BoxOfficeGuru.com examines this year's major contenders with the new Oscar Spotlight column. Each Friday, editor Gitesh Pandya talks one-on-one with the producers behind some of the most acclaimed films up for recognition this season.

This week, Oscar Spotlight talks to Peter Fudakowski, producer of the South African film Tsotsi (pronounced 'sote-see') which has been nominated in the Foreign Language Film category. The acclaimed drama traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking. Tsotsi opened February 3rd in its native country and shattered box office records for South African films during its debut weekend. The award-winning film, which has also earned Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, opens in the United States on February 24 through Miramax Films.

Box Office Guru: How did you come across the Tsotsi novel and how did you go about developing it into a feature?

Peter Fudakowski: I heard the story briefly pitched to me about ten years ago. It's a book that was published in 1980 so the story had been around for a long time. A bunch of New York producers had wanted to make it ever since it was published. Someone had reminded me of it about three and a half years ago. And the story had stuck in my head as a really powerful, moving, and universal story. But at the time it was very much a difficult proposition. It was a strong enough story that I responded to it and did something about it. So I contacted the people who had the rights at the time, which is a company called Echo Lake and Doug Mankoff in Los Angeles. I went out to L.A. I met up with him, he had a script, I read the script, and I didn't really like the script at all so I was rather disappointed. But I had come across the work of Gavin Hood, the director, about five years previous to that. I saw his work at Cannes (Film Festival). I liked the film that he had written and directed called A Reasonable Man. I thought he showed intelligence and talent.

Being South African, I thought maybe this guy could do it. I gave him a call and told him about the idea and he said, 'Yeah. I know the story very well. I love the project. I've thought about it myself. I'd love to do it. But you won't get the rights.' So I figured I'll take a risk. I told him to write me a first draft and we'll take it from there. Normally first drafts aren't very good. But a few months later he delivered to me a first draft that was astoundingly good. My wife and I are a production team on this, she's my script editor, and she had never seen a first draft as well written as this. So we determined that this was something we were going to make. We spent the next six months negotiating the rights, which we finally bought from Doug at Echo Lake. We developed it further and then looked for financing.

BOG: What were some of the challenges in raising the financing for a film about ghetto life in Johannesburg?

PF: Well you can imagine that because the film has been around in some form or another for 20-odd years, with scripts written and commissioned by well-known producers, that it hadn't gotten off the ground and it wasn't an easy project to finance. Commercially speaking it was a tough subject. We were told by so many people, 'a film, in a foreign language, about a bunch of black guys in a country that nobody really knows about? Commercially this is a non-starter!' But, I hung onto the idea of the script which was very strong and then took Gavin and myself out to South Africa for a recce (reconaissance). During that recce, we not only talked to potential financiers, but we also worked on the project and one of the things that was really instrumental in making up my mind 110% was the music. I came across Kwaito for the first time which was this hip hop music we have in the film. I'm interested in making commercial movies which appeal to world markets. This pumping music coming out of the townships counterpointing with a tough story, I thought, would give audiences something to like. It would move them and hopefully they'd come out buying the CD. With that idea, I approached the financiers in South Africa who at that time had gone into the business of supporting South African filmmakers. It was called the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation). My company, U.K. Film and Television, which is a production company with money which is an unusual thing, was very supportive of this film and we financed it effectively 50/50 with the IDC. I think it was the strength of the material. Or maybe my passion… or madness. On the surface, it wasn't a very rational decision to make this movie. But of course in hindsight, it looks really smart.

BOG: How much competition did you face before being selected by South Africa as its official submission to the Oscars?

PF: There were a number of very good films we were up against. One was Carmen and Khayelitsha which won the Golden Bear at Berlin (International Film Festival) last year. It is an opera performed by local people in the townships. A real fun piece of entertainment. So we were up against that. That was one really good film that Tsotsi had to fight against in the selection process. And there were a bunch of others too, but I wasn't entirely privy to all the others that were submitted because it's a closed process.

BOG: Over 50 countries submitted films to the Academy in hopes of securing one of only five nominations. What kind of campaigning did you and Miramax have to do in order to get noticed?

PF: Well the Foreign Oscar selection is kind of a very select group of people to whom you cannot campaign to - apart from everything else, you're not allowed to. So, all we could do was screen the movie so there was no heavy advertising, no big marketing. Just simply getting people in to see the movie and letting the movie speak for itself. That's all we could do. We don't have a huge marketing budget behind us anyway. So that was strategically all that we could do - hope that people would love the movie. We knew what we had. Having won the Edinburgh (Film) Festival and then Toronto (International Film Festival), which is always a good indicator of how things will perform later on. Having won the audience award at Toronto made us pretty sure that audiences would like the film. We also tested the movie in New York with Miramax and got extraordinary scores. So I think we were pretty confident by then that we had something that would stand up for itself. So we just needed to show it.

