Father Geek here posting Head Nurse Hollis' Africa-AICN report for this week, cut the girl some slack, its the 1st time she's actually written this report. I think she's been doing a great job making sure we get SOTHA's smuggled reports since Cannes. Send her some E-mail, she needs a good collective cyber pat on the ass to let her know we all appreciate her efforts for the Doctor...

Hiiiii, NURSE HOLLIS taking over temporarily, while DR.SOTHA attempts the great escape from within that dark Nice prison. This is my first time taking over from my boss, so be kind with me. Sotha has been grooming me for a long time, in case something like this ever happened. I've gathered info and posted his wonderful column to Father Geek, but I've NEVER had the balls to actually write the Africa-AICN report before.

First off, I squeezed into my white latex nurse uniform, and started compiling the column. SOTHA never told me this before, but it's quite a liberating experience. It's quite a release from my usual duties of suturing wounds, caring and attending for my customers... errr patients I mean.

Send all your good wishes for a safe return for our empowered leader to africaaicn@hotmail.com, I'll personally see to it he gets them...

Damn these medical beds are way toooooo small.

SOUTH AFRICA

* I got this from a source who claims to have a friend close to the production on ALI. I have my doubts whether it holds any water, and I would view it as an unlikely rumor, but for the sake of gossip, here it is:

Hi DR.SOTHA, I have a scoop of sorts, nothing about the film itself, but about the friction on the set of ALI which is shooting in Mozambique. According to a close friend of mine who is working as a production assistant on the set, he says their was a big fight that involved Mann and Smith against some South African assistant who was working on it. He said that there's two stories floating around, one that favors Smith and one that favors the South African guy. This is what he told me. The South African assistant during one set piece, was extremely abusive of one of the black catering assistants, and treated him like dirt. Will Smith found out about this, and in a show of Hollywood power, held a meeting with the entire crew and fired the guy in front of everyone, saying that he will not stand for any racism on the set. Apparently he was used as an example, and the South African guy was teary eyed as he walked off the set dejected. That's the one side of the story. The other side of the coin, alleges that the South African guy had nothing to do with the bigotry against the black caterer, and when confronted by Smith, furiously slammed the actor in front of the crew, and proceeded to walk off the set, taking all his South African compatriots with him. Smith and Mann apparently stood there stunned. I don't know which version is true if at all, but my friend says that since the incident everyone on set has been extremely on edge, with frequent fighting matches between crew and cast concerned. If you use this call me 'George Foreman.'

* As host to the second Kelvinator International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), held on June 16, Sun City (our sad version of the Universal Theme Park - NURSE HOLLIS) will draw a number of international travelers and celebrities. The event, which was held for the first time last year at London's Millennium Dome (and I presume the last time - NURSE HOLLIS), will be broadcast across the globe by satellite television broadcaster, Sony Entertainment. South Africa's SABC and the UK's Channel 4 will also broadcast the event. The worldwide promoters of the IIFA, Dreamz Associates, Mauritius, have entered into an agreement with SA company, Malek Travels and Tours, to sell international packages to the event. The Indian film industry, known as 'Bollywood' produces more movies that Hollywood.

* A review of a new South African comedy adapted from a comic strip, sent in by Gertus:

Howdy DR.SOTHA, thought this might interest you. 'Madam And Eve' works perfectly as a comic strip but the TV series leaves something to be desired. There's an eerie moment in the sit-com Madam And Eve, and that's at the beginning when the cartoon characters metamorphose into real people. We go from one medium, comics, to another, TV. According to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, the more cartoony a face, the more people it can describe. These faces are universal, iconic, and the most universal of all is the circle with dots for eyes and a curved line for a smile. Eve, in the comic strips, probably has the most detailed face with a mouth that looks like a mouth. Madam's face consists of large eyes and a dot for the mouth, while her mother, the grandmother, skirts caricature with her flat head, curls and, for eyes, double dots that sometimes hover in the air above her nose. But Francis, Dugmore and Rico get a whole range of expressions from the lines, more, I think, than the actors do in the sit com. In a moment of enthusiasm, the grandmother stands up and says she's unrepentant about not putting anything in the collection plate. It's a perfect, very funny, comic moment in a biting strip that's saves itself from cynicism through its well-pitched humour - and through the fact that Madam And Eve has become a guide over the years to the piquant absurdities of our society. They're an important cultural part of it. True, the characters' stability arises from an unchanging domestic/madam relationship, with Eve waging a continual battle for more pay. This kind of relationship is a continuation of a situation that's often been exploitative, and is carried over from the apartheid days. But the creators of the strip have used it effectively to comment on the new South Africa, and, at times, to even question the nature of that relationship which is, whether we want it or not, still part of our reality. I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the TV series. Translations from one medium to another are always tricky, but comic strips are visual to begin with, so it should be easier. It isn't. Madam And Eve, for me, exists fully as a comic, thoroughly utilising the art of the comic strip. When they turn into real characters on the TV screen, the cartoony universality is lost. They become specific people. A background that's suggested in the comics becomes a detailed, filled-in set. Madam and Eve, too, start existing in narrative time. The strip can make its point effectively in, say, four panels. An episode needs nearly half and hour.

Somehow, in the series, the characters have floated off into caricature. In fact, they've become larger-than-life characters in search of the discipline of a sitcom. The best sitcoms, for me, have a degree of recognizable reality. It's no accident the characters in Seinfeld are based on real people who live in New York. I can connect to the Madam And Eve comic strip, but it's more difficult in the sitcom. This is aggravated by the acting that generally looks "acted". You can see everyone emphasizing every gag, playing them for all they're worth, going over the top and becoming shallow.

The series doesn't have the freewheeling political satire of the strip: it's anchored in a townhouse, to judge by the establishing shot at the beginning. The new South Africa has to come to the characters. But they're too caricature, too theatrical, to connect us to anything. This isn't helped by the canned laughter. This is press-button laughter. Sitcoms, for me should be filmed in front of a live audience. That reaction's important: canned laughter is a gesture of mistrust in the sitcom as you tell the viewer when to laugh, it doesn't rise spontaneously from a live interaction. And make no mistake, it's hard for actors to judge comic timing, to know where to go with the gags, without a reaction from the audience.

But as it is, I don't think Madam And Eve is TV. The acting, the writing, suggest theatre. A proscenium arch would distance actors from the audience, and make the acting less caricature and perhaps play it down. The writing generally doesn't shine with innovative gags or the kind of sharp witticisms sitcoms need, but it expands on the situation in a way that theatre, where you don't necessarily need a laugh a minute, can. It's great seeing new names on the script credits, but to be honest, I've thought that most indigenous local sitcoms would work better as theatre first, where one would have time to explore, hone, cut, change, and adjust the material to audience reaction. Ultimately, 'Madam and Eve' fails to make the grade, and falls way short of the cartoon sketch.

NORTH AFRICA

* Tax incentives offered by the government of Mozambique to the producers of ALI, which stars Will Smith as Muhammad Ali, have angered local filmmakers, who have seen their industry collapse in recent years following a period after independence when it flourished, the London Independent reported this week. Mozambican producer Camilo de Sousa told the newspaper: "If I want to make a film, the government charges me import duty on my tapes and my equipment. These guys have paid nothing. This deal was sewn up between the Americans and the presidency. The working conditions are poor for anyone hired locally, and Mozambican film professionals have not been given the opportunity to gain experience on the shoot." The Independent pointed out, however, that the $20 a day being paid to extras is equal to an average month's earnings (that doesn't justify it? - NURSE HOLLIS.)

