Piracy poser for gang film

The movie Four Corners might have failed to bag an Academy Award in Hollywood but for the residents of the Cape Flats gangland it is a winner.

Distributors of the movie, a coming-of-age crime drama set on the Cape Flats, are, however, concerned about aggressive piracy of the film.

Said the film's director Ian Gabriel: "We will definitely not get as many people to the cinemas as we would have if the film was not pirated.

"I'm pleased the film is reaching those people because there's a message of pride and self-recognition the film is delivering. It's important that message be heard. In the long run though, [if] piracy [goes] unchecked, it will literally mean the end of filmmaking," he said.

Helen Kuun, from Indigenous Films, the distributors of Four Corners, said they had suffered "massive losses" at the box office.

"We have definitely lost a portion of the viewers to piracy. The majority of the piracy has happened on street corners and on trains."

A mother who watched it said the film gave insight into the gang culture in impoverished areas .

"What is really sad is that most of the younger, fatherless boys dream of becoming those community heroes. Gang life offers them a sense of belonging and respect."

One man, whose father is a prison gang leader, said: "It did not tell me anything new. But the actors are brilliant."