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WRITERS: Damon Heatlie, Damir Radonic & Angie Mills
PRODUCERS: Damir Radonic & Angie Mills
SCRIPT EDITOR: arima E!!endi !or t"e #ational $ilm & %ideo$ondation
WORI#' TIT(E: Do)n and Dirt*
TA'(I#E: +een Do)n so (ong don-t no) W"ic" Wa* is U./0
$ORMAT: $eatre $ilm !or Cinematic Release
'E#RE: 'rotes1e Drama
RU##I#' TIME: 23 Mintes
TAR'ET AUDIE#CE: Do)n and Dirt* is li4el* to a..eal to a discerning
and critical art adience 5 6ot" locall* and internationall*, moreli4el* a Ero.ean adience/ T"e !ilm is targeted at critical !esti7alrelease and rece.tion rat"er t"an !or a mass commercial mar4et/
WHAT I$ PREMISE:
What if a large sum of money suddenly falls into the hands of an
unloved patriarch who uses it to extend his tyrannical rule over his
poverty-stricken family driving them to plot his murder.
*What if a cynical and alienated (unloved) Xhosa patriarch acquires a
ig disaility payout! ut then refuses to share his wealth with his
desperately poor ut scheming family"
S8#OPSIS:
#he film is to e shot in $angerg township in $out %ay! transposed
into the fictional location of &oed %aai. 't takes the central story
line from the original!%rutti! porchi e attivi revolving action
around the patriarch in the figure of +oseph ,aena. #he story rings
out the daily struggle of a family as it attempts to survive poverty.
'ts central theme is deprivation.
,r. ,aena is a Xhosa (lack) man married to a coloured woman. $e lives
a lonely and isolated life from his family and deeply longs for love.
$e receives a sieale amount of money from insurance for the loss of
his eye on the o. /round him his family grows more resentful as he
daily hides the money. $is growing paranoia and power isolates him
even further until one day he falls into the arms of a stranger! the
mysterious 0smerelda. $e moves her into the family shack and all hell
reaks loose. #he family plots to kill ,aena y poisoning him and his
full fall is set into motion. #his small story told aout this small
family intends to ring out the roader issues at play in the life of
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the poor of outh /frica today.
AC'ROU#D TO THE PRO9ECT:
Do)n and Dirt* is inspired y the 'talian grotesque drama 1%rutti!
porchu e attivi! (2gly! 3irty and %ad). #he film was directed y0ttore cola and was released to critical acclaim in 4567.
1%rutti! porchi e attivi was a film ahead of its time. ,uch of the
social commentary expressed through dark commentary went unnoticed and
the film was commended for performance and cinematic daring rather than
the issues it raised! namely homelessness! poverty! environmental
degradation! consumerism! and uran settlements in the seventies gloal
economic crisis viewed through the prism of 'taly.
#his compelling film daringly took up satirical comment upon issues of
survival and poverty that are still relevant to contemporary concerns
around uran settlements. 1%rutti! porchi e attivi is unsurpassedin its relentless exploration of the nature of survival. %y looking at
the challenges of the poor through the lens of dis-identification
encouraging critique and analysis! the pathos is found in the humour!in
our humanness and the frailty of our interdependency.
#he most critical aspect of the original film is first its setting. 't
immediately uxtaposes economic disparities in one shot y the contrast
of a township against the ackdrop of a developing wealthy 8ome.
eemingly working with a found location to tackle real life issues of
survival there is a sensiility produced of the sheer hardness of daily
life for the poor. &eneral use of availale light and oservational
camera work was more familiar in documentary filmmaking than fiction.
#he aesthetic it provoked in 1%rutti! porchi e attivi underscored
the social themes of the film.
#he way that the doyen 9ino ,anfredi leads a mostly unknown cast into
such a realistic performance allows for authenticity to characters as
well as context and daily life. /lthough highly crafted as a film
there is a spontaneity rought aout y the situations which reveal
characters and allow the audience to identify with the 1raw and the
1authentic.
