Saturday wasn't a great day, not by a long shot. But, as I sat in the lounge, waiting with bated breath, for the start of the 4th Annual South African Film & Television Awards, oblivious to the fact that I'd be bitterly disappointed before the end of the night, I began to realize that there was only a slim chance that my day would improve. Man Utd had just lost 3-1 to Everton and Chiefs and Pirates had just played another dull, goalless draw (deja vu? Cuz I feel like this has happened before...)
The show started well enough with the usual song and dance, and I was pretty impressed with the host (I forgot his name); I pretty sure he's comedian and I once saw him in one of Engen's Proudly South African ads of welcoming tourists to Mzansi. He was quite hilarious but at times you did get the feeling that he was trying too hard.
I'll be honest, I didn't know most of the nominees but the nominations were generally dominated by SABC-produced shows. I was very surprised to see that some shows which have been off-air for more that 12 months were nominated; shouldn't they have been nominated at last year's ceremony? Anyway, the performances sucked big time...I have nothing against Just Jinger or MXO, I just think the performances were a bit low-key. Granted, the organizers did what the had to do but overall, they were left still wanting.
For starters, the aisles between the seats were too narrow, so much so that when winners stood up to fetch their awards, it almost impossible to negotiate their way past their neighbours. Another thing that perturbed me greatly was the number of nominees who were absent from the ceremony. Personally, I think it should be mandatory for nominees to attend awards shows in which they may take part in. AND, I think there should be penalties incurred if anyone goes AWOL without a valid explanation. These awards are supposed to be the most important film awards in the country but people just don't have enough respect for them.
And then there were the people who presented the awards...can't these people read? Last year, I heard that Zimbabwe's literacy rate was higher than ours - I thought it was a load of crap, but now...Pabi Moloi made Zenzo Nqobe look like an idiot on stage; at one point, she even pointed it out to him that it was his cue! Dude can't even read in own name from a prompter, cuz I think they write your name before any lines that you're supposed to read? I don't know...but it didn't look good. Quite surprising cuz the dude can read scripts since he was in Tsotsi and I think I saw a glimpse of him in Blood Diamond, plus he reads scripts everyday for Rhythm City, so I guess it was just nervousness creeping in. Speaking of nervousness, that kid from from Hectic 99 was so nervous, the envelope was shaking in hand - kinda strange given that he hosts a 'live' show every afternoon...
I guess District 9 wasn't released in time for the nominations? Anyway, the nominees in the Best Film category were completely new to me; I had never seen or heard of such movies, well, save for White Wedding. Which reminds me, I think they should expand the number of nominees from 3 to 5 for more competition and a little more work for the SAFTA committee. I seriously hope that this year's SAMA awards improve a bit - we all know how I feel about them. Hey, when are the Metro FM Music Awards happening? It's been a long while...
By Zane Urbane
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