Iconic TV journalist Ruda Landman is back on
pay-TV from this Sunday evening doing revealing and truly must-see interviews –
not on M-Net's Carte Blanche but on
kykNET (DStv 144) in a fascinating new series, VeranderDinge at 18:00.
Widely regarded as South Africa's most
respected TV journalist, the veteran Ruda Landman got access to a formidable
group of well-known South African personalities in the new series, with sit-down
interviews in which they all open up and talk for the first time on television
about life-altering moments and decision which changed their lives.
In VeranderDinge
[Change Things] Ruda Landman, trusted by
viewers and known for her empathic interviewing skills, achieves something
remarkable: getting often-guarded A-listers to open up about pivotal
life-changing events, moments and decisions – exactly the kind of personal, and
often painful, things they don’t want to talk about and haven't been willing to
share.
Famous names from Amy Kleynhans-Curd,
Nianell, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, to Graeme Smith, Helen
Zille, Liesl Laurie and several others sit down and share intimate details
about life-changing events in their lives in this series.
From dealing with divorce, poverty, anorexia,
drug abuse to the pain of losing a parent and fame, the well-known South
Africans share the changes in their lives and how it not only shaped and
changed them, but also altered their perspective on life.
Kim Cloete also interviews personalities
ranging from Jackie Burger to Marc Lottering as well as interviewing ordinary
South Africans who are going through, and who are making profound changes.
The aim of VeranderDinge is to help inspire viewers to think differently about
things like careers, finances, personal development, relationships, their
families, health and appearances.
'You have to really
listen'
"It is 8 years since I've left Carte Blanche. And you know, journalism
takes you out of your box. We are born and grow up in boxes," says Ruda
Landman.
"You live with, and your parents' friends
are, and your friends at school are, like yourself. They look like you, they
speak the same language, they sing the same songs, they eat the same food on
Sunday, they shout for the same team. And you are comfortable with them because
they are like you. So you stay with them."
"And you can easily spend you whole life in a
box with people who are like you. But journalism makes you go out and sit with
other people who are different. And you have to really listen, otherwise you
don't really get the story," says Ruda Landman.
"In the process, all the little boxes in your
own head are upended. It definitely happened in my life. When I left Carte Blanche that is really the only
thing that I missed: the exposure to other people's worlds and realities and
the way they see life and the way they experience it."
Great television
"The other thing that journalism gives you is
a licence to ask questions. Some of the questions I get to ask in VeranderDinge are not questions you can
just ask suddenly over the table. But you get a kind of platform; people allow
you to."
"And the fantastic thing about VeranderDinge is that people come
onboard having agreed to talk about the change moments in their lives, which
are part radical. It takes the conversation to another level," says Ruda
Landman.
"Shaleen Surtie-Richards, with her mom
passing away – there's the moment where you ask the question and then you’re
listening, your attention, your being there, creates a moment where she
changes. And the fact that she trusted me enough to cry and not say 'cut' but
let it go, makes it special."
"Shaleen is very camera concious, she knew
exactly what was happening, and she's willing to go there. And it's an enormous
compliment," says Ruda Landman. "In the process we get great television. I'm so
enjoying it, and I'm enjoying the renewed exposure to the wider world."
Changes on kykNET
"As a channel, kykNET is also going through a
lot of changes," says commissioning editor, Alicia Geldenhuys.
"We're saying goodbye to a soap that's been
on for more than 10 years. We're saying hello to a new soap. We're revamping a
channel – one of our kykNET channels is getting a little make-over, and its so
fitting that this show VeranderDinge is
coming in to this."
"We're changing together and we're very happy to have Ruda
back on television and it's going to be magic."
"It's intimidating working with Ruda Landman
… I can't lie to you," said Alan Ford, executive producer and director of VeranderDinge.
"You always think to
yourself – and I'm not being funny – but when you sit with Ruda you think 'Did
you pay your taxes?', 'Did you have an affair?'. She's a brilliant and genius
TV presenter."
