Fezeka's Voice is the story of one man, Phumi Tsewu, and the choir to which he has dedicated the last 12 years of his life: the award winning Fezeka High School Choir. This is the story of how one man's infectious love of music has inspired 77 under-priviledged children to embrace focus, confidence, self-belief and an unwavering faith in their own futures.
The Fezeka High School Choir may be national champions, but their school sits in one of the most deprived areas in South Africa. Guguletu township, like most ghettos within South Africa, is infected by many of the hardships brought on by extreme poverty; murder, rape, hunger and disease. But the children of today's South Africa face an even greater hurdle than those physical barriers, they face the challenge of learning beyond the confines of their segregated history and reaching above the positions politicians have put them in. No one understands this more than Phumi Tsewu who was born and raised during the apartheid era, who watched Nelson Mandela walk free in 1994 and who now knows that the only way for black South Africans to claim their right to a free and just society is to teach its children that they are worthy of it.
This film follows Phumi as well as three of his most talented singers; Busi, 16, Nokwanda, 17, and Zukisa, also 17 as they, along with the rest of the choir gear up for the trip of a lifetime. They have been invited to perform in England as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival; a monumental event, not only because it will be Phumi’s first opportunity ever to take his choir abroad, but also because for all 77 kids, it will be their first time outside the borders of South Africa. It is almost unheard of for a choir of this size to gain full sponsorship for a trip abroad and so it is a magical time for Fezeka's choir as they begin to understand what it is to feel wanted, accepted, proud.
In his film company dokumentar.no Lie has since 2008 been working as a film director, cinematographer and producer for documentaries. He works with the new Canon EOS 5D/7D with HD film, and edits in Apple's Final cut.
With Haiti mon Amour (Kjære Haiti, hva nå?) Lie went to Port-au-Prince after the earthqake with Ole Paus and others. We followed the money collected by the norwegian consert Dugnad for Haiti and NRK, and then given to Red Cross, Church Aid and UNICEF. It is edited as a low budget film essay, an montage of images. (se video below)
He has since 2007 worked on a documentary portrait – The Seduced Human – Jørgten Leth and Haiti on the danish renowned filmmaker Jørgen Leth (2011). This one-hour documentary is financed so far by the Norwegian Film Institute with 720 000 kroner – and will be released in 2011. (se video below)
Lie is also editor-in-chief for DOX, the leading European quarterly magazine for documentary films, published by the European Documentary Network. See PDFs of the last magaines below.
Lie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher for Morgenbladet between 1993-2003, and has been editor-in-chief/publisher of the Nordic edition of the monthly newspaper Le Monde diplomatique between 2003-08, where he now is still the publisher and regulary film critic.
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