Bakgat

Bakgat!
Directed by Henk Pretorius
Produced by Henk Pretorius
Danie Bester
Lucia Meyer
James Carroll
C.A. van Aswegen
Written by Henk Pretorius
Danie Bester
Starring Ivan Botha
Altus Theart
Cherié van der Merwe
Ian Roberts
Lea Clatworthy
Neil Sharim
Andrew Thompson
Lelia Etsebeth
Ciske Kruger
Dantus Lundall
Helene Lombard
Music by Benjamin Willem
Cinematography Tom Marais
Edited by C.A. van Aswegen
Distributed by Ster-Kinekor Pictures
Release dates
  • 11 April 2008 (2008-04-11)
Running time
96 minutes
Language Afrikaans

Bakgat! is a 2008 South African teen comedy film directed by Henk Pretorius and written by Pretorius and Danie Bester.

Plot

Katrien (Cherié van der Merwe) is dumped by her boyfriend, high school rugby star Werner (Altus Theart), so he can focus his energy on the sport. To get even, she makes a bet with her friends that she can make a star out of the school's dorkiest boy, Wimpie Koekemoer (Ivan Botha), by pretending to be his girlfriend. The awkward Koekemoer rises to the challenge but Katrien finds herself falling unexpectedly in love with him, until he realizes she is merely using him.

Production

The film was shot on location in Pretoria and Johannesburg in 2007. Local high schools Waterkloof and Eldoraigne participated in the production and the 2007 teams of both schools play the high school rugby teams in the film. These students, and the students who appear as extras, are all credited at the end of the film.[1] Most of the cast, according to reviewer Kgomotso Moncho, were recruited from the Tshwane University of Technology, where many of the high school scenes were filmed.[2]

This was the first film by director Pretorius, a television actor who had appeared as a regular cast member of the South African soapie Kruispad, and played in an episode of the HBO mini-series Generation Kill.[3]

Reception

Bakgat! received mixed reviews, described by critics as amusing but cliched.[4] Shaun de Waal described it as "an efficient attempt to replicate the American teen comedy," criticized it as "largely predictable" and deriding its use of cartoonish stock characters such as "a mincing moffie thrown in for laughs." [5]

Sequels

Two sequels, Bakgat! 2 (2010) and Bakgat! tot die mag 3 (2013) have been released. The filming of Bakgat! 2 began in 2009 at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University, with Henk Pretorius returning as director and Botha and van de Merwe returning in their roles as Wimpie and Katrien.

References

  1. "NWU, Potchefstroom Campus: NWU-Puk-News: New Bakgat film?s scenes filmed on the campus". puk.ac.za. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  2. http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4334578
  3. "Henk Pretorius - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  4. http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=429&fArticleId=4348310
  5. "The Guide - Movies". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2014-06-09.

External links

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