Gateway Films

This Story Telling film was made in 1988 and shown on Channel Four Television in 1990. Filmed during the apartheid times in South Africa. It is a film about the place called Mseleni in rural South Africa, a place where at this time a man proved he was faithful by coming home every Christmas. It is a place where the children have all got birthdays around the same time of year and where to tell a story is more than it seems. Mseleni Tales was a response to requests that Mseleni be shown to the world through it's stories. These stories where some famous fables and others quite original to the area. The fables, however, were reinvented to become South African fables. For example the story of the hare and the tortoise. In the western version the tortoise wins because 'slow and steady wins the race'. But in Mseleni the tortoise still wins but because he tricks the hare by placing different tortoises along the race route and the hare could not even spot the difference between them! Trickery and cunning, or pitting the strong guys against each other are all part of these stories. The film Mseleni Tales is about Mseleni in the days of apartheid and it's restrictions. Many years later much has changed and we are going out again to have a look at Mseleni. What we bring back will be dependent on what has changed and what those in Mseleni feel they want to show and how they want to show it. We may make a documentary, it may be a drama. We will let you know when we know. Meanwhile you can watch Mseleni Tales again. By clicking on the pay pal link below you can buy a DVD or a video copy of the original film. In the near future you may be able to download it from this site.

An international television opportunity - Show your film on t.v. This is a new series of TV programs. Each program takes one independently produced movie (it can be a documentary, a drama or an experimental film) and it is introduced by the filmmaker. The whole film is then shown to the TV audience and the filmmaker and or another presenter sign it out. This series will be shown on an internet TV station in Canada but will be broadcast internationally and will reach a wide audience. If you are a filmmaker and have some work that you would like included in this international initiative contact me and if we agree to show your film you will be invited to the studio in Oxford to shoot the introduction and windup. Think about it, are you ready for Movie Time?

You can buy DVD's of the programs from this site once they are broadcast. If it's your movie of course you get a free copy but your friends have to buy their own. To request a list of movies in this program email us with 'independent movies on TV' in the subject bar and we will get back to you. If you have a landline number and you include that I will call you back.