USA: South African filmmaker Teddy Mattera brings one of his films to New York with the hope of expanding his audience

Record ID: 708821

  • Title: USA: South African filmmaker Teddy Mattera brings one of his films to New York with the hope of expanding his audience
  • Date: 17th May 2007
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEDDY MATTERA, DIRECTOR OF "MAX AND MONA", SAYING: "We're the first of the post-apartheid generation that has actually come out as black filmmakers making films and so we're in the process of trying to build our audiences, so the film was well received. It didn't get as much exposure as we would have liked. I think American block busters still rule and we're trying to change that. So, coming here was another sort of level of exhibition for the film. In the U.S., it's being distributed around universities and there it's done really well. But I think coming here gives us an opportunity to share with other film-makers and I think a lot of Africans in the diaspora."
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA1VHA7M347BD60H6IGACLYQYTL
  • Story Text: South African filmmaker Teddy Mattera was in New York recently to take part in the ongoing New York African Film Festival with his 2004 film, "Max and Mona".
    Mattera is showing a humorous tale about dying traditional culture in the Big Apple with the hope of expanding the audience for his films.
    The South African filmmaker, is part of what he himself terms is the first of the post-apartheid generation that has come out as black filmmakers making films. The audiences for such films are still limited but Mattera hopes to be part of a wave of a change that brings in new audiences. With that in mind, Mattera travelled to New York recently to take part in the ongoing New York African Film Festival, which presents films from Africa as well as about the African diaspora.
    For the mission, Mattera brought with him the film, "Max and Mona" which stars the loveable characters of Max Bua, a young village mourner who travels to Johannesburg along with a strong little goat called Mona.
    Made in 2004, the film is a rollicking mix of farce and folly about Bua's coming of age and his adventures with a most unlikely partner-in-crime - his goat. Max is his village's official mourner and has the gift of making people cry at funerals, but he has hopes of becoming a doctor, so the village people put together the money to send him to a university in Johannesburg. He is sent off with the goat Mona who he needs to deliver to someone in Johannesburg. Instead, Max gets sucked into some unlikely adventures because of his uncle, who wants to cash in on Max's mourning talent to re-introduce city-slickers to the art of mourning.
    "There is a lot of ancient cultures and traditions like India and Africa and the Chinese and the Irish have traditions where they cry for the dead or they have people who inspire people to cry and mourn for their dead, and nothing is different in South Africa. My story is based on an old culture where professional mourners were used to help the spirit of the dead get released and when I combine this with an urban tale and thought the best way to talk about culture was to talk about it through comedy," said Mattera about about "Max and Mona."
    While Mpho Lovinga (who plays Max Bua) and Jerry Mofokeng (who plays Uncle Norman "Bra Nox" Mogudi) are the main leads in the film, Mattera emphasized that Mona, the goat played by Sweetie, has an equally important part. He said that she is alive and well, and that during the filming, they landed up calling her the "one take goat" as she would do most of her scenes in just one take. The antics of the goat are central to the plot of the film.
    The film uses humour as a key story telling device as Mattera feels that it is very effective in conveying otherwise painful realms.
    About bringing the film to New York City, Mattera said that it did not get as much exposure as he would have liked but he hoped to change that by getting the film seen in America.
    "We're the first of the post-apartheid generation that has actually come out as black filmmakers making films and so we're in the process of trying to build our audiences, so the film was well received. It didn't get as much exposure as we would have liked. I think American block busters still rule and we're trying to change that. So, coming here was another sort of level of exhibition for the film. In the U.S., it's being distributed around universities and there it's done really well. But I think coming here gives us an opportunity to share with other film-makers and I think a lot of Africans in the diaspora," said Mattera.
    Mattera's venue for expansion -- the New York African Film Festival -- will continue till May 28th.
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