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Bang Bang Club

The Bang Bang Club

Steven Silver

  • Country: Canada, South Africa
  • Year: 2010
  • Language: English
  • Producer: Daniel Iron, Lance Samuels, Adam Friedlander
  • Executive Producer: Neil Tabatznik, Steven Silver, Laszlo Barna, Chris Ouwinga, Darryn Welch, Kweku Mandela Amuah, Shabir Carrim, Ahmed Omar Carrim, Lal Bharwaney,
  • Screenplay: Steven Silver
  • Runtime: 106
  • Programmes:

The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa and the final demise of apartheid. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach.

BiographyHuman RightsPoliticsSub-Saharan AfricaViolence

screening times

    • Wednesday September 15
    • 9:30:00 PM
    • ROY THOMSON HALL
    • Thursday September 16
    • 9:00:00 AM
    • VARSITY 8

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

South Africa, 1994: Nelson Mandela has just been released from prison and tensions are steadily rising in the final bloody months of apartheid. Tribal factions, backed by the white government, wage bloody war on each other and gunshots ring through the streets of Soweto. In the middle of this are the Bang Bang Club; four young white photojournalists who made sure the world saw the carnage ripping through the streets of their hometown. Based on true events, this film is a harrowing exploration of heroism in the face of violence.

The Bang Bang Club was a nickname for photographers Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe), Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach) and Joao Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) because they were always in the thick of the gunfire, or the “bang-bang” as locals said. Witnessing the injustices wrought by F.W. de Klerk’s lackeys, the young men knew that the truth had to come out. Fuelled by adrenaline and moral outrage, they risked their lives to document the horrors of the civil war that wracked the nation. With the help of Robin (Malin Akerman), their no-nonsense photo editor, their photos helped focus world attention on the plight of South Africa and galvanize international opinion to end apartheid. Greg Marinovich and Kevin Carter each won a Pulitzer Prize for their astonishing photojournalism, but the horrors they witnessed took a devastating toll.

They also found themselves the object of ire among many black South Africans, who resented the fact that white outsiders were gaining international fame for representing their struggles to the world. Director Steven Silver provides an unflinching look at the politics – and the intense street fighting – in which the photographers found themselves immersed, lending the film a gripping journalist’s-eye-view that drops us into a harrowing moment of history.

director bio

Steven Silver began his career in the South African film industry before writing and co-producing the feature documentary Gerrie & Louise, which won an International Emmy award.His other documentaries include The Last Just Man (02), The Diameter of a Bomb (05) and The Dark Years (07) an animated documentary that won the animation competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. He was also executive producer on Roger Spottiswoode’s Shake Hands with the Devil (07).The Bang Bang Club (10) is his latest feature film.

full credits

Principal Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld, Frank Rautenbach
Producer:
Daniel Iron, Lance Samuels, Adam Friedlander
Executive Producer:
Neil Tabatznik, Steven Silver, Laszlo Barna, Chris Ouwinga, Darryn Welch, Kweku Mandela Amuah, Shabir Carrim, Ahmed Omar Carrim, Lal Bharwaney,
Cinematographer:
Miroslaw Baszak
Editor:
Ronald Sanders
Sound:
Jane Tattersall, Lou Solakofski, David McCallum
Music:
Philip Miller
Production Designer:
Emelia Weavind

Canadian Distributor:
 E1  
International Sales Agent:
 E1
Production Company:
Foundry Films Inc
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