SA Rocks

It’s that time of the year again, Oscar time, or Academy Award time apparently.

I haven’t been this excited for an Oscar awards night since Tsotsi was nominated (and won) an Oscar. This year is bigger though. This year is badder. This year is going to be a battle for Neil Blomkamp and his breakout movie blockbuster, District 9.

He’s got some competition. But before I list the competition let’s see what District 9 is nominated for this year:

Film Editing
Best Picture
Visual Effects
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Obviously the big one there for us fans is the Best Picture nomination.

The competitors for Best Picture are:

Avatar
James Cameron and Jon Landau

The Blind Side
Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson

An Education
Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey

The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro

Inglourious Basterds
Lawrence Bender

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness

A Serious Man
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Up
Jonas Rivera

Up in the Air
Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman

In my opinion I think that District 9 has a fight on its hands against the behemoth that is Avatar. I have a bad feeling that the brilliance of Blomkamp is going to be overlooked, much like Martin Scorsese was overlooked for decades in spite of his brilliance. But with that said, my full and unbridled support is behind the South African smash hit.

Taking away any of the oscars that District 9 is nominated for will be a triumph for Neil and his team. They deserve every success. I’ll be watching and waiting patiently for the winners to be announced.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This is an absolutely incredible short story told by Neil Blomkamp. I can’t help but see the link between literal aliens from the skies and illegal aliens from other countries in South Africa.

Blomkamp seems to be a maverick that is making waves in his field of expertise and I for one, cannot wait to see District 9.

Popularity: 6% [?]

It’s fantastic to see such a prominent movie producer/direct like Peter Jackson speak so highly of talented South Africans. Not only is the movie directed by a South African, but it stars South Africans and is produced in Johannesburg and based in Johannesburg.

I cannot wait to see how this film comes together.

Popularity: 9% [?]

It’s coming. They’re coming. They aren’t human either.

It appears to be a very simple concept based on real events but with a twist that makes it further away from home. Yet the fact remains that this movie seems to be based on the Xenophobic attacks that took place around South Africa last year (2008). (See below comment from coda regarding the possible origins of the films concept.)

The launch of this film seems to have been extremely well thought out and carefully orchestrated. It’s very underground and relatively viral.

Here are some sites to visit:

MNU
MNUSpreadLies
District-9
District-9 on YouTube
Apple Trailers – Where District-9 has just been featured on the trailers homepage.

I am astounded by what appears to be one helluva film emerging from our shores and gaining such ground so quickly.

Cannot wait to see this one.

Popularity: 4% [?]