The real Bang Bang Club & the actors who portray them
The four years from 1990-1994 can be described as the most hostile period in modern South African history. All eyes were on South Africa as Apartheid came to its violent close. Directly in the middle of the conflict was the Bang Bang Club.
The Bang Bang Club, whose name refers to the sounds of gunfire, was composed of four young men working as combat photographers in the tumultuous townships around South Africa. Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and João Silva set out to exposeand report on the complex conflict, sharing their photographs with the rest of the world.
Their graphic images have created a raw history of the brutal civil war that changed the nation. It was the men’s bravado and fearless behaviour, often risking their lives on the front lines, which allowed them to capture some of the most profound and unsettling images of the time.
The group’s willingness to push the limits was recognized around the world with Greg Marinovich landing the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography in 1991 for his images of the Hostel killings in 1990, and Kevin Carter winning the Pulitzer for Featured Photography in 1994 for his controversial image of a vulture stalking a starving girl in Sudan.
However the club paid a heavy price for the photographs they shot. They were in a constant state of emotional conflict as they tried to balance their professional need to document the violence and their moral urge to help end it. The dedication to their work produced some of their biggest achievements but it also brought about tragedy.
This incredible story was made into a film, THE BANG BANG CLUB, which is having its Australian premiere at the Festival. Steven Silver’s action-packed, thought-provoking film tells the incredible story of these heroic men, bound by friendship and the need to capture the injustices they witnessed in a bid to expose the truth.
Find out more in this fantastic New York Times interview with Greg Marinovich and João Silva, who are the authors of “The Bang-Bang Club” (2000), on which the film is based on. You can follow the director Steven Silver on Twitter.
THE BANG BANG CLUB has its Australian premiere on Thursday 11th August at 8:30pm.