|
JOHANNESBURG, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Two people involved
in post-production of South Africa's Oscar-winning drama film Tsotsi have been
arrested for producing and distributing pirate copies of the movie, a South
African newspaper reported on Sunday.
The suspects were also allegedly involved in
producing pirate copies of Mama Jack, another hit South African film, said the
Sunday Times.
Reportedly key members of a suspected syndicate, they
will face charges of fraud, theft and corruption in the Johannesburg
Magistrate's Court on Monday.
A three-month investigation leads to the arrest last
week, as all evidence pointed to two members of the editing team of both movies,
James Lennox, chief executive of the South African Federation Against Copyright
Theft (SAFACT), told the newspaper.
Both worked at Video Lab, a Johannesburg company that
has edited more than 30 South African films including Tsotsi, until they
resigned late last year.
Fake DVDs featuring local hits and Hollywood
productions such as Big Momma 2 could be easily found on some Johannesburg
streets. They were estimated to cost South Africa's fledgling but
internationally-acclaimed film industry 850 million rand (135 million U.S.
dollars) a year.
Tsotsi, winning a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
last month, tells a story of a young Johannesburg thug who faces moral dilemmas
after inadvertently kidnapping a baby during a hijacking.
Enditem |