Bang-Bang Club
Encyclopedia
The Bang Bang Club was a name primarily associated with four photographers active within the townships of South Africa
during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela
was released from jail to the 1994 elections. Kevin Carter
, Greg Marinovich
, Ken Oosterbroek
, and João Silva were the four associated with the name, although a number of photographers and photojournalists
worked alongside them (such as James Nachtwey
and Gary Bernard). A movie about the group
, directed by Steven Silver
and starring Taylor Kitsch
, Ryan Phillippe
and Malin Åkerman
, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
in 2010.
, it was changed to "Club" because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work. The name comes from the culture itself; township
residents spoke to the photographers about the "bang-bang" in reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, "bang-bang" refers to the sound of gunfire
and is a colloquial form of nomenclature
used by conflict photographer
s.
On April 18, 1994, during a firefight
between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress
supporters in the Tokoza township, friendly fire
killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich. An inquest into Oosterbroek's death began in 1995. The magistrate
ruled that no party should be blamed for the death. In 1999, peacekeeper
Brian Mkhize told Marinovich and Silva that he believed that the bullet that killed Oosterbroek had come from the National Peacekeeping Force.
In July 1994, Carter committed suicide
.
On October 23, 2010, Silva stepped on a landmine while on patrol with US soldiers in Kandahar
, Afghanistan
and lost both legs below the knee. This is the second time he's been injured in a warzone, with his first injury being hit by shrapnel in the face.
in 1991 for his coverage
of the killing of Lindsaye Tshabalala in 1990. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer for Featured Photography
in 1994 for his 1993 photograph of a vulture
that appeared to be stalking a starving child in southern Sudan
.
of Marinovich and Silva's book was shot on location
in Tokoza township by South African documentary film-maker Steven Silver
. Marinovich is working as a consultant on the film which is due to star Ryan Phillippe
as Greg Marinovich, Taylor Kitsch
as Kevin Carter and Neels Van Jaarsveld as João Silva.
was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was released from jail to the 1994 elections. Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter was an award-winning South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club.-Early life:...
, Greg Marinovich
Greg Marinovich
Greg Sebastian Marinovich is an award-winning South African photojournalist, film maker, photo editor, and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He co-authored the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War, which details South Africa's transition to democracy. In the 1990s, Marinovich worked as...
, Ken Oosterbroek
Ken Oosterbroek
Ken Oosterbroek , was a South African photojournalist and member of The Bang-Bang Club. He worked for The Star in Johannesburg, which was South Africa's biggest daily broadsheet...
, and João Silva were the four associated with the name, although a number of photographers and photojournalists
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
worked alongside them (such as James Nachtwey
James Nachtwey
James Nachtwey is an American photojournalist and war photographer.He grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied Art History and Political Science ....
and Gary Bernard). A movie about the group
The Bang Bang Club (film)
The Bang-Bang Club is a 2010 Canadian-South African film written and directed by Steven Silver and stars Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter, Ryan Phillippe as Greg Marinovich, Frank Rautenbach as Ken Oosterbroek and Neels Van Jaarsveld as João Silva...
, directed by Steven Silver
Steven Silver (film director)
Steven Silver is a film writer, director and producer. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He started his film career in South Africa and later on in Canada writing and co-producing a feature-length 1997 Canadian Broadcasting...
and starring Taylor Kitsch
Taylor Kitsch
-Early life and modeling career:Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career...
, Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe , better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54...
and Malin Åkerman
Malin Akerman
Malin Maria Åkerman is a Swedish–Canadian actress and model. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden and moved to Canada at the age of two. As a child, she appeared in several television commercials before going on to win a modelling contract at age sixteen...
, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
in 2010.
History
The name "The Bang Bang Club" was born out of an article published in the South African magazine Living. Originally named The Bang Bang PaparazziPaparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
, it was changed to "Club" because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work. The name comes from the culture itself; township
Township
The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...
residents spoke to the photographers about the "bang-bang" in reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, "bang-bang" refers to the sound of gunfire
Gunfire
Gunfire can refer to:* Gunshot, the discharge of a firearm* Gunfire , a DC comic book superhero* Gunfire , a 1934 Western starring Rex Bell* Gunfire , a 1950 Western starring Don "Red" Barry...
and is a colloquial form of nomenclature
Nomenclature
Nomenclature is a term that applies to either a list of names or terms, or to the system of principles, procedures and terms related to naming - which is the assigning of a word or phrase to a particular object or property...
used by conflict photographer
War photography
War photography captures photographs of armed conflict and life in war-torn areas.Although photographs can provide a more direct representation than paintings or drawings, they are sometimes manipulated, creating an image that is not objectively journalistic.-History:Photography, presented to the...
s.
On April 18, 1994, during a firefight
Firefight
Firefight may refer to:* firefight, a large exchange of bullets between two sides * Firefighting, process of extinguishing destructive flames* A game mode in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach video games...
between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
supporters in the Tokoza township, friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich. An inquest into Oosterbroek's death began in 1995. The magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
ruled that no party should be blamed for the death. In 1999, peacekeeper
Peacekeeper
Peacekeeper may refer to:* A person involved in peacekeeping* Peace officer* Conservator of the peaceIn vehicles:* The LGM-118 Peacekeeper, a land-based nuclear ICBM...
Brian Mkhize told Marinovich and Silva that he believed that the bullet that killed Oosterbroek had come from the National Peacekeeping Force.
In July 1994, Carter committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
On October 23, 2010, Silva stepped on a landmine while on patrol with US soldiers in Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and lost both legs below the knee. This is the second time he's been injured in a warzone, with his first injury being hit by shrapnel in the face.
Awards
Two members won Pulitzer Prizes for their photography. Greg Marinovich won the Pulitzer for Spot News PhotographyPulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography
The Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography was awarded from 1968 – 1999, thereafter being renamed as the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.-List of winners:...
in 1991 for his coverage
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
of the killing of Lindsaye Tshabalala in 1990. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer for Featured Photography
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography
The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography has been awarded since 1968 for a distinguished example of feature photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album....
in 1994 for his 1993 photograph of a vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
that appeared to be stalking a starving child in southern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
Books
In 2000, Marinovich and Silva published The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War, a book documenting their experiences.Films
A film adaptationFilm adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of Marinovich and Silva's book was shot on location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
in Tokoza township by South African documentary film-maker Steven Silver
Steven Silver (film director)
Steven Silver is a film writer, director and producer. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He started his film career in South Africa and later on in Canada writing and co-producing a feature-length 1997 Canadian Broadcasting...
. Marinovich is working as a consultant on the film which is due to star Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe , better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54...
as Greg Marinovich, Taylor Kitsch
Taylor Kitsch
-Early life and modeling career:Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career...
as Kevin Carter and Neels Van Jaarsveld as João Silva.
Documentaries
A documentary entitled The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang ClubThe Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club aka The Life of Kevin Carter is a 2004 American documentary short subject about the suicide of South African photojournalist Kevin Carter. The film was produced and directed by Dan Krauss...
was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.