With all this complexity the story remains simple and powerful. #he
film ends with the only 1innocent character! the young girl! pregnant
condemned to live under these conditions of survival and cycle of
poverty.
We argue for a remake of 1%rutti! porchi e attivi on the asis that
it can illuminate real life conditions for the poor :; years later in a
place as far from 'taly as outh /frica.
T"e Sot" A!rican !ilm conceptualised y the producers is aimed atcritical and artistic rather than popular release. 13own and 3irty
relies < in oth genre and story < on the principles of exaggeration
and hyperole. #he grotesque is delierately emphasised in order to
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make a igger statement aout poverty and deprivation in a ape #own
informal settlement the fictional &oed %aai (ased on $angerg! ape
#own). =n the contrary! it is meant to unsettle viewers and make us
question our own complicity in the status quo that the film wishes to
depict. #he protagonist is likewise not the most amiale hero we will
come to meet.
'n the film < character takes precedence over plot. onceptually
speaking! the film is less concerned with an action-packed and
expositional (cause and effect) plot than with delving into how people
(characters in the film) are driven to extreme ehaviours ecause of
their dire conditions. 'n terms of elievaility then! resonance needs
to come from the characters and from watching the incredile lengths
people would go to in order to counter or cope with the deprivation in
their lives.
#he film is concerned with the idea of relative deprivation < that we
do not know who we are unless we compare ourselves with others.
%ecause &oed %aai (like $angerg) is a shantytown remarkaly located in
the heart of a luxurious and privileged neighourhood! its residents
are constantly reminded of ust how little they have. #he plush realestate surrounding &oed %aai is a ceaseless reminder of what the slum>s
residents aspire to ut will never achieve? a daily! almost
pornographic reminder of the lack and deprivation in &oed %aai. @iving
in an extremely poor slum surrounded y extreme wealth! is a recipe for
extreme ehaviour < and this is what we find in &oed %aai.
Contetall*S6;ectslocationPeo.le
MOTI%ATIO# $OR HA#'ER'MOTI%ATIO# $OR A CAST MADE UP O$ (AR'E(8 CAST COMMU#IT8 MEMERSMOTI%ATIO# $OR CO((A'E
Hang6erg Ca.e To)n as Setting !or 'oed aai8ecent news reports showed riots in a small community in ape #own!
$angerg. #his traditionally 1coloured community threw rocks and took
up arms in protest against the prospective demolition of their informalsettlement. #hey cited as part of their discontent the failing service
delivery y local and national government officials to their living
needs which in turn had forced a growth of the informal sector of the
township.
Omnes 7iae Romam dcnt.2rgent needs for shelter y new 1uran poor are giving outh /frican
cities new shape. 'nformal settlements (often referred to as squatter
camps or shanty towns) are dense settlements comprised of communities
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housed in self-constructed shelters under conditions of informal or
traditional land tenure. 'nformal settlements occur when the current
land administration and planning fails to address the needs of the
whole community. #hese areas are characteried y rapid! un-structured
and un-planned development. /s such they are characteried y a dense
proliferation of small! make-shift shelters uilt from diverse
materials! degradation of the local ecosystem and y severe social
prolems.
oloured ommunity
'n outh /frica! coloured communities came aout during the &roup /reas
/ct of 45A; when people were forcily moved to locations to e grouped
with their 1own. #his particular group was positioned etween lacks
and whites! as mixed race! to e less than white ut etter than lack.
#he ape coloured community evolved over :;; years from the colonial
1astards raised in the domestic quarters enslaved as manual
agricultural workers into modern day lieral economy driven specialied
manual workers. #hey were given limited skills and opportunities!
marginalied as cheap laour as fisherman! factory workers!
tradesmen... &eneral unemployment turned many to look for alternativemeans to earn their wages! including growing illegal activities. #he
communities have ecome criminalied ruled y crime lords who have a
semlance of power where they can define the rules and regulate the
lives of those dependent on them.
Social consciosness !ilms#oday a new stream of social consciousness films is currently in the
making. uch films are raising awareness aout the living conditions!
the socio-political and economic contexts within which poor people make
life and survive. #he success of socially conscious films with
international audiences shows a growing interest in the lives of the
underrepresented.