* The vigorous drive into larger-scale film productions by Canadian entertainment giant Alliance Atlantis continued this week with the closure of a deal to finance Francois Girard's latest - the $25m historical drama The Magician's Wife in which Geoffrey Rush will star. Kate Winslet is negotiating to join him, although her status is not yet confirmed. Girard scored a huge specialised hit with his 1998 drama 'The Red Violin' which grossed over $10m for Lions Gate Films. Rush and Winslet first teamed up in Fox Searchlight's 'Quills' for which he won an Oscar nomination playing the Marquis de Sade. In 'The Magician's Wife', Rush will play a French illusionist who, with his wife, is dispatched to colonial Algeria by Napoleon III to quell an uprising. Melissa Mathison, whose credits include ET - The Extra-Terrestrial, The Black Stallion and Kundun, wrote the script which is adapted from the novel by the late Brian Moore. Producers Denis Heroux and Stephane Reichel previously collaborated on an adaptation of another Moore novel - 'Black Robe'. Alliance Atlantis has worldwide rights to the film, excluding the US and France, and will sell rights through its international sales division while self-distributing in Canada and in the UK through its Momentum Pictures unit. ICM will handle the US sale. The film, scheduled to shoot in August in France and Morocco, is structured as Canada/Morocco/France/UK co-production.

* Over to Rigobert Song:

Hello lovers of African Film. I have an eclectic mix of cultural and social values in my review this week, 'Awara Soup.' I think it's the only film that unfolds in seven different languages, from seven different races. In the end, you realize that no matter what language, they each share the same primitive desires and goals. Before I get on with my review, remember to e-mail me at Rigobertsong@hotmail.com with your thoughts on African Film.

LE BOUILLON D'AWARA (Awara Soup) - Produced by Marie Clémence Blanc-Paes - Directed by César Paes - 71 minutes - in French, French Creole, Taki-Taki, Portuguese, Hmong and Javanese with English subtitles.

Awara Soup introduces us to what must be one of the world's most multi-cultural communities, a global village in the backcountry of French Guyana, an overseas department of France perched on the edge of South America. Three hundred years of world history intersect in Mana, a town where 1500 people speak 13 different languages and live together in remarkable harmony. Awara Soup reveals that "creolization" is not just an historical artifact but a dynamic, on-going process, encompassing more and more of the world's people.

The film's title comes from a local Easter specialty, a kind of gumbo based on the fruit of the awara palm, which functions as the film's symbol for Mana's polyglot society. There are as many recipes for awara soup as there are people and, "it can include virtually any ingredient in the world." The cooks warn if it's made too quickly it can cause serious indigestion, but once you've tasted it you'll return.

As in the producers' previous documentary on Malagasy oral tradition Angano...Angano, the characters narrate their own stories, the stories of their own Guyana. We meet descendants of indigenous Galibi Indians, of Bushnegroes who escaped slavery in the jungles, of mixed race Creoles who remained in the French towns and of Javanese contract rice laborers, as well as more recent immigrants, Taki Taki-speaking refugees from political strife in next-door Surinam, Brazilian migrant workers and Hmong farmers resettled after the Vietnam war. Awara Soup comments subtly on the xenophobic debate raging in France over immigration. A Javanese healer, born in Surinam, now a French citizen, observes: "People are like birds; they go where they can eat. For them, there is no Surinam, no Guyana."

Awara Soup suggests that the key to Guyanese harmony may be its fluid sense of national identity, neither assimilationist or traditionalist but inclusive and dynamic. In this frontier society, everyone may have a different past but shares the hope of a prosperous future. Rather than an ethnographic film on a remote outpost, Awara Soup points towards an era of increasingly penetrable borders where more and more of us are immigrants and the only culture we have in common is change. Whimsical rather than sentimental, socially incisive rather than righteous, respectful rather than idealizing - it consistently hits the right notes..

AFRICAN AMERICAN

* Steve Carr ("Next Friday") is in negotiations to develop and direct the Warner Bros. comedy "Icemen" for producer Jon Davis. The project re-teams Carr and Davis, the latter of whom is producing Carr's upcoming feature, 20th Century Fox's "Dr. Dolittle 2." "Icemen," which stands for "Invention Control and Elimination Group," is described as "Ghostbusters" set in a patent control office. It is about a secret government agency that tracks down and confiscates dangerous new inventions.

* Besides being a controversial music industry figure, Prince now has something else in common with Michael Jackson. He's become a Jehova's Witness (laugh here - NURSE HOLLIS.) The Purple One, who has explored some fairly raunchy themes in his music, is now preaching the importance of virtue and swearing off foul language (snigger here - NURSE HOLLIS.) Speaking to Gotham Magazine for a piece in their May issue, Prince said that teens need God and parental guidance in their lives, and spoke out against the negative power of the provocative language he has used in the past. Last year, Prince gave up the symbol he had taken as a name and it is reported he will officially reclaim his birth name (applause here - NURSE HOLLIS) during celebrations associated with his upcoming birthday later this month.

