20 September 2005
South Africa's official entry for the 2006 Oscar awards, Tsotsi, has won yet another award.
In its North American debut, the film won the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which ended on Saturday.
Directed by Gavin Hood and based on acclaimed playwright Athold Fugard's only novel, Tsotsi also won the Standard Life Audience Award for most popular film and the Michael Powell Award for best film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August.
It was the first production in over seven years to win both the audience and critics awards for best film at the Edinburgh festival. The production reportedly received the highest audience rating of any film ever screened at Edinburgh.
Still from Tsotsi
Tsotsi - South African slang for "thug", "hoodlum" or "gangster" - tells the story of a violent young criminal who finds redemption after he inadvertently abducts a baby during a car hijacking.
The Edinburgh review has high praise for the film: "Beautifully shot and convincingly performed, this deeply affecting drama carries an extraordinary emotional power, a portrait of third-world ghetto life that's every bit as raw as City of God - from its bravura opening sequence (a violent robbery-murder on a crowded train) to its wrenching, beautifully modulated closing shot.
"One of the discoveries of the year."
Still from Tsotsi
On accepting the first award, producer Peter Fudakowski said he was "particularly grateful to Edinburgh for discovering us," and sent a "big thank you to Scottish audiences for voting us number one". When Fudakowski was called up to receive the Michael Powell Award, he seemed briefly overwhelmed.
"I am clearly flabbergasted," he said. "This is the greatest honour."
The film is eligible for the 2006 Academy Awards as South Africa's official submission. Like SA's 2005 submission, Yesterday, it was shot entirely in the vernacular.
Tsotsi was in competition with 24 other feature films from all over the world, including the much-anticipated Serenity, based on the acclaimed American television series of the same name, which had a budget of US$40-million.
Tsotsi cost $5-million to make and was filmed on location in Kliptown in Soweto, Gauteng. The film stars Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Zola, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi Magano and Zenzo Ngqobe.
Still from Tsotsi
"An audience award is the ultimate recognition for achieved filmmaking, because it tells us that people are moved by our film," said South African co-producer Paul Raleigh.
"At the same time, the critics' award for best film is the ultimate professional stamp of approval for a film, as it is bestowed by industry peers."
For Fudakowski, the awards point to ticket sales.
"The festival's discovery of Tsotsi places the film in the company of other Edinburgh winners, such as Rabbit Proof Fence, The Full Monty, Amelie, Billy Elliot and Buena Vista Social Club, so as co-producer I am confident that Tsotsi will also turn out to be a great international commercial success," he said.
Still from Tsotsi
Started in 1947, the Edinburgh Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world, dedicated to the celebration of innovative cinema.
Tsotsi went to the Toronto International Film festival with two other South African productions: U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon.
The film went on limited release at Cinema Nouveau in Rosebank, Johannesburg in September, with a wider South African release planned for early 2006.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
