Following SABC2’s national search to discover and develop new local voices in poetry, talking about the issues that shape our current cultural landscape, the winners of the channel’s annual Lentswe Poetry Project have been announced.

Winning poets for each of the 10 categories in the Lentswe Poetry Project 2009 are:

*Thembi Shedeni, Human Rights Day, Durban;
*Fatima Dawood, Family Day, Durban;
*Abigail Khosa, Freedom Day, Durban;
*Jokia Louisa, Africa Day, Johannesburg;
*Sacha Park, Father’s Day, Port Elizabeth;
*Tshepiso Mabula, Youth Day, Johannesburg;
*Norman Marapo, Women’s Day, Kimberley;
*Musa Nhlumayo, Heritage Day, Durban;
*Thabani Justice J.N.R, 16 Days of Activism Against Women & Child Abuse, Durban; and
*Khanyisile Ngalo, Aids Day, Port Elizabeth.

Up-and-coming film director, Delano Daniels, was responsible for creating a visual interpretation for the first of the poems to be screened on SABC2 – Thembi Shedeni’s poem centred around “Human Rights Day”. Jan Harm Robertse has just been selected to produce Fatima Dawood’s poem for “Family Day”, which will be screened on the national channel from mid-April.

Each of the visual interpretations will be screened around the day of commemoration for which the poem in question was composed.

Directors filming the remaining eight poems will be announced shortly. A call-to-entry produced a list of potential directors at the end of last year. Each of these aspirant directors had to indicate which two poems interested them most, and then had to submit rough proposals for their creative ideas to film the poems. Three directors were eventually selected per poem/category – they were assisted by Creative Director, David Fleminger, and his team at Modern Times to develop their concepts and materials. The SABC2 panel for the project then selects one concept per poem, and that director goes into production – with a tight schedule of only three days pre-production, a one day shoot and four days post-production before the SABC has the final viewing.

For more information, visit www.lentswe.org.za.