In the car with Oliver Schmitz's Hijack stories (2000): The journey of a South African film in translation
Date
2008-03-12T13:56:04Z
Authors
Jacobsohn, Bianca
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Abstract
ABSTRACT: This research report follows the journey of the South African film Hijack
Stories (2000) in translation, looking at the various processes – state,
institutional and individual - which led to the film’s existence. The context of
the South African film industry (institution) during the country’s (state)
apartheid past and democratic present have influenced those involved (the
individuals) in the film-making process as well as their subjectivities. It is
revealed that Hijack Stories (2000) is a film targeted at foreign audiences and
that these audiences ascribe value to South African content. This value is
acquired on the basis of the historical and social circumstances of South
Africa, which has long sustained the interest of the outside world. Hijack
Stories (2000) emerges as a cultural commodity, packaged and marketed
according to the imaginings that the world has of South Africa. Translation
then takes place at the junction of these processes and their related social,
financial, political and historical factors, thereby facilitating the international
circulation of Hijack Stories (2000) within the greater context of globalisation.
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Keywords
South African film, translation, subtitling, commodity theory, dubbing