Hee, als dat onze vrienden van Bustin Chops niet zijn. In augustus komt de film uit. Denk New Kids meets Jackass in Zuid-Afrika. Nog mallotiger, nog meer ongein en vooral een nog lekkerder taaltje. Om hun film te pluggen deed de crew een stukje guerrilla marketing: een demonstratie verstoren door het tegenoverstelde te gaan roepen. Geen idee wat de demonstranten willen. Doet er ook niet toe. Zie boven. De film moet ook in Nederland uit komen (beloven ze), dus volledig persbericht (helaas niet in het Afrikaans maar in het Engels) na de lees verder.
Part of the film crew of the soon-to-be-released local movie, Bustin Chops, recently staged a prank protest during a Cosata e-Tolling protest and stirred the wrath of the demonstrators by brandishing a placard that said “Stop moaning and pay the e-Toll”. Police had to whisk away two of the protestors into safety as the crowd converged on Bustin Chops actor, Paul de Beer, and the producer and director, Danie Barnard, who were waving their placard during a COSATU e-toll demonstration a few days ago. But, talking to the press after the event, Barnard said their antics were “just a prank”.
“We saw it as a cheeky way to promote our film, Bustin Chops – which is due to be released by Nu Metro in August – but also as a way to highlight that many people are often verbally vociferous about things they don’t like – but they do nothing about it. Our prank was also a way of highlighting apathy in this country. If South Africans don’t like certain things that are happening in their society – like the R20 million e-tolls project being promoted by the SA National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) – then they should do more than just talk about it. They need to act.’ “We –as a Bustin Chops team – are actually against the proposed e-toll,” Barnard quipped.
Bustin Chops, described as ‘not your average comedy’, is being promoted by Barnard’s company, Bakemedia, and Loveless Entertainment, and includes the backing of primary sponsor and investor, leading ICT distributor, Esquire Technologies. The company has assisted the Bustin Chops team with funding for the movie . Esquire was the recent winner of the African Distributor of the Year Award at the ‘EMEA Channel Academy : 2012’, held in Monte Carlo earlier this year – and is regarded as one of SA’s top computer distributors. Asgar Mahomed, a director of Esquire, is also a executive producer of Bustin Chops. Esquire is very active in the local film industry and has championed, and sponsored, several local films. Bustin Chops is their latest project. The movie starts a couple of years after the hit series has come to an end – and stars a lovable team of misfits who have moved out of the spotlight and into their regular nine to five jobs.
Esquire’s Asgar Mahomed said the SA film industry is really taking off, with a number of locally produced films raking in “substantial takings” at the box office in recent times.