With the worldBs eye on outh /frica the film is poised to illuminate
real conditions for people on the ground. 't is a story that will have
gloal and local resonance and we elieve find audiences much like
those drawn to 1lumdog ,illionaire ('ndia) and 1ity of &od
(%rail). #he time for such a film aout outh /frica is now.
' wish ' could convey what /frica was like. ' have experienced nothing
like it. /frica has its own personality. ometimes it is a sad
personality! sometimes impenetrale! ut always unrepeatale. /frica
is dynamic. 't was aggressive! on the attack.
S8#OPSIS
E8 CHARACTERS
9ose." Ma6ena! (Xhosa! A6)! hails from the former #ranskei. / welder y
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trade! ,aena has een working as a oat mechanic at the harour for
the last two decades. $e lives with his coloured wife! 3oreen! and
largely informally-employed extended family in the coloured township of
&oed %aai! ape #own.
$is hoy is drinking and strolling around with his attered hound!
9;, a friend and confidant. / itter and cynical patriarch of asqualid compound of loosely connected shacks! ,aena! is at loggerheads
with his entire family.
'n his view +oe ,aena has een disadvantaged his whole lifeC deprived
of opportunity y the apartheid government! deprived of a home after
ecoming a migrant! deprived of his dreams to ecome a musician!
deprived of the new riches amassed y lacks and whites alike in the
1new outh /frica.
,ost fundamentally he has een deprived of the love and respect of his
family! even if his own itterness has played a large role in this.
#his sense of deprivation and worthlessness sits at the root of his
unhappiness and frustration with life. o when ,aena comes into money!
he refuses to share his money with his family and instead uses it todominate them.
,aenaBs low self-esteem causes him to compare himself to others around
him! and so the irony of the story - he needs his family to be poor
in order for him to be rich. $e proects his own sense of worthlessness
into his family.
,aena is oth cruel and generous. $e is shameless in his comments and
ehaviour. $e roundly auses his family and community! loing them
with whatever is convenient or availale. %ut underneath this fractious
facade ,aena is a roken romantic who long ago lost hope in life. $is
remaining loves are his eaten-up trumpet from his days gone y! his
dog +uu! and his youngest daughter! Drincess.
Doreen Ma6ena! (oloured! A:) is ,aena>s wife of thirty odd years. /lifetime of hardship and trying to keep things together in the face of
poverty has left her disillusioned with life and her marriage. he
lost her o! along with a numer of women! when the fish factory where
she was employed closed down.
3oreen is a survivor and pragmatist. he is the family organiser! the
realist!the one who plans and commands. he cares aout her home which
she tries to keep together in the face of entropy.
he spends much of her time in conflict with her husand! although once
upon a time he serenaded her with a trumpet.
$er disappointment in life is pushed into revengeful rage when ,aena
humiliates her y declaring his love for 0smeralda.
Princess Ma6ena (oloured! 47) is the figure of udding possiility inthe ,aena family. he is at the crossroads etween girlhood and
adulthood. he acts as the liminal figure in the story? one with a
prospective future.
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Esmeralda (White! E5). /n overweight FentertainerB from 9amiia whodrifts into the nocturnal sheeen world of &oed %aai! she is ,aenaBs
lind spot. heBs not very right and says very little. $is infatuation
with her is a vanity proect! a product of his low self-esteem. While
he feels valued as a man! it is purely his money that attracts her.
#his is clear to everyone except him.
ECUTI%E PRODUCER ? Donald / Ran7ad
/cclaimed 0xecutive Droducer 3onald 8anvaud of /nglo-'talian origin and
with a Hrench name has amongst a stellar list of films produced
1Harewell my oncuine! 1/ onstant &ardener and 1ity of &od. 't is
upon this rich experience of working in /frica! /sia and @atin /merica
that 13own and 3irty can e realised oth through financial and actual
production support. Iey to the remake of 13own and 3irty is his
experience working in the favelas of 8ioJ %rail with a cast of non-
actors to make 1ity of &od a film that went on to win an =scar as
well as widespread international distrution. Hor outh /frican
audiences! this film from the early 455;s still resonates as expressive
of similar conditions on the ground.
