TRIOMF Movie,
Director & Writers
Michael Raeburn (writer & director) was born in Egypt, a citizen of Zimbabwe and now, for political reasons, of South Africa. He has dedicated his life to African cinema. Having made many documentaries, experimental films and feature movies, TRIOMF is his most original work to date. It plunges us into a social milieu that has never been seen on screen before. The film serves as an important link between the 3rd World and the 1st World, and between different racial groups, which has always been the purpose of all Michael’s films and of his books as well..
Some responses to Michael's work
“THE GRASS IS SINGING” : "Karen Black triumphs in one of the most demanding roles of her career. The film takes us into a world as beautiful as it is harsh, and we can all but feel the heat that's so unbearable. It ends on a note of authentic ambiguity that few films attain."
Kelvin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
“JIT” : "This does for Africa what 'The Harder They Come' did for Jamaica.”
Time Out, UK
“JIT” : "Cool, très cool... Diabolically seductive."
Pariscope
“HOME SWEET HOME” : “An example of hybrid cinema in which the old formulae are outdated."
Duel Ottana, Italy
NIGHT OF THE FIREFLIES (Publisher: David Philip) NOVEL : “Raeburn is no lightweight on the African continent. This book must surely rate as one of the stranger phenomena of postcolonial Africa.“
Mail & Guardian
more details on www.michaelraeburn.com
Malcolm Kohll (writer) has worked as a freelance writer and producer since 1978. His first commissioned work was for the classic BBC sci-fi series, Doctor WHO; his first feature film as writer and co-producer was the $10 million The Fourth Reich (1990); and he developed and produced Secret Society, Julie's Geist, The 51st State and The Bone Snatcher for Focus Films.
more details on www.focusfilms.co.uk
Michael Raeburn photographed by David Ignaszewski
DIRECTOR'S NOTE - TRIOMF is an African “Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi” (Director : Ettore Scola - French title : “Affreux, Sales et Méchants”), with a touch of “Bagdad Café” thrown in. A movie that perturbs as well as entertains. It is at once authentically African and universally accessible as a story about a dysfunctional family. Written as a fable in the style of a Greek tragedy about death (the old apartheid South Africa) and rebirth (the new free South Africa), the story throws an original light on issues of prejudice by exposing the close link between race and class.
Certainly, there has never been anything like it before from Africa !
Michael Raeburn - Cape Town, July 2008