16 January 2007
On behalf of the MEC for Culture, Sport and Recreation in Mpumalanga, Ms
Nomsa Mtsweni, you are invited to the Premiere of the movie "Catch a Fire,"
which will take place as follows:
Date: 6 February 2007(Tuesday)
Time: 17h00
Venue: Nu-Metro Cinema, Riverside Mall, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga
Gala Dinner: 19h00 (Mnotweni arena- walking distance from the Cinema)
Dress: Black tie/ formal.
RSVP by 19 January 2007 (please note that because of limited seats, and tied
logistics and short notice, we require that you confirm in time. Please
indicate your requirements in terms of transport, accommodation, point of
departure and media house and names of people that will be sent to the
Premi�re)
Confirm to:
Sammy Mpatlanyane
Tel: (013) 766 5014
Cell: 082 923 0550
E-mail: shmpat@mpg.gov.za
Mpumalanga to premiere "Catch a Fire" (a Phillip Noyce film)
The Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation in conjunction
with the United International Pictures will Premiere the historic movie "Catch
a fire." This will be the first time that Mpumalanga is involved in Premiere of
a movie. The movie was initially shown to several dignitaries and influential
people last year, courtesy of Universal Pictures. Following hosting a
successful World title fight in march 2006 where Mashaba retained his title,
the MACfest International in Middelburg and Witbank, a prestigious golf
tournament at Malelane at the end of 2006, co-hosting the Samoa vs Pumas/Leeus
in Witriver on 6 January 2007, indeed Mpumalanga has made sport and heritage
tourism a reality.
Top South African actors, directors and other known people in the industry,
are expected to walk the red carpet on 6 February 2007 at 17h00 at the Nu-Metro
Cinema, Riverside Mall in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. After the Premiere, guests
will then be expected to proceed to the gala dinner at Mnotweni Arena, where
the Premier of the province Thabang Makwetla, MEC for Culture, Sport and
Recreation Nomsa Mtsweni, and other government leaders will host them.
"As the department we feel greatly honoured that Patrick Chamusso, whom the
movie is about, resides in our province and also that another actor in the same
movie, Mncedisi Shabangu hails from Kanyamazane in the Mpumalanga province,"
the MEC remarked.
Catch a Fire (Synopsis)
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom,
'Catch a Fire' is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American,
Rabbit-Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country's
turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of
today.
Derek Luke portrays real-life hero Patrick Chamusso. Patrick is a charming
and loving husband to his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna), and a caring father to
his two young daughters. He works as a foreman at the centrally located Secunda
oil refinery, which is a symbol of South Africa's self-sufficiency at a time
when the world was protesting the country's oppressive apartheid system. In his
spare time, Patrick coaches a local boys' soccer team. Carefully toeing the
hard line imposed on blacks by apartheid, Patrick is completely apolitical.
Academy Award winner Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos, a Colonel in the country's
Police Security Branch. The shrewd and charismatic Vos strives to maintain
order in volatile situations, which have become more and more frequent as the
outlawed activist organisation African National Congress (ANC) rallies blacks
against apartheid. Vos is also concerned for the safety of his wife and two
daughters. He and his family live a world away from the Chamusso family until
the innocent Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested (in June 1980) for
sabotage of the Secunda oil refinery. His alibi is compromised, and Patrick is
desperate to shield Precious from a past indiscretion and keep his job. But he
is ill-prepared to withstand brutal interrogations by Vos' men. As Vos further
insinuates himself into the lives of the Chamussos, to Patrick's shock and
shame, Precious herself is jailed and tortured. Although he and Precious are
soon released from custody, Patrick is stunned into action and completely
reorients his sense of self and purpose. He leaves his family to join up with
the ANC.
Becoming a rebel fighter and political operative, Patrick is radicalised on
behalf of his people and his country. He ultimately envisions a formidable and
dangerous follow-up strike against the Secunda refinery, risking his own life
and future. Change must and will come, for Patrick and his family, and for
South Africa itself.
A Universal Pictures presentation in association with StudioCanal of a
Working Title/Mirage Enterprises production. A Phillip Noyce Film. Tim Robbins,
Derek Luke. Catch a Fire. Bonnie Henna. Music by Philip Miller. Costume
Designer, Reza Levy. Production Designer, Johnny Breedt. Editor, Jill Bilcock,
A.C.E. Directors of Photography, Ron Fortunato, ASC, Garry Phillips. Executive
Producers, Sydney Pollack, Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin. Produced by Tim Bevan,
Eric Fellner, Anthony Minghella, Robyn Slovo. Written by Shawn Slovo. Directed
by Phillip Noyce.