E>ECUTI%E PRODUCER 5 Damir Radonic
3amir 8adonic immigrated to outh /frica from former Kugoslavia in the
early 455;s. $e enters the film usiness from a ackground of
architecture! proect management and uran design. $is keen interest in
outh /frican uran development and issues around housing rought him
into a position to understand film as the right medium to create
social awareness around those topics. $omelessness and informal
settlements are the core of his interest and possiility of adaptation
for 13own L 3irty came as clear opportunity to tackle these concepts
as gloal rather than local phenomena. /s 0xecutive Droducer and
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3irector he has recently realied his first feature film 1#aka #aka-
taM! a light hearted outh /frican soccer comedy. 3amir will act as
oth 0xecutive and reative Droducer on 13own and 3irty.
DIRECTOR @ WRITER 5 Angie Mills
/ngie ,ills earned her degree in /nthropology! post-colonial theory and
film studies at the tate 2niversity of 9ew Kork. usequent to that
she has een engaged in a numer of capacities in the outh /frican
film and television industry over the past 4A years including as a
commissioning editor at the /% and director on the local drama series
1'sidingo. /s script developer she has worked on the international
feature films 1,ax and ,ona and 1#he %ird anBt Hly. 'n G;;N /ngie
was invited to participate in the annes film festival as a panelist
alongside other /frican women filmmakers. he is also producer on the
feature film 1#aka #aka-ta. /ngie is the appointed writerJ director
on 13own and 3irty.
CAST
CREW
TREATME#T
+Ultimatel*, an* sign or )ord is ssce.ti6le to 6eing con7erted intosomet"ing else, e7en into its o..osite/0tatements on /ppropriation
(G;;5),ichalis Dichler
3eprivation is a multidimensional concept. 'n the sphere of economics!
deprivation manifests itself as poverty? in politics! as
marginaliation? in social relations! as discrimination? in culture! as
rootlessness? in ecology! as vulneraility. #he different forms of
deprivation reinforce one another =ften the same household! the same
region! the same country is the victim of all these forms of
deprivation. %ecause the poor are often cut off from the decisionmaking
process of their communities! discriminated against y other stations
in society! cut off from aiding roots in the community! and relegated
to occupy environmentally unsafe areas of societal space! the solutions
to their dilemma require a multifaceted approach ased on anunderstanding of roader deprivation.
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#he director will take as his departure point for the aesthetics of the
film the work of collageJcompositing. #he screen will e split into
three frames! the main frame! the side ar and the top ar.
Main $rame: #he film opens! early morning! hae of smoke from fires!
with a young girl carrying a ucket on her head meandering in a wide
locked off shot down a dusty road towards a water point. he walks
etween corroded and rightly coloured shacks and comes out into a
1clearing. 'n her path people criss-cross on their way to work! doing
early morning tasks! students off to school! women selling mealies on
the side of the road calling out! chickens clucking peck at the hard
ground! taxis lare their latest kwaito hits(/ popular music)! oys
cat call and girls walk y! the girl continues on her path undeterred.
#he whole swirl of life happens against a collage ackdrop of shacks
stacked against one another! leaning into one another! some old and
leaking! others rightly painted! others decorated eyond elief! a few
with flowers growing on a small patch of land! a lone tree ends
outside a lime green metal wall! cloth sack hangs over roofs to protect
the inside of the homes from rain and rocks hold the sacks down. ut
to mid shot of a group of women! gossiping! discussing their gamling
of the hinese numers game! as they fill uckets and passing the
latest news aout what is happening in the neighorhood. #he young
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girl arrives to collect her daily supply.
Side ar: / close up of dirty water from a polluted river swirls on
the side of the main frame! some plastic ottles and a cup floats y.
