There has been much speculation around which “high profile” South African film has landed a Cape Town man in hot water with copyright authorities and the criminal crimes court.<\/p>\n
CEO of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (Safact), Corn\u00e9 Guldenpfennig, told MyBroadband that the case against one Mr. Norton would be a first for South Africa.<\/p>\n
However, Guldenpfennig said she couldn\u2019t reveal the name of the film that the alleged copyright infringer uploaded via popular torrent site, The Pirate Bay.<\/p>\n
It is understood that the movie\u2019s copyright holder was afraid that more losses will be incurred if the film\u2019s name is publicised.<\/p>\n
Many copyright owners hold that file-sharing over protocols such as BitTorrent negatively impacts revenues, and that pre-release leaks only increase these losses.<\/p>\n
However, studies into these claims reveal mixed results, with some films making comparatively little money at the box-office on their launch weekend, while others set record highs for their genre.<\/p>\n
It therefore seems that the effect of an early leak on a film’s revenue can vary significantly depending on the genre, the quality of the leak, and the quality of the film (based on its eventual aggregate review score).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The secrecy around the name of the film has resulted in much speculation as to what South Africa\u2019s landmark Internet piracy case might be about.<\/p>\n
Some wondered whether it was \u201cMandela: Long walk to Freedom\u201d, the biographical film about former president Nelson Mandela which was released in South Africa a day before its US debut. Leon Schuster\u2019s latest comedy movie was another suggestion.<\/p>\n
However, MyBroadband has good reason to believe that the high-profile South African movie in question is Four Corners, a coming-of-age gang film set in the Cape Flats.<\/p>\n
The National Film and Video Foundation announced in September 2013 that Four Corners was selected as South Africa\u2019s official entry into the 86th annual Academy Awards (Oscars) for best foreign language film.<\/p>\n
Nominations for the Oscars will be announced on 16 January 2014, with the awards scheduled for 2 March 2014.<\/p>\n
Four Corners is set to release in South Africa on 28 February 2014.<\/p>\n
The release date was pushed back from 7 February 2014, with the film\u2019s Facebook page telling fans that the later release meant that the film could be screened in more cinemas around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cReward the artists, musicians, actors and local talent from the Cape Flats by watching Four Corners on the Big Screen,\u201d the film\u2019s Facebook account posted. \u201cCreate the opportunity for more Cape Flats films to be made. It\u2019s your move.\u201d<\/p>\n