A Brief History of Patrick Chamusso
Patrick Chamusso was born into a rural Mozambique family in 1950. His father
was a migrant labourer who worked over the border in South Africa as a miner,
and as such was only allowed home once or twice a year (for Easter and/or
Christmas) and was only minimally compensated. From an early age, Patrick knew
that he would have to go out and make a living for himself.
As a teenager, Patrick followed his father to South Africa, taking odd jobs
in the mines. He then worked as a house painter and street photographer. He was
also a talented soccer player, playing for local leagues. By his early
twenties, he was doing well enough to buy a car and a camera, unusual for a
young black South African at that time.
One day in the 1970s, Patrick was stopped and the police searched his car.
Patrick's camera was confiscated as being suspicious; there had been acts of
ANC sabotage in the area, and Patrick was suspected of spying for the
organisation. He was arrested and deported to Mozambique. His camera, and car,
was never given back to him.
Patrick got forged papers so he could return to South Africa. He settled in
Secunda, a town several hours east of Johannesburg. He got a job at the oil
refinery there, which was one of the largest in the world. Well-liked and a
hard worker, he advanced quickly at the plant. His soccer-playing prowess also
made him popular at the refinery and in the community.
On May 31 1980, the ANC's military wing (MK) bombed the Secunda plant, along
with two other installations. Hitting these targets with no loss of life was a
major strategic victory for the ANC; a propaganda coup, it demonstrated to
whites that the apartheid government could be demoralised and to blacks that
the ANC was capable of effectively fighting back.
Patrick was arrested as a suspect in June 1980. Though he was completely
innocent, the police suspected him of having helped the ANC gain access to the
plant. South African police at that time had the power to hold people suspected
of political crimes indefinitely, without access to a lawyer or family.
Patrick's torture was so harsh that when he was released, he was a changed man.
After having avoided political involvement for all of his life, he now decided
that he had suffered needless trauma for a reason, and so he had to do
something.
Leaving his family behind, he crossed the border illegally into Mozambique
and travelled to the capital, Maputo, where the ANC had its regional
headquarters. There, he was initially held in a detention camp while the ANC
checked out his story and made sure that he was not a South African police
mole. Patrick was accepted into the organisation; he trained with and met MK
commander Joe Slovo, one of the few senior white members of the ANC. Joe was
running Special Ops, a military unit set up to engineer spectacular acts of
armed propaganda - without casualties - within South Africa. He had been
responsible for planning the first refinery attacks, and wanted to strategise a
bigger strike.
Patrick lobbied to Joe that with his inside knowledge of the Secunda
refinery, he could bring the plant to a standstill and make it burn for days.
Joe approved the operation, and the ANC agreed to send him back to South Africa
for what would be - by Patrick's choice - a one-man assault. He first completed
further training in Angola and then returned to Maputo before travelling, under
an assumed identity, by car via Swaziland back to South Africa and then into
Secunda.
On the day of the operation, October 21 1981, Patrick attached land mines to
his body and hid himself on a conveyor belt. The belt carried coal from a
neighbouring mine to inside the refinery, and now would successfully transport
Patrick himself as well. His carefully worked-out plan was to place one mine on
a water-pump, followed by another on a reactor inside one of the main plants.
The impactful first explosion would act as a warning to the thousands of
workers inside the reactor, since ANC policy was that no lives were to be lost
in any operations; and would make it that much harder for the authorities to
fight the fire. He planned for the reactor land mine to explode 15 minutes
after the water-pump one.
Patrick left the plant as the first mine went off. The main plant emptied as
planned. Police arriving on the scene guessed that there was another land mine,
and found and disarmed it before it could explode.
Six days later, on October 27 after a massive manhunt, Patrick was caught.
He was held for nine months without trial, during which time he was brutally
tortured.
His trial eventually took place in Pretoria Supreme Court, in August 1982.
Patrick was found guilty on three counts of contravening the Terrorism Act
(undergoing training in Mozambique and belonging to an illegal organisation;
committing sabotage; and unlawfully possessing arms and explosives), and was
sentenced to 24 years in prison. Patrick served nearly 10 years on Robben
Island until he was amnestied and released in late 1991, along with all
political prisoners.
Today, Patrick lives in northeast South Africa with his wife Conney, whom he
married after his release from prison. Patrick and Conney have three children
of their own, and have foster-parented 80 more, all of the latter orphans.
Their orphanage is named Two Sisters (http://www.twosisters.org.za).
Issued by: Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation, Mpumalanga
Provincial Government
16 January 2007
