Musgrave filmmaker makes Durban famous
Dr Eubulus Timothy shares on cinema escapism during the Covid-19 pandemic and how films make locations just as famous as the actors that drive the narative.
LOCAL filmmaker, Dr Eubulus Timothy was named Best Filmmaker at the Durban Tourism Awards held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre Complex in Durban recently.
Berea Mail sat down to chat with the Musgrave resident to find out more about cinema escapism during the Covid-19 pandemic and how films make locations just as famous as the actors who drive the narrative.
“This award is about tourism – how film highlights a location. Audiences are very perceptive about what is real and what is not. If you shoot a scene in a certain location that has no value to the scene and characters, it stands out and takes the viewer out of the movie. The location has to be part of the story. People go to the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel to have the same drink Bill Murray had in Lost in Translation. Tourism in Scotland went up by 500% after Braveheart. People go to Korea because they saw it in the movie, Black Panther,” said Timothy.
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In his award-winning film, Deep End (2018), Timothy highlighted Durban’s iconic beaches. Timothy won several awards for the film, including the Hartley-Merrill Screenwriting Award in Hollywood, Best Screenplay at the South African International Academy, as well as Best Picture and Best Director at the Simon Sabela Film and TV Awards.
“Deep End highlighted the beach. Battery Beach was a character in the film. We created scenes around the beach and how it worked. We know that most people visit Durban for the beach, and when people see those scenes, they want to go there. We create this whole world around the amazing locations we have,” said Timothy.
He also featured Durban extensively in his 2020 film, Vivaldi’s Spring in the Time of Covid-19, which won Best Artistic Film at the Emerging Filmmakers Awards. The film featured The Cube, a sculpture in Windermere, as well as Timothy’s Musgrave garden and a forest area in Hillcrest.
ALSO READ: Musgrave filmmaker reels in top honour
While Timothy runs a dental practice in Musgrave, he has always had a passion for film. As a child, he started his own company, Trinity Pictures. He would make 8mm movies with a camera his father bought him. Timothy has produced multiple television projects, including Bridging the Gap and Cape Night Live.
Timothy is currently working on his next film, Cane Cutters, which tells the story of a law student who drops out of university to produce a documentary on his grandfather’s trip from India as an indentured labourer. During the process, he meets a young doctor fighting for her independence as a woman. Timothy is currently looking for actors to audition for the film. For more information, call Timothy on 081 571 7331.
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