CORONAVIRUS. Lockdown Level 2: South Africa's cinemas adding seats and evening showings as curfew is pushed later.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's battered cinemas are breathing a sigh of relief after the country's move to an adjusted Lockdown Level 2, as Nu Metro, Ster-Kinekor, Cine Centre and independents are opening auditorium capacity from 50 to 250 cinemagoers and adding evening showtimes due to the adjusted curfew that has been moved later.

South Africa's bruised cinema industry has lost millions of rand because of Covid-19, with Ster-Kinekor in business rescue, and with some cinema venues of independents and large chains in shopping malls throughout South Africa that might never reopen after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Nu Metro Cinemas is pleased with the return of lockdown level 2 as it enables us to entertain more movie fans with unique, safe, out-of-home cinema experiences," Chantelle Burrows, Nu Metro Cinemas marketing and content executive, tells TVwithThinus.

Nu Metro's cinemas will continue to operate on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and during school holidays only as part of the chain's current operational strategy to keep unneccesary expenditure at bay and to keep the cinema chain's business viable.

From 1 October Nu Metro will be open daily for 7 days a week, for the duration of the school holidays. 

"Adjusted lockdown level 2 also means that we can no re-introdce our popular evening shows at most of our cinemas due to the later curfew. We also believe that lockdown level 2 will improve general consumer confidence to leave their homes for safer entertainment options - to also ease the devastating blow the pandemic has had on box office and confectionary sales, which are key in generating turnover for the cinema industry".

Nu Metro will for instance release the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, in South Africa on 1 October, a week before the American release date.

"The impact of lockdown level 3 meant that we could only sell movie tickets to a maximum of 50 people per auditorium and we has to cut our evening shows due to the earlier curfew."

"Under level 2,we can now host a maximum of 250 cinemagoers or 50% of the available seats per smaller auditoria taking into account social distancing requirements. With the curfew only coming into effect from 22:00 it opens up the potential for more shows."

"In essence, we can now safely present more movie shows and allow more customers into our venues," she says.

"All precautionary Covid-19 safety protocols remain in place for cinemas, as has been the case since last year. Cinemas remain one of the safest indoor spaces to be in - with no infections or outbreaks traced back to cinemas anywhere in the world."

Masks are compulsory for entry into cinemas in South Africa where customers are screened upon entry and with cinemas that are thoroughly cleaned and sanitised after every showing, around every 2 to 3 hours, including a daily deep-clean of all facilities. Auditoriums also have advanced HVAC ventilation systems, managing the flow of air in closed venues.

Extended trading hours

With the move to lockdown level 2, Ster-Kinekor's new extended trading hours will come into effect this Friday 17 September with Ster-Kinekor that will now have the last show ending at 21:50 on Fridays, Saturdays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and with the last shows on a Sunday ending at 18:50.

Ster-Kinekor says that none of its cinemas will operate on a Monday but will however trade on all public holidays.

"Following President Cyril Ramaphosa's address on Sunday with South Africa moving to adjusted alert level 2, Ster-Kinekor cinemas will continue to operate with all Covid-19 safety procedures that ensure compliance with directives set out by government," Lynne Wylie, Ster-Kinekor's head of marketing, tells TVwithThinus.

"Seating capacity varies across the circuit and each theatre will now be operating at a 50% capacity to accommodate social distancing with the maximum number of guests not exceeding the new regulation of 250 guests per auditorium."

"Ster-Kinekor will continue to screen all our staff before we open the cinemas each day, as well as at each shift. We will continue to wear face masks and our staff have been trained on safe work practices to ensure safety for themselves and for our guests."

"We will continue to sanitise the cinemas before and after each show and have increased our cleaning times between every show to make sure all our seats and surfaces are clean and safe."

"Ster-Kinekor is Covid-19 compliant, and we have exceeded requirements by further limiting contact between staff and patrons with contactless purchases to ensure our guests enjoy great moments at their greatest."

Coronavirus: Lockdown in South Africa brings Lockdown and Trackers to Mzansi Magic as the M-Net-packaged channel on DStv scrambles to plug scheduling holes left by unfinished seasons of Housekeepers and eHostela.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's national lockdown period has forced M-Net to use Lockdown and other shows to plug sudden holes on its Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) schedule.

The spreading global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic also affecting South Africa's struggling TV industry, caused a vast number of locally-produced TV series on public television and pay-TV to abruptly shutter in late-March.

M-Net is now replacing schedule gaps left by incomplete shows on its Mzansi Magic channel, packaged for MultiChoice's DStv channel, with various library series.

