decide to do something to extinguish this fire which is threatening to consume us along with our dreams to provide employment and something to do for the youth of this impoverished township.”
Mashinini warned that it is not by accident that youngsters struggle. “Our youth end up being consumed by drugs, crime, gangsterism and other counter-productive activities in society. It’s despondency that drives them to these despicable and abhorrent crimes in the hope of scraping a living,” she said
Mashinini added that they were not happy to ‘sell their souls’ to DStv. “We could have easily done so by handing them the script of our drama and they would have simply shot it from their own budget and given us whatever we agreed upon,” said the soft-spoken, but firm Mashinini.
“We want that script and drama shot our way as we have written it. Directors know what they want and they would have easily changed the script to suit their desires, which may not necessarily be what we had wanted to portray ourselves.”
