Monday, December 24, 2007

Mma Ramotswe movies due in Easter

source: Botswana Press Agency
24 December, 2007

GABORONE - The release of the Hollywood movie that was filmed in Botswana, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, has been rescheduled from Christmas Day to Easter Holidays.

The National Tourism Board says in a press statement the release date was pushed to the Easter weekend to ensure that it was adequately promoted.

This, it says, has to be done for the movie to gain maximum benefit for Botswana and for [continue reading]

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Alexander McCall Smith on The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (Video)

BBC1 unveils new line-up

source: The Guardian

The first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's bestselling series of No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books will be transformed next year into a BBC1 drama, it was announced yesterday. A one-off 90-minute television film of the book will be a key part of the 2008 winter season, which will also include a new version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

The eight books in McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency series - which follows Botswana-based private investigator Precious Ramotswe - have sold more than 14m copies worldwide and have been translated into 39 languages. If the television version of the first book is successful, more adaptations from the series - which first hit bookshelves in 1998 - could follow, BBC1 said.

Singer Jill Scott will take the lead role of Precious, with Anika Noni Rose as Mma Makutsi and Lucian Msamati as JLB Matekoni.

The drama, which BBC1 bills as "poignant and amusing", will be directed and written by Anthony Minghella - who directed the Oscar winning film the English Patient - and co-written by Richard Curtis, who is [continue reading]