national Arts Festival Banner

Friday, August 10, 2018

AWARD FOR MIKHAIL PEPPAS



(Mikhail Peppas)

Dr Mikhail Peppas was recently presented with the 2017 Simon “Mabhunu” Sabela Lifetime Achievement Award at the Playhouse during the recent Durban International Film Festival.

The awards celebrate heroes, legends and veterans who have made a mark in the film and television industry.

Peppas is a historian currently working on a book project titled The History of the Moving Image in KwaZulu-Natal.

The award also acknowledged Peppas’ work on the Free Film School and the community TV station, Greater Television - GDTV.

The History of the Moving Image in KwaZulu-Natal will focus initially on the pioneering days of cinema in Natal (now KZN) and film-going as a social phenomenon. Topics covered range from filming in the Boer War battlefields to the opening in 1909 of The Electric Theatre, the first dedicated cinema in Africa.

The Simon “Mabhunu” Sabela Film and Television Awards have been in existence since 2013 and is an initiative of the Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) supported by the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission and is endorsed by the Sabela family. Sabela has been acknowledged as a legend in the small and big screen. He was a revered actor, director and producer with a career spanning over four decades resulting in over 34 movies locally and internationally.