* Britney Spears stunned her young fans at Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium Saturday, when she, and a host of stars, chose to use red-hot language at the MTV Movie Awards. Britney, who is better known for her proud claims of chastity and devout Christianity (Yeah right - NURSE HOLLIS), left audience members gasping when she told one of the show's hosts, Kirsten Dunst, to "go to hell" (I DON'T BELIEVE IT - NURSE HOLLIS) in a pre-recorded comedy sketch. And when the Bring It On star, who co-hosted the event with Jimmy Fallon, pointed out the bad impression her tones were creating, 19-year-old Spears responded, "How about this for a lasting impression - my foot in your ass!" (I'm sure she meant it as a religious statement - NURSE HOLLIS.) Other stars who helped turn the air blue at the ceremony included SAMUEL L. JACKSON, who, when presenting the Best Villain Award to Jim Carrey for his role as The Grinch, pointed out that it only made him the "second baddest motherfucker on the planet." Scary Movie stars MARLON WAYANS and SHAWN WAYANS accepted Julia Roberts's Best Actress Award for her role in Erin Brockovich, "on behalf of everyone with vaginas" after claiming to have had sex change operations themselves. And HALLE BERRY demanded her Swordfish co-stars John Travolta and Hugh Jackman expose a body part each on stage, as she was paid $500,000 for each "tit" she bared. As they pretended to strip, the sexy actress moaned in orgasm-like tones. American comedian Will Ferrell chose to take things one step further when, not only did he use the word 'fuck' on stage, he also simulated a urinating scene, which had the star-studded audience looking on in bemusement. One of the show's highlights was the first - and only - live performance of Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink's raunchy new single, Lady Marmalade, which all four stars performed in racy lingerie.

* Singer Mariah Carey has been hanging out in strip joints - and giving female strippers very large tips (is there something she's not telling us - NURSE HOLLIS.) Carey and about 20 crew members spent the evening in the Bikini Bar in Lancaster, California after spending the day working on the video for Loverboy, a single from the soundtrack of her movie 'All That Glitters.' As Carey and her pals entered the bar, exotic dancer Sarah Blakely was dancing to Carey's hit My All. Blakely is such a fan of Mariah's she even named her daughter after her so was delighted when the singer picked a remix of her song 'Heartbreaker' for the dancer to perform to. Carey left after an hour, tipping the dancer $250 (isn't that like a week of liposuction Mrs. Carey? - NURSE HOLLIS.)

* Jennifer Lopez will marry her dancer boyfriend Cris Judd. Judd - who earns only $27,300-a-year (Hey that's like a decade worth of groceries in South Africa - NURSE HOLLIS) proposed to Jennifer at a barbecue in Los Angeles last weekend. The news is sure to upset Jennifer's old flame Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was devastated after the split when he discovered J-LO had been seeing Judd behind his back. Cris and Jennifer will announce their engagement when they pick up her diamond ring, which is engraved with the initials JCJ - for Jennifer Cris Judd. A source says, "They unofficially agreed to get married over the weekend but the ring isn't ready yet. Jenn picked it out. They are having the initials JCJ (it's so romantic I could puke, regurgitate and then puke again - NURSE HOLLIS) inscribed on the inside to show how close they are to each other." This will be Lopez's second marriage - she wed Ojani Noa, a poor Cuban waiter, in 1997 and divorced him a year later. "She really loves Cris and believes he is the only man for her," the insider gushes. They quietly told their families and very close friends but they wanted to keep it a secret for now (Good job on that front - NURSE HOLLIS.) They haven't even thought about a wedding date yet and are just excited about making the announcement. Jennifer is absolutely over the moon they are getting married." Meanwhile, J-LO has a new deal with NBC to produce three specials and develop a half-hour sitcom based on her life growing up in the Bronx.

NURSE HOLLIS IN..I MEAN OVER AND OUT for this week.