A groundbreaking opera film - the first of its kind in Xhosa - was filmed in Cape Town. Titled U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (Carmen in Khayelitsha), this gripping township version of Bizet's opera Carmen is set and mostly filmed in Khayelitsha. 
Carmen in Khayelitsha takes place in present day Khayelitsha, one of South Africa's largest townships, situated approximately 20km outside of Cape Town. The dynamic energy and heat of Khayelitsha provide an authentic setting for the unfolding of the story. The vibrant structures and unique textures of the township serve as a spectacular backdrop for the pulsating rhythms and seductive melodies that make Bizet's Carmen so popular.
It stars the Khayelitsha-born opera singer Pauline Malefane in the tile role of the seductive free-spirited cigarette girl, a character she has made her own in productions of the opera overseas and will soon repeat in New York.
Funded jointly by Nando's and Spier, and employing nearly 1 000 men and women from Khayelitsha as extras, the film is directed by Mark Dornford-May, the artistic director of the Spier-based lyric theatre company.
He, together with his wife Malefane, DDK's British music director and conductor Charles Hazlewood and Andiswa Kedama, DDK's assistant director, adapted Bizet's libretto to suit a township background. Their collaborative efforts resulted in a screenplay that manages to remain remarkably faithful to the spirit and narrative of the original while presenting an authentic slice of township life.
Kedama and Malefane then painstakingly tackled the translation and the English subtitles. In this Xhosa version, Carmen's soldier boy lover Don José becomes a policeman Jongikhaya (Andile Tshoni). The swashbuckling toreador Escamillo is a famous expat opera singer Lulamile Nkomo (Zorro Sidloyi), who kills a bull as part of a traditional ceremony. And Lillas Pastia's tavern, where the smugglers gather, is Bra Nkomo's shebeen.
Even a sangoma, played by the company choreographer's Joel Mthethwa, gets into the film, predicting the fate of Carmen.
However the music remains true to Bizet. This was recorded earlier this year with an SA orchestra at Spier's rehearsal premises at the old Three Gables Hotel. The room was turned into a recording studio by placing bales of hay on the roof to deaden the sound of overhead aircraft.
"Xhosa, like Italian, is a wonderful language for singing," said Hazlewood. "It has lovely open vowels, crisp consonants and the different cliques add a percussive dimension. "I think Carmen is a great choice for a Xhosa movie. It's such a visceral tale, which touches every single human being on the planet. It's about love, hate, jealousy, revenge, desire, madness, and the 10 big emotions that people deal with on a daily basis. "That's why it caused a storm when it was premièred in 1875. It is probably the most popular opera in the world, but back then it was an utter fiasco and basically killed Bizet. "People then could not handle the idea that opera dealt with low-born, mucky people, who could do low-born mucky things to each other."
During the five weeks of shooting in March and April, the recorded singing in Xhosa was played back on huge speakers in Khayelitsha, much to the astonishment of the local residents. When they heard the words in Xhosa, they were intrigued and soon gathered around the cast and the photographic team. This was led by award-winning cinematographer Giullo Biccari, (Forgiveness and Promised Land) who was the director of photography.
The key cast are all members of Dimpho Di Kopane (DDK), an ensemble lyric theatre company that has achieved tremendous international acclaim. The 40- member company was assembled five years ago through an unprecedented recruitment process led by Mark Dornford-May.  Over 2,000 potential performers were auditioned both in townships and in rural areas throughout South Africa.  Some of the performers ultimately selected for the troupe had never previously been inside a theatre, let alone on a stage.
Changing the setting from Spain to Khayelitsha was not that difficult.
"The economic situation which existed in Seville at the time was also one of poverty and the struggle to survive," said Dornford-May. "In the opera you have this glamorous figure of Escamillo coming in from the outside who was definitely a cut above everyone else in terms of his wealth. We tried to keep that same sense with our Lulamile, who is an opera singer. Obviously economically he's from a different world."
It was not possible to shoot all the scenes in Khayelitsha. So about 60 shacks and shops were built in open ground at Spier with workers from Men at the Side of the Road.
Hazlewood predicts that the film, which was given the thumbs-up by a sample audience of township leaders who saw a rough version in June, will be a sensation for black South Africans who for the first time will experience grand opera in Xhosa.
"But what I'm really proud of is that we've made a film which is not really an opera."

SHORT BACKGROUND ON DIMPHO DI KOPANE, LYRIC THEATRE COMPANY
Dimpho Di Kopane began in late 2000 when Mark Dornford-May and Charles Hazlewood, then Artistic and Music Directors of Broomhill Opera in London, were asked to form an ensemble company in Cape Town. They began recruiting performers through an unprecedented audition process in which over two thousand auditions were held throughout rural and urban South Africa. Forty fantastically talented South African actors and singers were selected and the company has since achieved huge international success. In 2001 Dornford-May and Hazlewood's stage productions of Carmen and Yiimimangaliso The Mysteries transferred to Wilton's Music Hall in London where both productions had to be extended due to demand for tickets and were listed for six weeks running as the most important music and theatre events in London.

MARK DORNFORD-MAY, DIRECTOR
Mark has been directing theatre for over 25 years. He was Founder of the Playwrights's Company based at Bristol Old Vic and Associate Director of the Old Vic, Stoke-on-Tent. He has directed at the Sheffield Crucible, the Oxford Playhouse, The Gate Theatre Notting Hill and the RSC. He has also been involved with actor training at the Central School of Drama and is the Artistic Director of Wilton's Music Hall. He has worked on several productions in France, Belgium, Portugal, Australia, Ireland, the US, Canada and in South Africa. Mesmerized by the local talent he had witnessed, Mark returned to South Africa in 2000 with the vision of creating a lyric theatre company.  In an unprecedented recruiting process, Mark and his partner in Broomhill Opera, Charles Hazlewood, travelled to townships nationwide scouting young aspiring performers many of whom had never previously been inside a theatre.  2000 auditions later, 40 company members were selected and the South African Academy of Performing Arts was born. The company has since changed its name to Dimpho Di Kopane, meaning 'combined talents' in Sotho and has achieved tremendous international acclaim for their performances of Carmen, Yimimangaliso The Mysteries, Ibali looTsotsi The Beggars Opera, and Ikumkanikazi yekhephu The Snow Queen. U-Carmen eKhayelitsha is Mark's first feature film.
Some personal comments while making U-Carmen eKhayelitsha:
"Changing the setting from Spain to Khayelitsha was not as difficult as I expected. It was impossible to do all the filming in Khayelitsha so we built about 60 shacks in the back of the grounds of Spier for certain scenes and filmed the rest in the township itself. I am quite familiar with Khayelitsha and knew where we could film.  Also our cast could explain to the people what we were trying to achieve. The reaction was fantastic. Once the people knew what we were trying to do, they were hugely enthusiastic that Khayelitsha was to be used as a film location. People were amazingly supportive and we had no problems with noises or disturbances. While filming on location,we  played the music back on huge speakers to flood the performers in sound so they could feel they were part of it again. That attracted quite large crowds. Here was Bizet being belted out at full blast in the middle of the township! You could see people reacting when they first heard the music, and then took in that it was Xhosa and suddenly they were on their way to find out what it was all about.

PAULINE MALEFANE, CO-WRITER, TRANSLATOR AND PRINCIPLE CAST MEMBER
Pauline was born in 1976 and grew up in Khayelitsha. She sang in a variety of local choirs and was first exposed to the world of opera during a high school outing to Don Giovanni. Professor Angelo Gobbato referred her to the College of Music at the University of Cape Town where she studied for her honours degree and performed in the chorus of several opera productions. She joined Dimpho Di Kopane in 2000, while still a student at UCT. Never previously having sung a lead role in a professional production, Pauline was selected from the chorus to replace the current lead and perform the coveted role of Carmen. With only three weeks to rehearse this new role, Pauline rose to the occasion and went on to achieve tremendous international acclaim as Carmen. Her other roles have included the Virgin Mary in Yimimangaliso The Mysteries and a thief in Ikumkanikazi yekhephu The Snow Queen. Pauline plays Carmen in U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and co-wrote and translated the screenplay.
 
ANDISWA KEDAMA, CO-WRITER, TRANSLATOR AND CAST MEMBER
Andiswa was born in 1976 and grew up in Guguletu and Langa, and then moved to Khayelitsha in  1985. She sang at church with her school choir and did drama at Bible school. Annual school competitions inspired Andiswa and she now sings for a local choir. She joined DDK in 2000 and her previous roles include Isaac in Yimimangaliso The Mysteries, Jenny Diver in Ibali looTsotsi The Beggars Opera and Gerda in The Snow Queen. Together with Pauline, she co-wrote and translated the screenplay for U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and plays Amanda (Carmen's friend). Andiswa has recently been appointed Assistant to the Director.