The South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas16) will be held virtually despite the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.
The awards, which have been running for 16 years, will be held at the weekend and can be streamed live on the Saftas YouTube channel at 7pm, S3 and Mzansi Magic.
The organisers said the gig will be held virtually because the bid for tender was put out to production companies before the cancelation of the pandemic restrictions.
“The decision to host the event virtually was made at the time the bid for tender was put out to production companies to produce the Saftas16 awards ceremony, said Saftas executive producer Anneke de Ridder.
“At the time, SA was still under lockdown and the bid criteria was per Saftas15 guidelines – no public event. Similarly, by the time the service provider, Don’t Look Down, was appointed, the country was still under lockdown.
“Given the restrictions with government institutions when it comes to changing the merits of a tender bid, we had to continue hosting the ceremony virtually. While we do acknowledge that it would have been ideal to celebrate with the industry in-person, our production company has worked exceptionally hard to give industry practitioners the honour they deserve.
Our motif, Frame the Future, speaks to this as we hope to build on the reimagined execution we delivered last year. Plans for Saftas17 though are already under way and we definitely will resume with an in-person celebration of the industry’s best.”
Lerato Mokopanele, the acting communications officer at the National Film and Video Foundation, said under this year’s theme, Frame the Future, the Saftas celebrations will be hosted by multi-talented radio and TV personalities including Smash Afrika and Candice Modiselle.
On Friday and Saturday, South Africa’s outstanding film and television talent will be rewarded with the famous golden horn for the amount of work they put into their craft.
Dynamic radio and all-round media personality Khutso Theledi, the much-loved comedian and TV personality Mpho Popps, and break-out star Ryle De Morny will anchor the main night on Saturday as the official hosts.
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