The South African Film and TV Awards (SAFTA) where held at the State theatre in Pretoria on Saturday (07/02/2009). The host, Trevor Noah, was a fabulous choice, even though I had to really use my ears more than my eyes.. mximm! This is how I could see Trevor! (With Zoom)
Trevor (After Zooming in)
Trevor (without Zooming in- can you see him?)
From THAT you can see that I have a couple of complaints! Or rather morsels of advice to the organisers if they want to make these awards a success – Use Gallagher Estate like last year. Two reasons, the seating was better and you could use the space wisely. The media that was expected to cover the show were seated right at the top of the balcony (I was on the last number chair like right at the back back back of the theater). The seats at the state theatre are a little squeshy – take it from a nobody like me because if you had to ask the nominees to move to the sides during the ad breaks, that is a sign!
It was the worst seating for me – even the radio callers who won tickets had better seats – and the amount of time it took the winners to just get out the row must have been another sign. I mean I even got an sms from a blogger saying “The seating is horrible. I can just imagine the winners saying “sorry, askies, sorry””. At some point I started thinking all the nominees had boycotted the awards because you could never tell if the winner was coming or not, they took forever to come on stage.
The timing and planning... he bathong! I said this last year – let me repeat it in a different way – The damn show is tooooooooooo long!! Some award presentations can be moved to the morning and the most interesting ones to the evening. . If the SAFTA’s are the Msanzi version of the Oscars, only the Awards that draw the crowd need to be presented at the live event, the rest are done during the day. The invite says arrival at 14:00 – this year I was not stupid so I pitched at 17:45. Most of the celebs started pitching at 18:15 so it gave ne enough time to check the setting and the bar... I saw the Atchar lady doing her thing before the celebs pitched.
Celebs that walked the red carpet need to take lessons from the Hollywood stars, the locals wizzz past! If you blink you miss them. They need to stroll, stop and wave, smile, make contact with your fans and the media... OKAY!!!
These are the celebs I caught on the red carpet as they arrived..
Touch!
Howza
Baba Sdumo (Joe Mafela)
Nothemba
Yummy Mummy
they whizzed past!!
(will upload more later...)
None of the Generations peeps were pitching and I was already asking myself if they had been given funeral warnings if they were spotted even a kilometre from the awards. Had they not received the invite? Were all the invites sent to Mfundi who kept them from them? Did Mfundi say “You dare pitch at that place or I hear you were there!! You will not have a job the second I get wind of it.”
Bathong! My moment to take a pic with Senzo and Sharon was ruined! AND as a fan, I wanted to boycott Generations. What is the point? We watch them even when the storyline sucks (all the time NOW) to support them, but when it comes to coming to an awards ceremony to honor their work (when some of the awards we had to spend our hard-earned cash to vote so they can win) they don’t pitch. What are they saying to us, the fans, “when our boss has beef with the awards process, screw you fans, we ain’t going!” Aaaargh!
Trevor was a great act to follow after David Kau. Trevs had some very memorable jokes that I know that even by next month I will be laughing to –
- The ANC now have Cope, it’s like Chiefs getting its own Pirates!
- Ba o loile! (I think this was the imaginary friend joke)
- Bollywood women always coming from behind some pillar during the song scenes. (I will never see Bollywood the same way)
- Papa Penny Penny with a sparletta and the Japanese!
Khanyi
When I eventually got a glimpse of Khanyi Mbau, I believe I heard E! TV Ryan Seacrest whisper in my ear “Khanyi looks glammed up in a touquoise number. She looks like a golden fairy princess”... AND I was thinking she really is a star. She takes these awards things serious. No-one has gone as far as resembling a bride on a cake look like the Hollywood stars do.
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The actual Awards
The first presenters to walk on stage were Loyiso Golo and Penny Lebyane. Loyiso will forever be etched in my mind as the dude that said Noeleen was hopefully missing the Msanzi awards because she is at gym. Hai! Wassup with him and the small tight suits? I waited with baited breath for him to make another joke that will endear him to me. He did not disappoint as he tried to send a message to the producers to “fix a grammatical error on Jam Alley”. He said every episode of Jam Alley has the same grammatical error and it has been going on for years – Middle Center!
