Wavered filming resumes after pay dispute settled

THE filming of ‘Where Others Wavered’ was expected to resume last night after outstanding wages were paid to the cast and crew.

“People are getting paid as we speak and we hope that once the payments are done we can resume shooting. The cheques were still being written up and we hoped to have paid them by lunch time so within the next hour they will start shooting till about 21h00,” said Uazuva Kaumbi, the executive producer of the film, late yesterday afternoon.No filming has taken place over the past 14 days as the crew downed tools over the non-payment, and a concerted effort will have to be made to make up for lost time.”We’d like to push up for lost time.We’ve lost about 14 days …but that’s not accurate because there are rest days, so we lost only about 10 effective working days.We will be working on the sound stage.The sound stage is a controlled environment so there will be no external noises and no need for the setting up of base camps that they have to move from again,” Kaumbi said.He was confident that the film would be completed at the very latest by the end of September.”We will be shooting in Windhoek till July 1, thereafter we will travel to Katima [Mulilo], which is about two days’ travel.We will start shooting in Katima on July 12 for about two and a half weeks until August 31.From there, they will be travelling to Oshakati and start shooting from around August 4 – 20.Before we leave we will be looking at those scenes that couldn’t be finished in Windhoek …we keep on revising the schedule.Then we will look at our footage because there are some scenes that we have omitted, ones that don’t really add value to the story.We hope before the middle of September we will be done …at the very latest by the end of September but that is the worst-case scenario.We should have a lot of things sorted out by the end of August,” Kaumbi said.The N$50 million budget allocation to the film, passed in Parliament this week, must still be forwarded for consideration to the National Council before it is made available.Said Kaumbi: “The thing is that the money is there.The problem is that it is not in our coffers …it’s not readily available in our bank account…Ideally, we would have it in our account, then we could disburse as needed.The funds are with the Film Commission, they certify and verify and make sure they are happy and then they send the requisition to the Minister of Broadcasting, then it must go to the Ministry of Finance before it comes to us.The budget under which the N$50 million will be given to us is for the current financial year and it was only passed yesterday [Tuesday] by the National Assembly and then it will have to go to the National Council.Because of that the Ministry of Finance hasn’t transferred all the funds.”The Namibia Film Commission (NFC) will also be taking a more active role in overseeing the administration of funds allocated to Pacon.Rumours that the NFC was planning to remove the production of the film from Pacon and oversee the project directly have proved untrue.”We have not heard anything or had any written communication from anyone about that,” Kaumbi said.Said Tarah Shinavene, a member of the Namibia Film Commission’s board of directors: “The film commission advanced N$15 million as a grant to Pacon at the beginning and then the money got finished and they came back.We told them we don’t have any other money and they went to the Ministry and up to now they are waiting for the Ministry.We are creating an agreement where we will decide whether the film commission will continue to see the film through to the end.The government has agreed that it will help Pacon until the movie is finished.We have to follow up the dollars to the supplier to make sure there is nothing fishy.It will be agreed that some accountant from the film commission will do that.We are going to play a very active role by checking their accountants and verifying the dollar to the suppliers.This is being done in the spirit of mutual assistance – it is our job to rescue them from trouble,” Kaumbi is hopeful that fewer glitches will occur in the next stages of the film.”We have set aside wages that need to be paid – those things that directly affect the crew and suppliers.We hope that by mid-July the budget will be done.We have been involved in various discussions and this is the first project of this kind in Namibia so we are all learning.Everyone wants to make sure that the money is spent properly.”The cheques were still being written up and we hoped to have paid them by lunch time so within the next hour they will start shooting till about 21h00,” said Uazuva Kaumbi, the executive producer of the film, late yesterday afternoon.No filming has taken place over the past 14 days as the crew downed tools over the non-payment, and a concerted effort will have to be made to make up for lost time.”We’d like to push up for lost time.We’ve lost about 14 days …but that’s not accurate because there are rest days, so we lost only about 10 effective working days.We will be working on the sound stage.The sound stage is a controlled environment so there will be no external noises and no need for the setting up of base camps that they have to move from again,” Kaumbi said.He was confident that the film would be completed at the very latest by the end of September.”We will be shooting in Windhoek till July 1, thereafter we will travel to Katima [Mulilo], which is about two days’ travel. We will start shooting in Katima on July 12 for about two and a half weeks until August 31.From there, they will be travelling to Oshakati and start shooting from around August 4 – 20.Before we leave we will be looking at those scenes that couldn’t be finished in Windhoek …we keep on revising the schedule.Then we will look at our footage because there are some scenes that we have omitted, ones that don’t really add value to the story.We hope before the middle of September we will be done …at the very latest by the end of September but that is the worst-case scenario.We should have a lot of things sorted out by the end of August,” Kaumbi said.The N$50 million budget allocation to the film, passed in Parliament this week, must still be forwarded for consideration to the National Council before it is made available.Said Kaumbi: “The thing is that the money is there.The problem is that it is not in our coffers …it’s not readily available in our bank account…Ideally, we would have it in our account, then we could disburse as needed.The funds are with the Film Commission, they certify and verify and make sure they are happy and then they send the requisition to the Minister of Broadcasting, then it must go to the Ministry of Finance before it comes to us.The budget under which the N$50 million will be given to us is for the current financial year and it was only passed yesterday [Tuesday] by the National Assembly and then it will have to go to the National Council.Because of that the Ministry of Finance hasn’t transferred all the funds.”The Namibia Film Commission (NFC) will also be taking a more active role in overseeing the administration of funds allocated to Pacon.Rumours that the NFC was planning to remove the production of the film from Pacon and oversee the project directly have proved untrue.”We have not heard anything or had any written communication from anyone about that,” Kaumbi said.Said Tarah Shinavene, a member of the Namibia Film Commission’s board of directors: “The film commission advanced N$15 million as a grant to Pacon at the beginning and then the money got finished and they came back.We told them we don’t have any other money and they went to the Ministry and up to now they are waiting for the Ministry.We are creating an agreement where we will decide whether the film commission will continue to see the film through to the end.The government has agreed that it will help Pacon until the movie is finished.We have to follow up the dollars to the supplier to make sure there is nothing fishy.It will be agreed that some accountant from the film commission will do that.We are going to play a very ac
tive role by checking their accountants and verifying the dollar to the suppliers.This is being done in the spirit of mutual assistance – it is our job to rescue them from trouble,” Kaumbi is hopeful that fewer glitches will occur in the next stages of the film.”We have set aside wages that need to be paid – those things that directly affect the crew and suppliers.We hope that by mid-July the budget will be done.We have been involved in various discussions and this is the first project of this kind in Namibia so we are all learning.Everyone wants to make sure that the money is spent properly.”