Highlight on one of Skybok’s clients Retro Afrika Bioscope – a studio label of Gravel Road Entertainment at the Waterfront Film Studios in Cape Town. CEO Ben Cowley has just returned from France for the “Lumiere Film Festival & Classic Film Market” in Lyon! Retro Afrika exhibited some retro titles at the Classic Film Market as well as its restoration services. Skybok is enjoying handling this account!
Upcoming we’ve got:
+ The Mini Retro Afrika Film Festival in association with The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg 24th – 26th October. 4 Films will be showcased: “Joe Bullet”, “Fishy Stones”, “Trompie” & “Umbango”. More on our blog www.retroafrika.com
+ “Joe Bullet” (a film banned in 1971) will be showcased at the MoMA The Museum of Modern Art in New York City on the 8th & 13th November as part of the “To Save and Project” Film Preservation Festival.
+ “Trompie” DVD will be released in Musica nationwide
+ “Joe Bullet” will be showcased at the Carthage International Film Festival in Tunisia
Lisbon was one of the most magical, enchanting places I’ve been to. It’s one of the oldest cities in the world. It’s definitely one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, predating other modern European capitals such as London, Paris and Rome by hundreds of years. They love their sardines… and I was explicitly told by a local that I wouldn’t truly experience Lisbon if I didn’t experience their char-grilled sardines (with lemon and sea salt).
Not so long ago I traveled to Bavaria, Germany, with family and friends. We landed in Munich and took a train to Oberammergau; the prettiest village I’ve ever been to. The reason we went was to watch the famous “Passion Play”, which is performed there only every ten years.
GUESS is a brand that’s always inspired me. We did a bit of its style in a recent shoot in East Village New York with John Tona at http://www.johntona.com/
I went with my brother to the US Open Men’s Quarterfinals at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. I watched Andy Murray vs. Stanislas Wawrinka. It was such an awesome vibe, even Sean Connery was in the crowd! They played James Bond music during one of the breaks, he was smiling, it was loads of fun 🙂 I was shocked with Murray’s performance, he looked like he just gave up half way through. I couldn’t believe he mangled yet another racket, but I would too if I was up against Wawrinka who was playing near-flawless tennis. He deserves his place in the semi finals!
I really enjoyed my course at the New York Film Academy in Manhattan. They call it “NYFA” for short. I was impressed with all the school has to offer in every aspect of motion picture, film-making + showbiz in general. Aside from their acting courses, they also offer courses in film-making, producing, editing, photography, cinematography, 3D animation, game design, digital editing, screenwriting, broadcast journalism, documentary film-making, musical theatre, music video creation + so much more. We had class daily from 8:30am – 5pm, in which we studied:
Text / script analysis
Audition Technique
Scene Study
Monologue Techniques
Acting for film
Voice and Movement
Improvisation
Branding & Marketing for the actor
We had these classes with various coaches every day at NYFA campuses across the city. One of our campuses was at a place called “Pearl Studios” + it’s where all the Broadway shows go to rehearse and hold auditions! We had “Jersey Boys”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Rock of Ages”, “Wicked”, “Newsies” rehearsing + holding auditions for the new season every day. Exciting stuff! What I loved about NYFA is that they coached us in every way possible … we would act, film ourselves acting, watch ourselves + critique ourselves / have our coaches critique us. We did monologues + scenes with scene partners where we got assigned a partner + a scene from an award-winning play or film. We practiced with each other during structured rehearsal blocks in the week. We then filmed it on location with professional equipment + crew. At the end of the course we had material for our showreels which was great. Another awesome part of the course was having industry professionals come in + talk to us. They’d give us coaching advice, which I found invaluable. All our teachers were actively involved in the industry themselves, working either in feature films, sitcoms, television shows or commercials. I loved getting taught by them, trained by them + I especially loved getting their advice. What amazed me most was all the avenues students in acting can branch into. Some of our teachers studied acting for screen + then went on to work on “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) or “30 Rock” which is its own career. I would personally enjoy the experience of working on feature films. I loved the talk we had one evening from the Director of Photography for “World War Z”, Ben Seresin. Below is a picture of my class outside the Union Square campus.
