Dubai production company opens SA branch

As well as having a successful presence in Dubai over the last nine years, Rolling Thunder, a full service film production studio, launched their first branch office in South Africa this past year. Rolling Thunder has produced a number of original and commissioned projects including the documentary short Owning Mandela: Down the Rabbit Hole, directed by co-founder Hermann Venter, which screened at the Jozi Film Festival.

With the rapid growth seen in the South African film production landscape during the past few years, we were thrilled to be able to expand our brand into South Africa, says Venter. Our passion has always been for storytelling. Our goal is to create a platform that allows these stories to come alive. Great stories and inspiration go hand in hand, South Africa is rife with inspiration.

Owning Mandela: Down the Rabbit Hole focuses on the events surrounding the small sculpted rabbit that was placed in the ear of the nine metre high Nelson Mandela statue, outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The rabbit was placed in the ear by the artists, Andre Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren, sparking controversy and raising many questions about ownership, copyright and ethics within art and the creative production industry.

Art is our business, says Venter, which is why the questions that this incident raised were so important to me. This documentary short allowed us to bring these questions and concerns to the surface.

Rolling Thunder has also recently completed a video for Simon and Mary, one of South Africa's biggest producers of felt hats. The video follows the intricate process that goes into creating each hat, in a factory that has been running successfully for over eighty years.

Inspiration oozed out of the story of Simon and Mary, says Friberg. A grandfather that moves his factory to South Africa in the 30s, which is then handed down from generation to generation while dealing with the obstacles of the land.

Rolling Thunder has a number of projects in the pipeline, designed with the South African audience in mind.

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