New on
SABC2 in October, 2008:
SPECIALS
RigolettoOn: Sunday, 19 October 2008 at 21h00
Rigoletto, by Guiseppe Verdi with libretto by Franscesco Maria Piave, is based on the novel Le roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo; it is an opera in three acts, sung in Italian.
This local version of the opera, with English subtitles, was performed by Cape Town Opera in the Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone, Cape Town, earlier this year.
Willem Vogel was the Multicamera Director for the TV recording. Vogel recorded & edited the story according to his interpretation of the development of drama in the narrative.The lighting and selection of shots are different to the original stage production.
“For television, the lighting, camera angles & set-up as well as the sound recording is just as important as the performances,” explains Vogel.
Stage director Marcus Desando decided to set the opera in modern-day South Africa in an effort to reach a much wider, diverse and younger audience. With its theme of treachery, mayhem, corruption, abduction, gangs, drugs, rape and murder - it is as relevant today as what Verdi was trying to achieve in the 19th Century.
One of South Africa’s foremost baritones, Fikile Mvinjelwa, is in the opera’s title role with support from SAMRO International Singing-winner Nokrismesi Skota as Gilda and Sipho Fubesi as The Duke of Mantua.
Rigoletto was first performed at the Teatro Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851 and had to go through a plethora of censorship before its opening night, as it was a form of rebellion by Verdi commenting on the corrupt system of the day (19th century Italy).
This is the first of further, upcoming operas to be screened on the channel.
It has an age restriction of 13 due to the simulation of sex scenes.
SATURDAY MOVIES
Ghost Dad
On: Saturday, 4 October 2008 at 12h30
After a tragic death, a deceased father is given a chance to solidify his relationship with his three children. Starring Bill Cosby and directed by Sidney Poitier.
Jaws
On: 4 October, 2008 at 20h00
When a Great White shark begins preying on humans off the beaches of New England, the local police chief, a shark expert and a grizzled fisherman head out on a perilous journey to hunt the creature down.
Directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Starring Oscar winner Richard Dreyfus and Oscar nominees Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw.
Red Planet
On: Saturday 11 October 2008 at 12h30
With Earth dying, humanity's only hope lies in the colonization of Mars. When a crew of six heroic astronauts embarks on the most important space mission of the 21st century, they make the shocking discovery that the red planet may be barren, but it's not deserted in this taut science fiction thriller.
The Lost Boys
On: Saturday 11 October at 20h00
When a single mother and her two sons move to the sleepy seaside California town of Santa Clara, they discover much more than they anticipated in this visually stunning blend of hip humor, horror and rock 'n' roll about the most compelling group of contemporary vampires ever to put fang to vein.
Gremlins
On: Saturday, 18 October at 12h30
With its Christmas lights and dusting of snow, Kingston Falls is an idyllic small town-until the gremlins take over. A father returns from Chinatown with an unusual pet, a Mogwai, a gift for his son. The rules are simple: keep your Mogwai away from water, bright lights and, most importantly, never, never feed him after midnight.
But the rules are inadvertently broken and the consequences multiply at an alarming rate.
Twelve Monkeys
On: Saturday 18 October at 20h00
Bruce Willis stars as a prison inmate from the future who is sent back into time to stop a deadly virus from decimating the world's population.
Gremlins 2
On: Saturday 25 October 2008 at 12h30
Two survivors of the gremlins' havoc in Kingston Falls who have moved to New York City and now work for a global conglomerate are joined by their furry little Mogwai friend Gizmo. But again the rules are broken and the gremlins are loose, this time in Manhattan, and the Big Apple will never be the same.
Sixth Sense
On: Saturday 25 October 2008 at20h00
8-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is haunted by a dark secret - he is visited by ghosts. A reluctant medium, Cole is frightened by visitations from those with unresolved problems who appear from the shadows. Confused by his paranormal powers, Cole is too young to understand his purpose and too afraid to tell anyone about his anguish, except Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis).
As Dr. Crowe tries to uncover the truth about Cole's supernatural abilities, the consequences for client and therapist are a jolt that awakens them both to something harrowing - and unexplainable.