“We wanted to promote change. That is why all of our pieces highlight issues of the community,” said Rhodes TV journalism lecturer Paul Hills. He said this after the 6th RUTV Documentary Film Festival held at the university’s Drama Department last Thursday. He was the festival's executive producer.
“We wanted to promote change. That is why all of our pieces highlight issues of the community,” said Rhodes TV journalism lecturer Paul Hills. He said this after the 6th RUTV Documentary Film Festival held at the university’s Drama Department last Thursday. He was the festival's executive producer.
Each year, final-year TV journalism students undertake an innovative or experimental project which invigorates and renews their course. This year’s theme was the deepening of the research process implicit in documentary production. Students responded to this challenge by producing long, medium- and short-form social documentaries on material, spiritual, communal and personal empowerment stories.
One of the stories screened that night was The Population Placation, by Rogan Kerr and Ayushi Chhabra. The 24-minute documentary follows a day in the lives of four pupils in Grahamstown, from different backgrounds and economic situations. It explores their influences and experiences from home and school, as well as their peer relations.
A piece titled A QUESTion of Thrones by Chwayita Futshane, Zikhona Masla and Kyle Robinson, is about the complex politics of traditional leadership today. It looked at the internal disputes in the kingdoms of the amaXhosa, amaMpondo and abaThembu in the former Transkei region.
Other issues that were covered in the festival included HIV/Aids, rape and women abuse, service delivery and nutrition.
Around 250 people came out to watch the five 24-minutes and three five-minute documentary pieces done by 14 students.
Hills was pleased with the quality of work that the students had produced. “They worked very hard and they told stories that matter,” he said. “I am also thrilled by the turnout and that people really enjoyed it.”
"It reminded us of what really happens in life, because those are real human stories,” said audience member Sinazo Shiya, after watching the documentaries. Her friend, Anele Ngwenya, wished the documentaries could be distributed, or even be sent to the municipality.
“They are really good, and I think that journalism should be more about democratic change,” she said.
