Tim Greene

2004

This film tells the story of a street kid, from Cape Town, South Africa, based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Oliver Twist. The writer takes the Oliver of the book and makes him Twist, a Muslim boy, who is brought up in a Swartland orphanage because his mother died giving birth to him. Twist is bought and put to work in the vineyards of the Western Cape, but escapes to Cape Town, where he lives as a street child. There he falls in with a gang of young thieves run by Feyagin, described by the writer as an "amakwerekwere [foreigner] West African guy". The film covers issues including child abuse, xenophobia and racism. It follows the plot of the classic novel, Oliver Twist, but is situated in the context of the life of street children in South Africa.

Aims of the project are to:

• to provide South African perspectives and leading roles for South African actors;
• to utilise South African expertise, talent, crew, technicians and locations;
• to offer skills transference, employment and educational opportunities ; and
• stimulate greater cultural awareness in participants and audiences.

"Like Oliver himself, Twist's director Tim Greene asked for more. And he got it, though it was no easy task. At the beginning of 2003, Greene began raising the R1 million he needed to shoot the screenplay that had grown out of his adaptation of Dickens. He stood in the Cape Town and Johannesburg traffic with a placard reading: "Hi, my name is Tim. I am an independent film maker. I have written a film called 'Twist'. I am looking for 1000 investors with R1000 to spare. Please help!" By the end of May 2003, the 33-year-old had 837 investors - or, as he calls them, Lucky Champions. Then ACT weighed in with R100 000 and the magic million mark was reached. Greene could start turning his screenplay into a 16mm film."

The film employed a crew of 60 and a cast of 40 in a shooting period of 21 days that included preparation and wrap. Greene notes that "the 26 street kids who appeared in the film (spending six working days on set) gained valuable knowledge and are now in an infinitely stronger position to be selected for the Linzi Thomas programme to get kids off the streets and into the film industry."

The film is due to premier in mid-November 2004. It was funded by the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT)