May 5, 2005: The Three Amigos, a series of twenty (20) multi-award winning Public Service Announcements (PSA's) designed to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, have found a new home on SABC 2. Already playing on SABC 1 and 3, the PSA's are now going to be played on SABC 2 in Sotho and Afrikaans. The animated PSA's star three comedic animated characters to deliver a serious message encouraging the principle that condoms are our friends or amigos.
Says Aletta Alberts, Head of SABC 2: We are very excited about The Three Amigos broadcasting on SABC 2. These PSA's support our Public Service mandate and we believe that these engaging messages will substantially contribute to encouraging responsible behaviour.
This locally conceived campaign is a South African-Canadian co-production involving a large volunteer effort from over 80 international animation professionals. Brent Quinn (South Africa) and Firdaus Kharas (Canada) are the creators and producers. The spots on SABC 2 are voiced thanks to the free contribution of local stars: David Kau, Kagiso Lediga, Tshepo Mogale and Moshidi Motshega are the Sotho voices. In Afrikaans, Antonio Summerton, Andre Hattingh Joey Rasdien and Martin Jonas voiced the condom characters. The recording was done at Video Lab in Johannesburg.
Says Quinn: Thanks to a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) the prevention programme has been provided free of charge to communities across South Africa. Combining the television campaign with a community roll of the prevention messages has enabled Three Amigos to become a cult phenomenon amongst young South Africans most a risk to HIV. The contribution form both SABC and CIDA is a significant one in fighting back the rate of new HIV infections.
Kharas adds: The SABC has been leading the world in supporting The Three Amigos. Its contribution towards stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS through airing The Three Amigos has brought it well-deserved international recognition. Recently at MIP TV in Cannes, I was pleased to be able to brief the international broadcasting community at a high-level meeting about the success of The Three Amigos campaign and specifically pointed to the SABC for being the pioneer that it is by playing these HIV/AIDS prevention messages.
The website: www.thethreeamigos.org now also hosts the site in isiZulu to make the site more accessible to people in South Africa. Mpume Kotane, the Zulu voice artist, did the translation. The web-site is hosted by Tomahawk Technologies in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada.
Since completion in March, 2004, The Three Amigos has received 30 international recognitions and wide-spread acclaim. Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a strong supporter of the project and has called the PSA's "a significant contribution".
The PSA's have been re-created in 41 languages. One PSA per language is currently streaming on the Three Amigos web-site. Further information is available at www.thethreeamigos.org
For additional information and interviews please contact:
In South Africa: Brent Quinn
Producer
Tel: +27 11 880 5015
Fax: +27 11 880 5125
Mobile: +27 (0)82 556 8074
E-mail: [email protected]
In Canada: Firdaus J. Kharas
Producer
Tel: (1)(613) 820-6121
Fax: (1)(613) 820-4679
E-mail: [email protected]
Posted on Monday 9 May 2005
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