“Fahrenheit 2010″ set for Durban Film Festival premiere

I recently voiced a documentary feature for a film producer called Craig Tanner. “Fahrenheit 2010″ looks at the build-up to South Africa’s staging of next year’s football World Cup, and it opens at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa next Friday, 30th July.

Here’s what Craig says about the film:

“For four action-packed weeks in June and July 2010, the largest international television audience to ever follow a single event will be watching the football World Cup in South Africa. As the clock ticks down, and the nations of the world anticipate the beautiful game’s showpiece, questions are being asked about what will happen after the trophy is lifted, the caravans move on, and the dogs stop barking…

Fahrenheit 2010 cuts through the hype, with an uncompromising examination of what the World Cup means for South Africans themselves – in particular, who actually stands to benefit from the diversion of millions of dollars to build 21st century sports arenas in a country in which, 15 years after throwing off apartheid’s yoke, millions live in shacks and have no access to water – a South Africa where life expectancy has plummeted beneath that in Ethiopia.

International heavyweights like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, construction workers, FIFA’s Communications Director, street traders, politicians, and sports celebrities, wade into the debate. National pride, corruption and even murder feature in this astonishingly candid film which peels back the glossy media veneer to expose the real concerns of ordinary South Africans: hopes about jobs, the eviction of school children to make way for construction company offices, the removal of an inconvenient community, and what traditional medicine and the influence of the ancestors might mean for the fortunes of the local team…

From visuals which capture the exuberance and unique dress of South African fans in full cry, to graphic archive footage of the nation’s liberation, Fahrenheit 2010 brims with energy, colour and texture. The soundtrack kicks off with the African house music hit “Money Maker”, and is then underpinned by the unique collaboration between Zulu music legend Madala Kunene and electric guitar virtuoso Nux Schwartz, who generate a fusion of African rhythms and rock elements that range from haunting to infectious.

Fahrenheit 2010 takes the temperature of the Rainbow Nation as it prepares to roll out… the Greatest Show on Earth.”

The movie was a long-distance collaboration, with me recording locally in my home studio here in London and Craig listening into the session via Skype from his base in Sydney Australia. A full-quality 48K AIFF audio file was supplied after the session for his editor to marry to the pictures.

Encouragingly, other film festivals around the world – including the US and the Middle East – are also showing interest in screening the movie. I’ll post more when I get more details.

In the meantime I wish Craig the best of luck with taking this project to audiences around the world, and I’m watching the post for my own DVD copy in the next few days. Hopefully Craig will allow me to post a clip when I receive it!

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