To. ar: / corroded roof! filled with holes! leaks.
ollageJcompositing is visile in a numer of forms that are distinctly
outh /frican and township ased. #he way the dwellings take their
shape through the notion of availaleJfound elements rather than using
1purpose made uilding locks.
outh /frican 1hacks are adopted! orrowed! usually recycled of man-
made visual culture. #he appropriation of consumer markers and rands
towards creating intimate spaces that hold dignity and ownership is a
powerful dialectic around power relations etween the haves and have
nots. =ur film intends to draw on these aesthetics and further to
foreground the recycled nature of the ways in which people reuse
materials towards creating newness! contemporary life! and
experientiality.
1#he assemlages do not distinguish primarily etween which parts are
supposed to e original and which have een found and gathered from
someplace else? assemlages are interested in what works! what has
social effects.O/ssemlage #heory and ocial omplexity (G;;7) ,anuel
3e @anda
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#hese uran settlements marked y different forms of transport where
children run through streets pushing old tires! and rand new upmarket
cars can e glimpsed as well as rows of taxis lining roads ready to
pick up their customers! who range from domestic workers! day
laourers! school kids! hawkers! who all shuttle their way daily into
the roader nexus that also makes their lives.
#he mixture of rural meeting uran is evident in these very
uxtapositions and offers ways in which there can e new readings of
migration. #hese migrations speak to corridors of flux where the rural
and modern intermix as do itinerant laourers who move in and out
against those more 1settled populations! and immigrants mainly from
other parts of /frica who also settle on the peripheries creating their
own makeshift shelters.
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1#he migration from rural to uran areas has added interesting and
imaginative interpretations to the creative process and transformed
these mere physical dwelling places! as humle as they seem! into
spiritual aodes. #here is no fear of contradiction in the rural-
meets-uran aesthetic that simultaneously and unapologetically
uxtaposes cow horns sourced from ritual slaughter in honour of
ancestors! hanging over the doorpost against ,adonna-and-child icons
reverently covered in protective clear plastic paper hanging on the
Fliving roomB wall. Phack hic! raig Hraser! G;;GQ
ART DIRECTIO# :
+t"ere is as mc" +n.redicta6le originalit*0in 1oting, imitating,
trans.osing, and ec"oing, as t"ere is in in7enting/0 tatements on
/ppropriation (G;;5) ,ichalis Dichler
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#he ways in which people decorate the exteriors and interiors of their
homes creating wallpaper and decoration through packaging! laels!
using unconventional colour and placing old oects alongside new!
traditional and modern all displaying innovative ways of uxtaposing
oects as well images towards eautifying shacks! is a key visual
reference evident in the landscape of township life.
1@iving interior walls with randed FwallpaperB < surplus packaging for
popular outh /frican products such as @ucky tar (pilchards)! %ull
%rand (corned eef)! @ion matches! unlight soap! olgate! Dalmolivesoap and Ioo aked eans < is a popular dRcor scheme! initially
employed of necessity (functional for filling holes in the walls and
covering the unsightly lack of uniformity in the uilding materials)!
they are more ecoming a design feature in themselves. Phack hic!
raig Hraser! G;;G
,anuel 3e @anda>s latest ook!A #e) P"iloso."* o! Societ*: Assem6lageT"eor* and Social Com.leit*! starts from the level of individual!personal relations and continues gradually all the way to the level of
nation state and eyond. /ll phenomena are defined as emerging from
d*namic s*stems! which are in constant flux.#hrough defining the contemporary world as an entity of extreme
complexity! ,anuel 3e @anda simultaneously criticies the dominant
postmodernist linguistic analysis in social science. #his new approach
to social ontology should instead assert the autonomous nature of
social entities! taking &illes 3eleue>s t"eor* o! assem6lages !or its
main !rame)or4/ T"e com.onents in t"e assem6lages are de!ined 6* t"eir
material dimension and territorialiing and deterritorialiing ais/
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T"e* are "istoricall* contingent, "eterogeneos and sel!?s6sistent,
gi7ing t"e .ossi6ilit* to ta4e one assem6lage and insert it into
anot"er )it"ot destro*ing its identit*/ T"e main c"aracteristics o!
t"e relations"i. 6et)een an assem6lage and its com.onents are
com.leit* and non?linearit*,and ,anuel 3e @anda elieves that the
task of social science is to analye them as such.
