SOUTH AFRICAN PRE-RELEASE RESPONSE TO THE FILM

“TRIOMF” WINS BEST SOUTH AFRICAN FILM AWARD 2008
Michael Raeburn’s film triumphs at Durban International Film Festival

Support of local content and films by the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) is starting to show visible results, with Michael Raeburn’s Triomf winning the coveted Best South African Film Award at the recent Durban International Film Festival 2008.

“We congratulate Michael, his cast and crew on this outstanding achievement – Triomf is creating a sensation wherever it is screened and it is particularly rewarding to see the enthusiastic support it is receiving here in South Africa,” says Terry Tselane, Chief Executive of the GFC.

The citation for Triomf, by Junaid Ahmed at the awards ceremony, sums up the film’s appeal: “… by immersing itself into the often sordid world where poverty, and the educational gaps that attend it, meet an arrogant sense of entitlement, Triomf exposes a series of universal truths. The dirty secrets of capitalism, of racism, of manipulative politics, of the human heart are mirrored in the secrets of one family, whose disastrous disintegration reminds us that a nation’s history is written by individuals.”

TRIOMF SCREENED TO PACKED GAUTENG AUDIENCE

Following an exceptionally well-received screening at the National Arts Festival, Michael Raeburn’s Triomf hit Johannesburg yesterday, playing to an audience of over 500 of the city’s who’s who.

The Gauteng gala and media screening was attended by almost the entire cast, including Lionel Newton, Vanessa Cooke, Obed Baloyi, Eduan van Jaarsveldt, Paul Luckoff and Pam Andrews.

The scenario of Triomf, written by Michael Raeburn and Malcolm Kohll, is adapted from the novel of the same name by Marlene van Niekerk (Noma Award for African Literature, 1995). Commenting on the film to Raeburn, Van Niekerk said: “I congratulate you on a very interesting and also extremely funny movie! Please congratulate the actors on my behalf, after all your struggles and hard work you can be proud of a very satisfying result.”

The screening was hosted by the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC), which is playing an increasingly important role in supporting local content and films.

The film has created a sensation wherever it has been screened. A sample of reviews below highlight its early success, and bode well for the future of this talented director.

“This new film by Michael Raeburn is a pearl, and one of the most vibrant signs of the sort of films that can be made in South Africa today. At last a digital movie designed for the big screen, with well-constructed images, subtle colorization, individualistic framing and actors directed with a master’s touch. The characters are as truculent as they are touching. The tension is constant from beginning to end. In this explosive spectacle, spectators are compelled to question their own impulses and uncontrolled emotions. By daring to make this film, Raeburn shatters the norms of South African cinema. People used to television will receive an electric shock…. Triomf is the result of independent production that can regenerate the standard landscape of South African cinema.”

Michel Amarger - ‘RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONAL’
and ‘MEDIAS FRANCE’,
July 2008 Cannes Film Festival
“Pavilion Sud Cannes Selection”

“Triomf, this cruel but salutatory film by Michael Raeburn offers an extraordinary, even very extraordinary experience. Its crudity is on a level with that of the apartheid regime, on its way out in 1994 when the film is set.”

Reviewed by Olivier Barlet - “AFRICULTURES”
2008 Cannes Film Festival
“Pavilion Sud Selection”

“A very "auteur" movie of a book with a singular signature.”

Andrew Worsdale reporting on the National Arts Festival
and the premiere screening of Triomf,
MAIL & GUARDIAN June 21st, 2008

“Marlene van Niekerk's book Triomf may not have been Michael Raeburn's personal story, but he leapt at the chance to film it, because it deals with his favourite topic, people on the edge.

While the story and characters are very South African it also has a very universal appeal through the concept of minority, insulated communities looking inward when they feel threatened. The film has a deliberately claustrophobic feel that emphasises the family's insecurity, which is leavened somewhat by some hilarious comical moments.

The film plays out over five days just before the 1994 general election and it is refreshingly un-PC. The acting is unfailingly strong, the language is sharp (both subtitles and original Afrikaans) and the raw, unflinching way the story is thrown at you makes stuff like “Poena is Koning” look like amateur hour.

There is no way this film would've been made 15 years ago, but now, South Africa is going to have to get ready for some self-reflection beyond politics.

In a way this film takes what “Bunny Chow” started even further - it gives local filmmakers permission to make films about ourselves that aren't predicated on truth and reconciliation.

It may have a political angle, because of when it is set, but ultimately it's about how secrets and lies destroy a family, and by extension, society at large.”

‘Self-reflection beyond the politics’
by Theresa Smith, THE STAR ‘Tonight’ at the
Grahamstown Festival, July 4th 2008

A GREAT DEAL OF PRESS TOOK PLACE DURING THE SHOOT

Check it out on – www.triomf-movie.com