South Africa TV show Hopeville featuring @TerryPheto nominated for International Emmy

I found some exciting news from @TerryPheto's twitter yesterday. She tweeted on October 6th - Great News... HOPEVILLE has been nominated for an EMMY AWARD. Best TV Movie/Mini-Series. I had already blogged about the HOPEVILLE movie, which was released in South African theatres September 3rd. I am waiting patiently for it to be on DVD, which will take a while. The movie's trailer speaks volumes and am personally not surprised that the television show has been nominated for an International Emmy in the TV Movie/Mini-Series category. I have never heard of any African television show being nominated for an International Emmy. This is big! Local is lekker!

Hopeville has already won an international award, it won for best drama and mini-series at the Rose d’Or Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland on 22 September, where it beat 85 other TV dramas. In the International Emmy competition Hopeville is competing against three other nominees: Germany’s The Author of Himself, the UK’s Small Island and Brazil’s Sound & Fury. The 38th International Emmys take place on 22 November at the Hilton Hotel in New York.

Terry Pheto already has an Oscar to her name for Tsotsi. That alone guarantees that Hopeville will win. She has a smaller role in Hopeville though but the other actors in the show are excellent as well. You can find out about other movies she's been in on IMDB.

Hopeville is produced by Johannesburg-based Curious Pictures for the Heartlines NGO and SABC Education. It was broadcast on South Africa's SABC2. Hopefully like other South African dramas, the rest of Africa could see the series on MNET at some point soon. Hopeville tells the story of an alcoholic father played by Themba Ndaba who tries to win the love of his son (Junior Singo) by fixing the local swimming pool. It's a feel good story. It highlights a community leader and how he stops at nothing to accomplish his goals.

The Hopeville series was directed by John Trengrove. It features Terry Pheto (of course), Desmond Dube, Fana Mokoena, Terry Pheto, Mary Twala, Jonathan Pienaar and Wilmien Roussouw. Credits include co-producers Harriet Gavshon and Mariki van der Walt; cinematographer Willie Nel; art director Karel Flint; and line producer Daphne Williams. Hopeville is based on a story by Roger Smith and Michele Rowe.


You can watch the trailer for the movie here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Hxxi13jmc