CI#EMATO'RAPH8:
Hrom a visual point of view our film intends to draw on
collageJcompositing in several waysC #o allow the frame to fill in
through collage and also to split the screen towards photomontage to
remark on the different issues and themes at play in the story i.e.
gender! environmentalism etc. &iven the layered nature of social
integration! to the layered context which people live and the tensions
of survival in which they find themselves! down to the very layered
nature of the shack in which they live! collageJcompositing speaks to
all these levels. #he frame split into three will foreground on one
hand the main drama of the story! provide another suplot J social
comment through a second 1side ar frame on the environment and again
allow for a third frame which sits on top to hold together the other
two.
#o achieve such 1Dhotomontage we will shoot three different sceneswith locked cameras clearly understanding where are the positions of
the splitJdivision lines. cene will vary in shot sies and dynamics.
Hinal composition will happen in postproduction.
In t"is model, t"e role o! intertetalit* is recognied as central to
t"e com.osition o! Bne)B material/
CO(OUR A#D (I'HTI#':
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&rayness of township galvanied roofs and walls contrasts with lue sky
and patches of tin metal walls painted in primary colours. 8ichness of
textures and asic rectangular shapes collaged next to one another
occasionally patched with part of a recogniale rand advertising
oard reclaims new life as a shack structural element. hapes are
rather camouflaged hiding edges and orders and appear as an organic
manmade faric stretched in the infinity of the ape #own landscape.
#he need for set design will e minimal as the township gives endless
possiilities to find perfect exterior and interior locations. @ocation
scouting will e done in accordance with the notion to shoot using
availale light. 2se of natural light is imperative and additional
provisions will e made only for few night and interior shoots. #he use
of natural life is a gain towards capturing lived life.
SOU#D:
#he cacophony of children! fires crackling! horns lowing! shouts! a
gun goes off! chickens cluck! vuvuelas intermittently low! pots
clanging! the latest hits from the radio! water gushing from a waterpoint! aies crying < in sum the full experiential sound of lived life
will fill the film. We will take as much naturalJavailale sounds as
possile and through the diagetic forge meaningful relationships
etween the images.
MUSIC:
8emix of availale music intercultural and orderlessJuncontained
within scene! free to flow from the street into the interior and often
used as noise depicting 1sound pollution as another amient element of
township living.
(OCATIO#:
We currently have a transcript and character exploration of the ,aena
family set in a hypothetical Western ape #ownship (please see
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synopsis).
We have chosen $angerg! which is such a community as the context and
suect for the remake of 1%rutti! porchi e attivi. et in the
spectacular ay of $out %ay (part of ape #own ,etropolis)! this
township and informal settlement stands in stark contrast to the rich
developments across the way. 'n the 457;s people were forcily
removed from agricultural lands which although ancestral they had no
land rights to! and they were displaced onto a patch of land that sits
under the famous landmark of the 1entinel which marks every tourist
postcard of $outay. 'nvisile on the post cards! this small coloured
community makes its living primarily off the sea through fishing and in
illegal activities like aalone poaching and the drug industry that
moves through surrounding waters linked to triads and gloal trade.
$angerg is in effect a corridor of flux? transportation! migrant
laour! dwellings that go up over night! people moving in and out !
make this an 1ideal space in which to explore intercultural dynamics!
survival! life! flux! poverty! hardship! transactional life and
transcendence.
We would like to flesh out more contextually the issues of
environmentalism! poverty! homelessness and xenophoia that effect thestory of the ,aena family. We need to engage in a fair amount of
qualitative research to develop the script over a numer of rewrites to
its fullest potential.
Do)n & Dirt* Prodction Sc"edle 3 @ 3F Time
De7elo.ment ? end ,ay G;4:
Pre.rodction ? +une < eptemer G;4:
Prodction ? =ctoer G;4:
Post.rodction ? 9ovemer G;4: - ,arch G;4A
Mar4eting@distri6tion ? ,ay G;4A