The SA Film Reel awards the very best in craft by Productions companies in South Africa. This month we asked Graeme Jenner, Executive Creative Director at King James II, to select his standouts. Congratulations to all the winners.

Paul Ward | 0307 Films
Wrangler ‘The Wild Way Home’

BEST OF REEL: Wrangler ‘The Wild Way Home’ directed by Paul Ward at 0307 Films.
“Parkour. What’s that about anyway? Wandering about on rooftops, jumping over stuff, staring meaningfully from precarious ledges. I guess it must be hip and funky to the youth of today because it seems like it features in quite a few ads lately. That said, it takes a pretty good director to make an ad about that well-trodden subject matter that is very very watchable. Nicely shot, very well edited, great voice-over – All round good job then Paul Ward, well done.”

SPECIAL MENTION: Virgin Money ‘I Like Insurance’ – Directed by Greg Rom at Gentlemen Films, Edited by Evy Katz at Left Post Productions, Grade & Online by The Upstairs Ludus and Original Music by Pulse Music.
“You know whats my worst? Crowd participation. Like in live shows when they point into the crowd and ask you to come up on stage and get involved. That’s partly the reason that I don’t like theatre in general. I went to Grahamstown once and it really wasn’t for me. My mate fell in a ditch and someone stole his Air Max’s off his feet. Who does that? Also, I was late for a performance (cos I had to piggy back my mate whose foot was buggered from falling in the ditch and then walking home lank far with no shoes on) and we had to sit in the front row and then the lights went down and a naked white dude ran on stage with a buck skull over his face and shouted “AFFFRRRIIICCCCAAAAA” and then splashed blood all over his penis. Fuck sakes man. Then I got straight back up and had to piggy back my mate out again. So yeah, I don’t really like theatre at all, including musicals. But I don’t mind this ad. In fact, I had to watch it to the end more than once because it was in a few categories and I was totally happy to do that. So yeah, that’s a good thing. Nice one.”

SPECIAL MENTION: Sanlam ‘Mr. Madumane’ directed by Kyle Lewis at Arcade Content.
“Full disclosure – this comes from the fam in Cape Town. But it’s cool, I like it. It’s like a low budget high budget video, which was the whole point I guess. Awesome conceptual styling, art direction and directing. Just another day on the job for Kyle then.”

SPECIAL MENTION: MNET ‘Kiss’ directed by PHI.
“This is a sweet story, sweetly done. That little girl is really good. I think I’m becoming more susceptible to ads like this since becoming a Dad. It’s the same thing with the dog ad below.”

SPECIAL MENTION: Heroic Tales ‘Montego Pets’ directed by Fausto Becatti at Bioscope Films.
“Man, I’m a sucker for a story about a boy and his dog. The kid in this ad sleeps with his dog in his bed. I recently started letting my dog jump up on the bed in the morning and it is the best. We spoon for 15 minutes before I get up. I know some people are very much against this kind of behaviour but if you’ve never done it then you really should, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. The older guy at the end of this ad doesn’t look like the younger guy at all though, but I guess I’ll let that slide because…you know….dogs.”

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