Tag Archives: ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 24 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Tim James has used an aggregation poll of 29 wine retailers as well as writers, some international, to compile a Top 5 and Top 20 South African winery list.  The Top 5 ranked list is Sadie Family Wines, Mullineux Family Wines, Kanonkop, Boekenhoutskloof, and Chamonix.  The ranking from 6th to 20th is as follows: Paul Cluver, Newton Johnson, Cape Point Vineyards, Hamilton Russell, Vergelegen, Tokara, Thelema, Jordan, Cederberg, Delaire Graff, AA Badenhorst, Klein Constantia, Meerlust, Reyneke, and De Trafford.

*   A consumer promotion has been launched in the UK by Kumala wines, the largest selling SA wine in that country, to tie in with the launch of the ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom‘ DVD, with prizes of a visit to South Africa offered, DVDs, and wine.

*   Eat Out is inviting nominations for its Eat Out Top 500 restaurants to be included in the 2015 edition. The nominated restaurants will be evaluated by a panel, to choose the top 500 restaurants.  The closing date for nominations (on www.eatout.co.za) is 13 May. (received via media release from Irvine Bartlett)

*   The inaugural Mandela International Film Festival will be held from 3 – 12 December 2015 in Port Elizabeth.  Given Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 30 January

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Malusi Gigaba, the Minister of Public Enterprises, has instructed SAA to cancel its order for 23 wide-body long-haul aircraft, which the airline said that the fuel efficient aircraft would turn around its loss situation.

*   SAA is resuming its non-stop flights between OR Thambo and JF Kennedy airports from 9 March, ahead of schedule.  On its return flights SAA made a refueling stop at Dakar.

*  Simonsig has begun harvesting its Pinot Noir, a week later than normal due to higher summer rainfalls.  The grapes have higher levels of acidity than usual, and will go into the making of their Kaapse Vonkel MCC. (received via media release from GC Communications)

*   South African Cuisine and Culture are of greater interest than Wildlife to Indian tourists.  The role of Robben Island, and the incarceration of the late Nelson Mandela, is of great interest to them, and is being added to tour itineraries.

*   SA Tourism has hosted a pre-launch screening celebration for ‘Mandela: The Long walk to Freedom‘, in Sydney, ahead of the movie launch Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 17 January

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Cape Town will see the opening of a new chefs school in February, the Sense of Taste Culinary Arts Cooking School being set up by chefs Peter Ayub and Angie Boyd.  They plan to become the leading cookery school in Africa in the next five years, and want to prepare their students for the hard-working, non-glamorous, non-MasterChef SA side of being a chef.

*   SAA has increased its business class and economy class fares to the UK and Germany by between 2 – 10%.

*   ‘Ordinary Love’, the U2 song for the movie ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom‘ has received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, the only nomination for the movie.  It won a Golden Globe for the same category earlier this week.   The movie cost $35 million to produce, and is South Africa’s highest grossing movie at R20 million to date.

*   Brenaissance has opened a new Wine Deck for wine tasting in its plum orchard Continue reading →

‘Bumper year for local film industry’, Cape Town booming!

Cape Town Film StudioThe Cape Town film industry is about to start a bumper year of movie production, with parts of ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ likely to be shot in Cape Town, reports the Sunday Times.   The Cape Town Film Studio is said to be so busy with productions that it is turning some away!

The ‘Avengers’ sequel is set to star Scarlett Johannson, Robert Downey jnr, and Chris Hemsworth, a multi-million movie which will largely be shot in London.  The Cape Town Film Commission has not confirmed the production, but met with the production company late last year.

Major production companies have approached the Cape Town Film Commission about filming major feature films, international networks from Japan and India, as well as the BBC have made contact with the Commission.  An international reality TV show may be shot in Cape Town or Durban in winter, The New Age reports.

Last year ‘The Giver’, starring Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, and Jeff Bridges, Continue reading →