They were presenting the Best Supporting Comedy Actor and Actress category. Here’s how it penned out. The nominees for Best Supporting Comedy Actor were
Family Bonds – Thabo Mguni
Font – Denzil Edgar
City Sesla – Owen Swanson (Winner) The nominees for Best Supporting Comedy Actress were
The Coconuts – Diane Malan
The coconuts – Shaeleen Tobin
City Sesla – Nkuli Sibeko (Winner) She gave an acceptance speech that made me think that Nthathi Moshesh won’t win. Nkuli said it was her third nomination and she had finally won. She also wanted to thank her family for forgiving her for not being a scientist.
The next set of presenters were for me – completely misunderstood. I missed what the point was. Vernon Koekemoer and Joe Mafela. I get why Papa Sdumo would present but I can’t get the Vernon standing there and not saying much thing. Now, that confused me.
Anywho they were there to present the Best Actor and Actress Comedy Awards...
The Best Actor in a Comedy nominees were
Font – Darren Maule
City Sesla – Meren Reddy (Winner)
Andries Plek – Richard Van der Westhuizen
The Best Actress Comedy Nominees were
Family bonds – Phumzie Mlangeni
City Sesla – Thuli Thabethe (Winner) She looked stunning! Loved the dress and her “cookie – love you lots” part of her speech made me laugh out loud.
City Sesla – Tumi Masemola
The next presenters were Manaka Ranaka and Joey. (Blame it on the seating- I couldn’t see the guy properly). They presented Best Director in a Comedy and Best Ensemble in a Comedy Awards.
The nominations for the Best Director category were
The Coconuts – Andrew Timm
City Sesla – Joshua Rous (Winner) At this point I thought “Mmmmmhhhh! City Sesla is gonna take all of them awards!”
Kompleks – Alex Yazbek
The nominees for Best Ensemble in a Comedy were
Font (Winner) I laughed and laughed and laughed. Tjo! With the best ensemble you can’t win all the other awards? Trevs even called this a Monopoly – a previously devised plan!
Kompleks II
City Sesla
Lira was the first Act to entertain us and I said to my date – “I hope she has practised other songs on her new album. She sings that Mpaleha song like a non-Tswana or non-sotho speaking person.” Then Lira came on stage and sang Mpaleha!! I rolled my eyes because I wondered how peeps that had seen her perform the song at the Miss SA pageant felt. Even the dance moves were the same. Trevs made mention of her making the song sound like she is singing Spanish! Lol!
Thobile and Cecelia came to present awards I felt should have been presented in the afternoon – Best Children and youth and Best News and Actuality programme Awards. The Best Children and youth nominees were
Hip2b2
Soul Buddies 4
Which Way?(Winner) the lady that accepted came on stage and enthusiastically screamed a loud “woohoo” and then spoke in the softest voice! I didn’t hear a word she said but she made me laugh!
The Best News and Actuality programme award nominees were
ID Theft
Private Hospital fees (Winner) Police Brutality.
Robert Marawa and Cindy Nell were the next set of presenters whom I felt the awards should have been done in the afternoon; Best Sport show and Best Magazine Show. Their presentation was fun and kinda catchy.
Best Sports Show Nominees were
Shosholoza(Winner) The winner thanked his 3000 facebook friends!
Siya Dlala
Slam Dunk
Best Magazine Show Award
Eastern Mosaic. (Trevs and I wanted them to win. This is where he told the Bollywood joke)
Pasella (Winner) Basetsana Khumalo accepted and I was in a trance as she spoke. I love the way she naturally speaks not the Top Billing speak!
Top Billing (Trevs made me ROFLMAO when he impersonated Michael Mol talk on Top Billing, taking the pose outside the house and using the Top Billing speak)
Another set of Awards (Best Variety show and Best Game show) that could have been presented in an afternoon session followed being presented by Sydney and the Selimathunzi chick (blame it on the seating arrangement that I couldn’t see that far). The Best Variety show nominees were
Big Up!
