Mohammed seeking refuge

Produced by Jess Levy, Sbongile Mafu, Richard Moor and Anesu Chingono

This 5 minute documentary follows Mohammed Usman Aslam for a day in his life. He travels to Home Affairs to see if anyone can help him sort out his papers for his application for Refugee Asylum. His requests have been rejected, on the basis that his claim does not qualify him for Refugee Asylum. Mohammed, however, has been taken advantage of by the consultant supplied by home Affairs who wrote an incorrect account of his claim for Refugee status.

Sound Portraits

The first exercise for the year had each student producing a short sound portrait of a physical place whereby the sound track alone would provide the narrative of the place.

Wheels and Squeals
Jess Levy

This is a sound portrait of Wesson’s Tyre’s in Grahamstown. I was very struck by the sense of magnificence in the menial and ‘dirty’ tasks. This piece, for me, speaks about finding beauty in the mundane and the mechanical.

The sounds of Thai
Anesu Chingono

Ruan Thai is a restaurant that serves authentic Thai cuisine. This clip evokes the ‘warmth’ associated with restauranti as it portrays it not only as a pleasant restaurant to enjoy your meal but a place where one can relax and be calm.

Pick & Pay at night
Kyla Herrmannsen

Pick ‘n Pay is all hustle and bustle during the day but, what happens there at night? This video looks at the duties of the shelf packers, the security guard and the money counters after hours. This story evokes an atmosphere in which the consumerism behind chain stores such as Pick ‘n Pay is brought to light. When we remove something off a shelve and then buy it during the day we do not stop to think about the person who placed the goods on the shelf and how they will be re-packing the shelves night after night for our purchasing convenience. These people have families that they should be spending night times with; they should not be spending hours and hours re-stocking shelves only for the shelves to be emptied again. This piece aims to a side of Pick ‘n Pay that is beyond the consumers’ reach.

Men at Work
Laura Wener

Looking around the quaint town of Grahamstown, one is astounded at the amount of building and construction going on. From multi-storey apartments to drive-thru restaurants the town is expanding at a very fast pace!
Take a look inside one of the many sites within the Grahamstown and be a part of the drilling, shovelling and bull-dozing.

Casino Sounds
Katherine Robinson

Sound portrait of V-Slots in Grahamstown, where sounds of gaming and gambling come alive.

Taxi
Gregory Alrdidge

A sound portrait of a bustling hub of activity: The Grahamstown Taxi Rank which is rich in colour and sound on a busy Saturday morning.

People of the Taxi Rank
Nontobeko Sibisi

Taxi ranks are one of the many places where many South Africans rub shoulders, exchange money and banter. There are a number of interactions and activities that that take place; take-away stand commonly known as “chisa’nayama”, vendors selling wares to commuters andconductors, or Taxi Sliding Door Operators as they would like to be called.

A Choice Salon
Paul Harris

First Choice Hair Salon is in the centre of Grahamstown, both in terms of situation and in the hearts of the salon’s faithful clientele. My portrait of a place takes a journey into the everyday functioning’s of the salon, exploring all the different sounds and activities that one finds there, smoothed over by some ever present jazz in the background.

Panel Beating
Richard Moor

Cars tneed panel beating usually from made a mistake. This piece serves to illustrate that mistakes can be corrected. If something is worth fixing, don’t give up on it until it’s fixed.

Sounds like Grocotts’ Mail
Sibongile Mafu

Grocotts Mail.The newsroom has a constant buzz as it sits atop an antique shop which has a steady ringing printing press. The reporters are alive with story ideas and the editor is always on their case. This is a newsroom like no other. Small yes, but not unimportant. The newsroom is a place where hard work can be seen as staff go about their business.
See how a newspaper in a small city meets a bi-weekly deadline with a staff compromising largely of eager students, honing their craft, always looking to do that much extra. It is a place filled with youthful exuberance a place where deadlines need to be met and the quality of work produced needs to be high. It is also a place of reflection. This is Grocotts Mail.

Sounds of the Salon
Zikhona Tshona

A sound portrait of Blessing Hair Salon in Grahamstown: Ghanaians who have come to South Africa in search of hope for a better life, work at the hair salon everyday to put food on the table. This captures the hair cutting, washing and drying.

Shooting Stars
Phumzile Manana

Shooting stars is a performance school for toddlers.,Learners are taught musical skills along with the play that would take place at any other play school. Shooting stars also has obstaclel courses set up for the children to help with their development. Each week there is a different theme to aid learning, from sea animals to music, This is a day in shooting stars school, the theme for this week was nursery rhymes.

Alpha Belts
Tamzyn Degoumois

Alpha Belts is a two person company working out of the Provost in Grahamstown. The company produces handmade and hand stitched leather belts and bags. The mood of the piece is one of passion and love for creativity and the art of working with your hands.