After broadcasting new promos throughout March for the second season of Housekeepers, produced by Oche Moving Pictures with Portia Gumede as showrunner and starring Thando Thabethe, Mzansi Magic has pulled the season that was scheduled to debut on Monday 6 April at 20:00.

In its place because of the national lockdown, Mzansi Magic is now showing a borrowed "lockdown": the 5th season the local prison series Lockdown, produced by Black Brain Productions, that was moved to MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax last year and that made its debut in January 2020 on the streamer.

Since filming hasn't yet finished on all of the episodes of Housekeepers with the production that only started filming at the beginning of March, M-Net decided to remove the series for the time being and to postpone its launch.

It has now been replaced with the prison-wall set series starring Dawn Thandeka King, Connie Chuime, Zola Nombona, Linda Sokhulu and Lorcia Cooper.

The second season of Housekeepers will now start at a date that is still to be determined later in 2020 with insiders who told TVwithThinus that the production was affected and shuttered due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

In another stopgap measure Mzansi Magic also replaced the second season of the KwaMashu-set series eHostela.

The Stained Glass TV produced series was also forced to shutter causing unplanned production delays, with Mzansi Magic that replaced it this past Sunday in the 20:00 timeslot with the locally-produced drama series Trackers that made its debut in October 2019 on the M-Net (DStv 101) channel.

Since 17 March MultiChoice, and individually the various M-Net-packaged channel sets, have all been asked numerous times which TV series specifically have been impacted or shut down because of the virus issue and the national lockdown but so far there's been no response.

INTERVIEW. Actress and singer Tichina Arnold on Roseanne Barr, the #MeToo movement, visiting Africa, advice for single mothers and showbiz dreamers, and her new role in Mzansi Magic's prison drama, Lockdown.

The actress and singer Tichina Arnold says she's extremely disappointed in Roseanne Barr's racist Twitter rant but hugely excited about her upcoming role in Mzansi Magic's local prison drama, Lockdown.

The actress, known by millions for her iconic role as Pam in Martin,  just arrived in South Africa to film a new role for half of June as Paulette, a new female inmate in Lockdown.

Tichina Arnold, who DStv subscribers recently saw in Daytime Divas on 1Magic (DStv 103) and Survivor's Remorse on VUZU Amp and 1Magic, in a one-on-one sit-down interview, gave her reaction on the developing Roseanne news and spoke to me about how her Lockdown role came about and how she will be approaching it.

I also asked Tichina Arnold for advice for mothers, advice for people who want to break into showbiz, travelling halfway around the world for a TV role and her thoughts on, and advice about, Hollywood's #MeToo movement that has also reached South Africa.


I know you just arrived in South Africa but what do you make of the racist rant of Roseanne Barr and Wanda Sykes who worked on the show,  saying she quit as consulting producer?
[this happened 20 minutes before news that Roseanne is being cancelled]
Tichina Arnold: We are extremely disappointed that Roseanne would do that and say that only because not just white people but black people have supported her show back then. We supported her when she stuffed up the national anthem years ago. We feel that Roseanne does need to give an apology. Let's talk about the good of this: Wanda Sykes left work. She left a day job, she left something that she loves doing, which is writing. She left that and I support Wanda Sykes.


How did this role in Lockdown came about?
Tichina Arnold: it came about through a friend and a business friend of my named Bart Phillips who owns Sunseekers Productions.
And he and I used to do the Triumph Awards together, which is Al Sharpton's award ceremony for people who are not celebrities, people who are movers and shakers and philanthropists in the world in the African-American community, and for the betterment of the African-American community.
So it's a great award show and that's how I met Bart Phillips.
Bart Phillips in turn introduced me to a man named Mandla N. And Mandla told me that he is and was a fan of the Martin show and that he look up to me and the whole good thing, and when he read this role to me and he told me that this role was written for me, and with me in mind - the awe, the awe - I had to, I had to accept the offer.
It allowed me to have an amazing platform to step and to tell a story of black women. Not just black women in America, or just black women in South Africa, but in Africa, period.
And that is the joy and the beauty of doing what I do, because I get to tell so many amazing stories. And there are still so many amazing stories to be told and I'm just so happy that Lockdown will be a conduit of that.   


And were you not apprehensive about travelling so far to the other side of the world to be in a TV show?
Tichina Arnold: Never! Never! The travelling part is the best part! That's my motto: I'm going to travel until the day I die. It's about seeing the world. The world keeps me humble. And the reason why I say that is because you get to meet and see and experience so many different cultures, so many different types of people, so many different types of music and food and scenery and religion. I love experiencing life, period.
For me to be on the ground of my ancestors and all of the people that paved the way before I was even thought of, is the most humbling experience that I can ever imagine.