Roer (Winner) Never heard of them but wanted them to win because it didn’t make sense that The weakest link was part of the list. When was it last on?
The weakest link (How did it get a nomination? Even the 7de laan show could have been used for this spot)
The Best Game Show nominees were
Crazy Games (Winner) tjerrrr! Why the hell was this award so important to present if the other two shows are so ancient anyways?
Noot vir noot
Jam Alley
The next set of awards made me want to scream “Move along!” because they really should have been done not on the live show!!! I kinda switched off my brains at this stage because I missed the presenters names and I couldn’t see them anyways. They presented the Best Reality show and Best Educational programmes *sigh*
The Best Reality show nominees are
Biggest Loser
Revlon Supermodel (Winner) the winner was happy, I was getting angry. Where and when was this show on?
Strictly Come Dancing
The Best Educational show nominees were
Making Waves(Winner) Pepsi accepted.
Takalani Sesame (I kinda expected Elmo to stroll onto the stage to accept the award if the show won)
Our Moments
Then I sat up when this nomination list was announced – The Best Factual programme – as I was waiting for the “How do you feel?” show (Forgive and Forget) to be listed but Nah! The nominees were
Khumbul’ekhaya (Winner) Andile seriously needs a stylist for the show. The past couple of weeks she has been dressing somewhat horrible that I dubbed the outfits “Fashion Hurricane” – too destructive to be just disasters. BUT with this win, I hope some celeb friends of hers that own clothing lines see this as an opportunity to market their boutiques with the show.
Solving it
Zola 7
Johanne Stemett and Kelebogile Seopela presented the Best Talk Show and
the Best Music show awards. The Best Talk show nominees did not have 3Talk!!! How did it not make it after every billboard in town has Noeleen and Oprah on it saying “Queens of Talk”. Is 3talk already on a higher LSM than the shows at these awards?
Anyway, the nominees were
Big Up! (Winner)
Chatroom
Ziyawa la!
The Best Music show nominees were
Gospel Time (I was waiting for Sis Ribs to come HJalleluyah us to life when accepting the award)
Starlight Classics (Winner) The winner thanked Richard Cock and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Shame! Poor guy! He must sue his parents! Use the normally used short version of Richard and tell me what you get?
Metro FM Awards (when did this qualify as a MUSIC TV or FILM SHOW??? Huh? How the hell does an award ceremony make it on a music tv show nomination?)
By this time of the show I wanted to go home!!! We were fast approaching the time set for the after party, half the guests had joined the Generations boycott and were at the open bar. Will stop this part of my article here to let you rest your eyes...
UPDATE: Eddie Mbalo was given the platform to give us a pre-recorded message which I feel should be at the beginning of the show, before the first award presentation. Think about it, we are all still excited and attentive at this stage so we listen. Where they had scheduled the message was so so late – we had switched off our minds after the past couple of awards and we wanted to get to the free bar already so my point is I do not think anybody was listening. BUT it was a great idea to per-record the message.
Lebo Mashile and Mothusi Magano were the next presenters for another set of awards that really need to be moved to the morning; the Best Wildlife, Best Documentary and the Best Documentary feature shows awards... He bathong!!
The nominations went like this for Best Wildlife Shows
Hippo Hell
Cheetah Blood brothers (Winner) Lions of the Crocodile River
The nominations for the Best Documentary show were
Betrayed
A blues for Tiro (Winner) Art of God
At this point I got another sms from another blogger saying “A loud yawn to the awards now. Can we move to better awards please!!”. I wished I could send it to whoever organized the shindig!
The nomination for the Best Documentary Feature shows are
A pair of boots and a bycicle
A Bram Fischer Story
Ingrid Jonker – Her life and times(Winner) Finally another Music act came on to help us refresh, JC Benjamin with his band. I loved the performance because I feel that local artists need to start doing real “live” performances with instruments!
Sarah and Robert Ngubeni came on stage and my heart skipped a beat when they were announced as “siblings”. I love Thandi on Isidee and Thula on Rhythm City so I stopped feeling bad that I moved from Horizon deep to the City.
