Alive in Joburg (2006)

Alive in Joburg (2006) – Aliens have landed in South Africa. Social stability is non-existant!

Alive in Joburg (2006) – Set in an imaginary South Africa where aliens have landed and taken up residence, Alive in Joburg poses as a documentary intent on examining how life has changed for residents there, interchanging interviews with realistic CG.Neill Blomkamp blends the latest FX techniques with a keen photojournalistic style to bring a sci-fi vision of a South African future. The visuals are excellent and while the film’s attempt to equate the aliens reception by locals with South Africa’s Apartheid era.

Neill Blomkamp‘s debut film, which runs kind of like a news broadcast documentary that gives a peek into the frightening situation in a South African town after some not so pleasant aliens have set up permanent residence there. This short has gained a lot of attention so Blomkamp was chosen by Peter Jackson to direct the movie adaptation of computer game title “Halo”.

Neill Blomkamp was born in 1979 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is known for his work on District 9 (2009), Elysium (2013) and Stargate SG-1 (1997) and for blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated effects. His style includes social commentary using Science Fiction and often casts actor Sharlto Copley. Blomkamp graduated from Vancouver Film School’s 3D Animation and Visual Effects program in 1998.

A lot of America is kind of done. People have been making films about it for 100 years. Everything to me feels used up. But Jo-Burg feels unbelievably inspirational to me. Johannesburg is weird, because half of it is like Los Angeles. It feels like just wealthy parts of L.A. But half of it is severe slummy, something like Rio De Janiero or something. So it’s kind of weird, because it’s both happening at the same time. – Neill Blomkamp

Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Starring: Braam Greyling, Godfrey Seome, Dawie Ackermann, Sweetness Hlomza