6 march 2006
Tsotsi, the South African film about a Johannesburg gangster re-discovering
his humanity, dignity and capacity to love, won the 78th Academy Awards (the
Oscars) in Los Angeles for best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, 5 March 2006,
in Los Angeles.
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) congratulates Tsotsi for
winning the Oscar for best foreign film.
Tsotsi, a film directed by Gavin Hood, partly funded by the dti through the
film and television production rebate, has won over nine international awards,
which includes a price at the Thessaloniki Film festival, the Audience Choice
Award (Los Angeles AFI Film Festival), People's Choice Award (Toronto
International Film Festival), Standard Life Award (Edinburgh International Film
Festival) and the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film
(Edinburgh International Film Festival), Our very own Cape Town World Cinema
Festival award at Sithengi.
Tsotsi made a magnificent contribution to the legacy the South African
filmmaking. The dti is thrilled about the achievement of one of its funded
films. The dti funded the film through one of its support measures, the film
and television production rebate. The scheme was launched in 2004, to support
local and international producers, and other industry players in the film
industry in creating a vibrant and dynamic South African film industry of
cinematic and technical excellence. The dti is proud to be supporting the South
African film industry through it various support measures, and will continue to
do so in the future.
Last year the South African film industry was celebrated Yesterday and Hotel
Rwanda, which was nominated for the Oscars. This demonstrates that our film
industry is on the right track and we are proud of the fact that Tsotsi is the
first ever South African film to win an Oscar.
The dti congratulates the cast and production team for producing a wonderful
film, which has a universal appeal.
We want to thank those involved in the film industry for continuing to place
our country, culture, languages and its people on to the world map.
Acceptance Speech by Gavin Hood:
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrica, God bless Africa. Wow. I have a speech, it is in my
pocket, but that thing says 38 seconds. But mine's way too long.
Go to tsotsi.com and there is a huge long list of people. This award I am
accepting is not for me. This is for best foreign language film.
It is sitting right there to start with. Please stand up Presley Chweneyagae
and Terry Pheto. My two fantastic young leads: Siyabonga bhuti and Siyabonga
sisi.
Put the cameras on them, please. Viva Africa. Viva. I've got ten seconds.
Ten seconds I just want to thank my fellow nominees who I've become deep
friends with. We may have foreign language films, but our stories are the same
as your stories. They are about the human heart and emotion. It says please
wrap. Thank you so much. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you.
Enquiries:
Donavan Jacobs
Tel: (012) 394 1641
Fax: (012) 394 2641
Cell: (082) 751 1078
E-mail: DJacobs@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
6 March 2006
