PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plettenberg Bay is becoming a popular destination for the film industry as the town has over the past few years been a backdrop for many films, music videos and documentaries.

Experts say it is the area’s untouched natural beauty and the “film friendly” attitude of locals and authorities that make Plettenberg Bay a popular choice.

Growing list of feats

• One of the most recent productions featuring Plett as a backdrop is a music video featuring local rapper King Melisizwe. The music video for the song Febbre by Nik Grey featuring King Melisizwe was filmed in the Qolweni and Kwanokuthula townships.
• It is not the first time King Melisizwe, who was born and raised in Kwanokuthula, has used his hometown as a backdrop for a music video. In 2015 he shot a high-energy rap music video for his single Into Yam on his first solo album. By his side was one of South Africa’s top artists and SA Music Awards winner MXO, who also flew in from Johannesburg to mentor the young star and make a guest appearance in the video.
  The video was filmed by local Daron Chatz Photography and directed by Grace Harrison, at various locations in and around town. Some of the locations included Hani, Main and Nkqubela streets in Kwanokuthula, High Street in Plett, the top floor of Melville’s Corner, the penthouse balcony of the Bay View Hotel, and Robberg Beach.
• A feature film, King of Kwano – with Kwanokuthula as backdrop – is also in the pipeline. The movie is a sports drama, about beating all the odds, about legends, and the power of a pipe dream. It is about a young boy from Kwanokuthula that goes through a series of soccer trials and ends up playing for Tottenham Hotspurs.
  The pioneer behind the movie is Jamil Qubeka working alongside iKasi Media, which is training youth and involving the community as much as possible in the movie.

International eyes have also been on Plett over the past few years. Last year several scenes of the second Tomb Raider installment was shot in the area, when the town played host to the movie’s crew and stars as they filmed Lara landing on a private beach in the Forest Hall area of Plett.

French injection

• Plettenberg Bay and Knysna’s breathtaking and untouched natural beauty also attracted French filmmakers to the region in recent years, with the filming of a documentary about the origins of mankind.
  The film First Man, by Nilaya Productions based in Paris, aims to tell the story of mankind from ape to homo sapiens through a family of men, women and children as they adapt to the changing environment through the ages.
  Between Plett and Knysna, filming also took place at Jubilee Creek, the Valley of Ferns, Keurbooms Beach and Nature’s Valley.
• Several television shows have also been filmed in Plett including The Bachelor Netherlands and Finland, Black Sails, The Crown and Robinson Crusoe.

'Plett ticks all the boxes'
Veteran of the film, television and theatre industry for more than three decades and member of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo Film Office, Patrick Walton, said filmmakers look for the perfect backdrop when they decide on a film location. “Plett ticks all the boxes: beautiful beaches, mountains and forests,” Walton said.

Cindy Wilson-Trollip from Plett Tourism said locations are about the environment on offer, access to the selected sites, weather, availability of some support production services and ease of permitting.

“Plett ticks all the boxes. Plett is location, location, location,” she said.

Walton added that locals and authorities have also so far been “film friendly”, which adds to the area's appeal.

Wilson-Trollip said Plett Tourism assists filmmakers with approvals and permits for shooting in public spaces and municipal beaches, by facilitating support from the Bitou municipal departments when required.

Major spinoffs for locals
Walton has produced reality series, documentaries and other films for national and international broadcasters through his production company ShootAway Productions, for over 15 years – some of these in Plett.

Not only do these films, television programmes and music videos put Plett on the map as a preferred filming destination, Walton said, but it also has major spinoffs.

“During our last filming in Plett we injected about R3-million into the local economy and the one we are working on at the moment should be even more,” he said.

Garden Route locations manager Picca de Bruin – who is part of the Cape Town-based production house Film Afrika assisting in the production of First Man – said that on a shoot like that the entire crew needs accommodation locally, catering throughout filming, apart from using local labour and even equipment hire.

This has led to the establishment of businesses, including Plett Film, which offers a concierge service to the film industry. The company has been involved in a few small as well as large productions and offers exclusive villas or locations for filming as well as crew accommodation.

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