Kanye Kanye, a fourth year student’s film is the AFDA (the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance) nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Student Short Film.
Kanye Kanye is a romantic comedy that deals with a forbidden love affair between two young township teenagers. The film is directed by Miklas Manneke whose third year film, Electricity, won a number of awards in 2012.
“The wonder of film is the ability to change the world by creating another,” says Miklas Manneke, who is thrilled with the nomination.
“It is an honor for everyone involved in the making of Kanye Kanye, to be selected on this international platform to represent AFDA film school at the beginning of our careers, especially considering the high standard of the Student Oscars. It is great to know that my voice has had an impact on an audience and that I could bring a drop of enjoyment to the world from a South African point of view.”
The Student Academy Awards is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual competition for college and university filmmakers. The awards were originally named the Student Film Awards and were first presented in 1973.
The Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards and presentation of the Oscars. Less well known is that the Academy gives Student Academy Awards to filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Kanye Kanye won 9 AFDA Gold Awards at the annual awards including sound design, visual effects, editing, production design, costume make-up and styling, screenplay, directing, acting and cinematography.
“Kanye Kanye is a reflective short film by a student director and team whose attention to detail has made it a work of art which will resonate world-wide,” says Gina Bonmariage, postgraduate course director at AFDA Johannesburg.
Kanye Kanye has also been nominated as the AFDA candidate for best fiction film for the CILECT (International Film School Association) Awards, along with the AFDA Cape Town documentary Crumbs in the documentary category and the third year Cape Town animation Like Clockwork in the best animation category.
“Although the Oscar award is by far the most prestigious of all student awards, the CILECT Award is possibly one of the most difficult awards to win as it is contested by over 100 of the world’s top film schools, “ says AFDA co-founder and CILECT executive board member Garth Holmes, “but our congratulations to all the films that have been nominated – it’s a rare honor and we look forward to the results in the near future.”
The annual Durban International Film Festival showcases a feast of movies each year, which makes it an ideal time for film lovers to schedule a trip to South Africa. This year’s (2013) festival will run from July 18 - 28.
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