Forum Films today announced in a video on Facebook and Twitter that this production company has started with an international tour to distribute the documentary film Tainted Heroes (see more information on Tainted Heroes below). Ernst Roets, CEO of Forum Films, said the aim of the tour is not only to promote the film, but to rectify the distorted image that the world has of the ANC and the struggle of the 1980s.
The tour involves three phases, namely:
- Viewings of the documentary film Tainted Heroes;
- Meetings with international researchers, opinion leaders and politicians; and
- Media events.
Roets said in the video that he and the director of Tainted Heroes, Elrich Yssel, are currently in Washington DC and that they will leave for New York next week. The tour will continue to Chicago and Los Angeles later this year, and the film will be taken to other parts of the world after that. A documentary film about the tour and foreign countries’ impressions of Tainted Heroes is also filmed during the tour.
“We decided to start in the US, since the US is one of the major players in international politics. Our approach is like that of a sniper, rather than shotgun tactics. Our goal is not necessarily to reach masses of people with the overseas viewings, but to reach those who have the greatest influence on world politics,” Roets said.
Roets has been invited, amongst others, to address a meeting of conservative leaders in Washington on this issue. More information about the tour will be published during the course of the week in the form of video blogs on the Facebook pages of Forum Films, AfriForum and Ernst Roets. Roets will also use his Twitter profile to provide feedback on the tour.
More on Tainted Heroes:
Tainted Heroes tells the story of how the African National Congress (ANC) – once a marginalised organisation within the South African political landscape – rose to power in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprisings in 1976. The documentary deals with the organisation’s military training received in various African countries as well as the lesser known story of how the ANC underwent strategic training in Vietnam to implement a so-called people’s war strategy against its rival organisations. This was especially implemented against the organisation’s former ally, Inkatha.
The film explains how the ANC successfully implemented a predetermined programme of violence, fear and propaganda to eliminate political rivals and establish itself as the sole representative of black aspirations in South Africa. It illuminates how the ANC’s armed struggle was more a struggle against black rival organisations than against the apartheid system.