They were there to present definitely worthy of being presented at the evening show – The Best Supporting Actor in a Soapie nominees were
Mduduzi Mabaso for Rhythm City (Winner) He was so moved and didn’t have much to say. I was so happy for him because it is about damn time - this guy is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors in Msanzi and needs to be given roles where he is not a thug.
Zane Maes for 7de laan (This nomination made me wonder what time period these awards are drawn from. Mr Meintjies left 7de laan donkey years ago!)
Leslie Fong for Isidingo
Best Supporting Actress in a soapie
Nokuthuka Ledwaba for Rhythm City
Florence Masebo for Muvhango
Candy Moloi for Muvhango (Winner) VhoMakhadzi deserved it! And like Robert made the mistake, I genuinely felt that it should have been a “Golden Globe”
Florence Masebe and Loyiso Magena presented the next set of worthy awards.
The best Actor in a Soapie
Jamie Bartlett for Rhythm city (Winner) He ran from backstage and I was like “Did he know?” lol! I wanted the award to go to Rhythm City so I was happy
Menzi Ngubane for Generations
Zenzo Ngqobe for Rhythm City
The Best Actress in a Soapie
Sonia Mbele for Generations (Winner) I was not happy. I am still not convinced by her acting
Nthathi Moshesh for Scandal (I feel that Nthath deserves it, she acts in very diverse roles and always convinces me of her plight in any show she is in. This gal can act. Last year she lost to Nandipha and this year she loses to Sonia. Hai! Maybe next year, Nthathi)
Ashley Callie for Isidingo (What is the period for the nominations?)
Surtie and Jamie Bartlett came to present the next worthy awards.
Best Director in Soapie
Isidingo
Generations (Winner) SABC reps came scurrying on the stage. Why did Mfundi not accept the award since HE was there?? Oho! And I was not happy with this award going here – with the amount of bloopers they show, I am not convinced the directing deserves to be awrded.
Rhythm City
Best Ensemble Soapie award
7de laan
Isidingo (Winner) Yah, they have agreat cast. Now they need great scriptwriters and a huge storyline. Somewhere they are slipping. Nobody wanted to do the thank you as they all hugged and shook hands instead of thanking their fans. And this may have been an appropriate time for Hlubi to say “Thank you to my fans”
Rhythm City
Dingaan Mukero and Joyce Skefu came up next to present other awards people were interested in, the people’s choice awards.
The best Dressed Actress in a soapie
Connie Ferguson for Generations (Winner) SABC reps cams scurrying with thank you’s... hahahah! I couldn’t understand why they had to always come all 3 following each other...
Katrlego Danke for Generations
KB Motsilenyana for Rhythm City (No no no! No no no! They dress her like a transverstite from the 80s!!! I have yet to se her wearing something nice. I think Sharon from Generations should have been nominated. She dressed quite well)
The Best Comedienne in a soapie
Sophie Ndaba for Generations (Winner) I love Sophie, she is my local Oprah – can’t do no wrong in my eyes. SO you all know she is forgiven for boycotting the awards.
Mpho Molepo for Rhythm City
Diaan Lewrenson (Wanted her to win! Was tired of the Generations tactics)
Steven Meyer and “Orlando” from Isidee came to present the big awards
The best hero/ine in a soapie
Connie Ferguson for Generations
Menzi Ngubane for Generations
Jack Devnaran for Isidingo (Winner) As Orlando said “I hope the winner is here to accept” I thought if they are not call the person that is here to accept it. Then Rajesh wins and part of his thank you speech is “It is against my culture to boycott the awards” lol!
The best villain/ess in a soapie
Robert Whitehead for Isidingo (Winner) Matrix dude came to accept the award on his behalf.
Khabonina Qubeka for Rhythm City
Jamie Bartlett for Rhythm city
The best soapie award
Isidingo (Winner) I was over the moon! Wishing Mama Aggie was there to accept! Orlando was so excited, he kept stepping on the other lady’s dress, shem...
Rhythm City
Generations
7de Laan
Scandal (Is this still on? What time? What is its competitor? Is it good?)
After this award I was certain we had reached the end of the evening but HELL NO!!! I will update tomorrow... I am tired as well