Joe Bullet - جو بيليت

  • Joe Bullet - جو [...]
Genre : Action
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 1971
Format : Feature
Running time : 85 (in minutes)

South Africa 1971, 85 min, DCP, colour. English.

Note of the Programmer (Berlinale 2015)
JOE BULLET must have been an extraordinary sight to Sowetan cinema-goers in 1973. Ken Gampu's on-screen presence echoed Roundtree's Shaft or Connery's Bond in his sheer, suave physicality. Rooted firmly in the action tradition, the film's plot centres on a shadowy mobster trying to fix a championship football final. There is intrigue, murder, and only one person to call - Joe Bullet!
In making the film, businessman-turned-producer Tonie van der Merwe, hoped to reach a new market. In step with 1970s black popular culture, the film was indebted to Blaxploitation cinema and was importantly, one of the first with an all-black cast that included stars like Gampu and Abigail Kubeka. Not only did Joe Bullet offer a thrilling new hero to audiences, but also a wholly different vision of black life than known at the time. This was an image of agency, aspiration and power, at odds with the realities of most non-white South Africans under apartheid. Despite having no overt oppositional politic, the film was quickly banned and remained unseen for decades.
Recently restored, JOE BULLET is a compelling, complex piece of South African cinema history and one which deserves a contemporary reappraisal.
Berlinale 2015
www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2015/02_programm_2015/02_Filmdatenblatt_2015_201507363.php

Note of the Programmer (MoMA 2014)
1971. South Africa. Directed by Louis de Witt. Produced by Tonie van der Merwe. With Ken Gampu, Abigail Kubeka, Cocky "Two Bull" Tlhotlhalemaje. Each edition of To Save and Project sheds light on a forgotten chapter of cinema history, and this year's festival is no exception. Joe Bullet was the first South African film with an all-black cast, a Blaxploitation-inspired action movie intended solely for black audiences in the townships. Johannesburg's answer to Shaft, Joe Bullet uses street smarts, karate chops, and an arsenal of weapons and explosives to root out corruption. The image of a gun-toting black hero who liked fast cars and quick(witted) women proved so unsettling to censors that they banned Joe Bullet after only two screenings. Nonetheless, producer-director Tonie van der Merwe was able to convince government authorities to create a subsidy for black films, and for the next two decades, roughly 25 filmmakers made more than 1,600 so-called B-scheme movies-films that, unlike the promise of Joe Bullet, seemed to many critics to reinforce the apartheid system of segregation and obedience. Thanks to Benjamin Cowley, the chief executive of Gravel Road Entertainment, 25 of these films have been rediscovered and digitally preserved through the Gravel Road African Film Legacy (GRAFL) Initiative by the Waterfront Film Studios in Cape Town. 79 min.
www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/22257

DIRECTOR
Louis de Witt

CAST
Ken Gampu
Abigail Kubeka
Jimmy Sabe
Cocky "Two Bull" Tlholthalemaje
Sidney Charma
Dan Poho
Sol Rachilo
Matthew Molete
Richard Khumalo
Henry Siduma

Director: Louis de Witt.
Screenplay: Tonie van der Merwe.
Director of photography: Louis de Witt.
Music: Silver Threads.
Editor: Oscar Burn.
Producer: Tonie van der Merwe.
Production company: Bullit Films (Cape Town, South Africa).

Cast
Ken Gampu (Joe Bullet), Abigail Kubeka (Beauty), Jimmy
Sabe (Popeye), Cocky "Two Bull" Tlholthalemaje (Flash), Sidney
Charma (Jerry), Dan Poho (President), Sol Rachilo (Sonny),
Matthew Molete (Spike), Richard Khumalo (Lucas), Henry
Siduma (Henry).

World sales
Rushlake Med

Distribution : Gravel Road Entertainment Group (PTY) LTD, Cape Town

2015 | Berlinale
* Selection - Forum
www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2015/02_programm_2015/02_Filmdatenblatt_2015_201507363.php

___________

JOE BULLET muss 1973 ein außergewöhnlicher Anblick für Sowetos
Kinogänger gewesen sein. Ken Gampus körperliche Präsenz und Läs
-sigkeit lassen an Shaft oder James Bond denken. Actionreich kreist die Handlung um den Plan eines zwielichtigen Gangsters, ein Fußballpo-kalfinale zu manipulieren. Es gibt Intrigen, Mord und nur eine Rettung - Joe Bullet!
Mit dem Film wollte der geschäftstüchtige Produzent Tonie van der
Merwe einen neuen Markt erobern. Anknüpfend an die schwarze Pop
kultur der 70er und das Blaxploitation-Genre war es einer der ersten Filme mit durchweg schwarzer Besetzung, darunter Stars wie Gampu und Abigaill Kubeka. JOE BULLET bot nicht nur einen aufregenden neuen Publikumshelden, sondern auch die Vision eines schwarzen Daseins, das sich völlig von den damaligen Zuständen unterschied. Handlungs-fähigkeit, Ambitionen und Macht entsprachen nicht der Wirklichkeit der meisten schwarzen Südafrikaner unter der Apartheid. Obwohl der Film nicht offenkundig politisch war, wurde er bald verboten und jahr-zehntelang nicht gezeigt.
Nun liegt JOE BULLET in einer restaurierten Fassung vor - ein komplexes, fesselndes Stück südafrikanischer Filmgeschichte, das eine Neu-bewertung verdient.

Südafrika 1971
85 Min. · DCP, 1:1.78 (16:9) · Farbe

Regie: Louis de Witt
Buch: Tonie van der Merwe
Kamera: Louis de Witt
Schnitt: Oscar Burn
Musik: Silver Threads
Beauty: Abigail Kubeka

Produzent: Tonie van der Merwe, Bullit Films

Darsteller
Ken Gampu (Joe Bullet)
Abigail Kubeka (Beauty)
Jimmy Sabe (Popeye)
Cocky „Two Bull" Tlholthalemaje (Flash)
Sidney Charma (Jerry)
Dan Poho (President)
Sol Rachilo (Sonny)
Matthew Molete (Spike)
Richard Khumalo (Lucas)
Henry Siduma (Henry)

Produktion
Bullit Films
Cape Town, Südafrika

Weltvertrieb
Rushlake Media
Köln, Deutschland
+49 221 58832180
info@rushlake-media.com


source:
www.berlinale.de/external/de/filmarchiv/doku_pdf/201507363.pdf

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