Can you talk a little bit about the role and how you're going to approach it? And for how long is it going to be?
Tichina Arnold: Well, I will be on for 9 episodes and I will be here in Johannesburg for the next two weeks during which we will be filming. My thoughts coming to this role is to be open-minded, first of all, because this is new territory for me.
This is the first time that I'm getting to work with these amazing and brilliant actors. And so I'm looking forward to that.
But I'm also looking forward to digesting what South Africa is about.
And to digest the plight and the difficulties that South African women have here in the prison system. So Lockdown on Mzansi Magic is so pivotal in telling a much needed story that needs to be told of black women. And what I love is that we are telling it.


What advice do you have for working mothers, single working moms, but really any moms?
Tichina Arnold: My main advice for single working mothers - which I am - is don't be afraid to ask for help. It's almost impossible to raise a child by yourself.
And not a lot of women talk about it, nor do they admit it. But we need help. Every mother needs help. And so when I learnt to ask for help, that's when I got it. So my daughter has been raised by the village - my daughter has been raised by people that I trust in showbusiness. I've been helped to raise her by wonderful men in my life. So it takes a village to raise a child. You can not do it alone. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Even those women who don't have extended family members, who have no-one - there is somebody on this Earth, walking, that will help you. Never be afraid to ask for help.


What advice do you have for someone in Africa who wants to break into television and the world of showbiz?
Tichina Arnold: For those trying to get into showbiz, you better know what it is, know what you want out of it and be prepared for it to not give it back to you. You've got to love it because when it doesn't love you back, you're stuck in there with it.
It's like being in a relationship. It may not always pay your rent, it may not always feed you, it may not always clothe you, but the fact that you love it will make you stick by it. That's the best advice I can give to anyone getting into this industry. And get used to always being told "no".


Can you talk a bit about the #MeToo movement. It's really only just reaching Africa. What advice do you have for women? People are scared to come forward. What advice do you have for women and specifically young women who are carrying a burden because of sexual harassment and abuse?
Tichina Arnold: The most positive thing about the #MeToo movement is that there is power in numbers.
And you know how we always hear that "misery loves company" - you know what - people, when you know that somebody else is going through what you've been through, it helps and it makes it a little easier because you know that you're not alone.
What I tell women that are part of #MeToo movement or want to be a part of the #MeToo movement is: Be brave enough and tell your story. Share your story with someone. Or listen to someone else who has a story.
Thank God I was never never molested or tragically raped or anything like that as a young woman coming up in showbusiness, but I know a lot of people who were.
So I listen to stories. I've been listening to stories. I'm able to identify and understand those stories. So I can help them pass on the #MeToo movement and pass on what they're going through.
We have to share these horrible things that happen in our lives because it helps somebody else. It is for the greater good of humanity. Now the cover has been blown off of all of these things that have held women down for so many years. Thank God for the #MeToo movement.
But what are we going to do now that attention has been brought on it? We have to use it wisely.
We have to make sure that we never get back to this place again.

Veteran actress Pamela Nomvete joins Mzansi Magic's prison drama, Lockdown, from the second season starting 9 October.

Pamela Nomvete has joined the local South African prison drama series, Lockdown with the second season that will start on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) on Monday 9 October.

The veteran actress will make her appearance as new Governor Deborah Banda - a character who holds a dark secret.

The first season of Lockdown wrapped with a shocking finale that saw Warden Sharon Zulu hauled off to jail and Governor Beauty demoted from her position.

The new second season picks up in the aftermath with Lockdown that will dig deeper into the characters that make up Thabazimbi Women’s Correctional Service; from the tough-as-nails, Tyson (Lorcia Cooper) to celebrity jailbird Monde (Zola Nombona) and Mazet (Dawn Thandeka King).

The inmakes will continue to find their feet and fight for survival in the midst of the shake-up that is caused by new arrivals on the scene. 

Fresh from another prison enters the most dangerous inmate in South Africa, Maki Magwaza (Linda Sebezo). Maki seeks revenge on the woman who took her son away from her and everyone will soon get to see that spilling blood is something that comes naturally to Maki.

Thabo Rametsi plays Simon Banda, Deborah’s clueless son.

Meanwhile, returning to Thabazimbi after her brief stint as a free woman is Mazet, who is relishing her role as the new boss while Tyson deals with loss and Monde is occupying herself with protecting her diamonds at all costs.

"The first season of Lockdown explored the world of women behind bars and the challenges they face as they strived to see another day," says Reneilwe Sema, the M-Net director of local entertainment channels.

"The second season will show prison in its layer upon layer of secrets, hopes and pain all shared by those confined behind bars."