BOG: You came out of the Toronto Film Festival with the People's Choice Award and interest from numerous distributors. How did Miramax beat out its competitors for the North American rights?

PF: They saw the film and scouted it. Kristin Jones, who is V.P. in Acquisitions, saw the film in Edinburgh. She absolutely loved it and they made an offer pretty much soon after that. But, when a producer's involved, he's always got an interest to do a bit better. He thinks his movie is the best ever. But in this case, I think I was right to hold out and we held out until Toronto. We didn't really expect to win. But, I did think we could get more interest and have a bidding war, which we did. So ultimately, it was a combination of passion and money on Miramax's part. Because the money is important, the MGs (minimum guarantees) are important. But with a movie like this, you need some people who actually get the movie and will put some passion behind it, because you can't buy passion. I wanted this to cross and not be a little arthouse movie. I've had a conviction all the way through that this is a movie that is difficult to market, but if you get the people in front of that screen, whoever they are, they'll come out with an enjoyable experience saying 'that was ten dollars well spent'. It's platforming (in the U.S.) but I love to obnoxiously be saying it'll be one of the biggest grossing foreign language movies in the history of America. (laughs) I know it's grandiose, but that's my wish. But, little films can make money and they can go wide and they can be accessible to people who generally don't go to see subtitled movies.

BOG: Where were you when the Oscar nominations were announced and how did you celebrate?

PF: I was in London. I'm really a film person, so I don't have a television that works. I was trying to get onto the BBC web site to try and get the feed. And of course I couldn't locate the 24 hour news piece and I finally logged in when the second or third name was being announced. And I tell you, it's the last time I produce a movie which starts with a letter so far down in the alphabet! (laughs) It was really traumatic. But afterwards, there was great jubilation and a massive number of calls and emails. Unfortunately my wife had gone off to a film conference in Rotterdam that evening, which was a great shame because we've worked for 25 years together. We're very much a team, so I was a bit sad. So I couldn't celebrate with her. But there's lots of work to be done with all these things. They're great honors, but they involve huge amounts of work for everybody involved. So celebrations are quickly over.

BOG: How has the film performed at the South African box office?

PF: Oh, it's breaking all the records, relative to its class. It's done more business in its (opening) weekend than practically all locally produced films do in their lifetime. Other than this one great comic actor/writer/director who makes big local movies that make lots of money. Other than that, we're beating all the films including last year's Oscar nominee Yesterday. So what it's saying to us really is that it's crossing. It's crossing color, creed, age, and social background which is absolutely delightful. And that's what I really wanted to achieve with this, to make a movie that would strike a chord with all sorts of people.

BOG: Numerous Hollywood films are shot outside of the U.S. in places like Canada, Australia, and Eastern Europe to save money on production. Do you think the South African film industry has what it takes to attract more Hollywood productions?

PF: Absolutely. From a British perspective, South Africa is the Hollywood in the sun. Obviously for Californians you've got your sun. But it's a First World country (with) First World infrastructure surrounded by Third World conditions for a lot of people. It's ironic, but it's got better infrastructure than many European countries. But it's obviously restricted to those who could afford it. So technically, if you're making movies, then South Africa's a great place to make them because they have great crews, the telephones work, the roads are fantastic, the food is great, and the people are really nice and kind. You have security issues as everyone reads. But they are wildly exaggerated by the press. I had a great experience and would happily go back. I also had a great co-producer, Paul Raleigh, who is just the most wonderful man to work with and made sure the production ran smoothly on time and on budget.

BOG: How do you think American audiences will respond to Tsotsi when it releases here later this month?

PF: Well, I've mentioned what I'd like to see happen. That's a dream. But it's not an unrealistic dream. I've tested the film on three continents with all sorts of people. We know it's very accessible. So provided it's promoted and distributed wide enough, I think the American audiences will have a big surprise. It's a film that they probably wouldn't have thought of going to see, but for some reason they went to see it. Word of mouth, probably. Maybe the P.R. and marketing. But I think they'll all be in for a pleasant surprise. I'd love to do Amelie type numbers! That would be a fantastic thing.

Be sure to check back next Friday for a new installment of Oscar Spotlight.

2006 Academy Award nominations and grosses

Last Updated : February 10, 2006

Previous columns:

• Jan 20 - James Schamus, Brokeback Mountain
• Jan 27 - John Singleton, Hustle & Flow
• Feb 3 - Cathy Konrad, Walk the Line