Move over Hollywood, lockdown is creating its own movie industry

For most people the coronavirus lockdown feels like a bad movie.

For South African film director Tim Greene it actually is a movie - complete with a cast of South African actors living in different parts of the world such as Australia, Abu Dhabi, Wales and Belgium.

Greene's project has turned into an entire cinemascope of movies involving 10 home-bound directors and writers, all shot without crew and using whatever equipment is at hand.

Stung into action by compulsory confinement, Greene issued an online call for actors to star in his homemade production Cabin Fever.

"I decided to write a script for actor friends to self-tape while locked down at home," said Greene, who lives in the Cape Town coastal village of Kalk Bay. He received so many replies to his initial call to action that he had to put out another call for more directors and writers to join in.

To date there are 12 movies in production involving 120 actors spread across the world in what has become known as the Lockdown Movie Project. "In my movie alone, I have characters in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Australia, Abu Dhabi, Wales and Belgium."

His actors film themselves at home and upload their material; Greene downloads it and edits in the evening. Other directors are following suit.

"There are no rules. People are free to do whatever they want. Most are meditations on this moment of [the] coronavirus, but one is a comedy written and directed by Casey B Dolan."

Greene says he has no idea what will become of the finished product. "I think the most important thing is that we are trying to stay connected, stay creative and stay sane."

The same goes for Cape Town bird-watcher Howard Langley, who has turned his hobby into an online challenge - a friendly competition to see who can photograph the most bird species on or from their property.

So far he is on 27, thanks to a telephoto lens. "That's not a bad total for a suburban garden in Clovelly," said Langley, who has intrigued his neighbours with his antics.

"I'm a bit reluctant to stand on my roof because I think my neighbours will really get upset," he said, adding that his birding challenge had started off as more of a lockdown joke than a serious endeavour. "I put it up on my Facebook as tongue-in-cheek, but people started taking it seriously."

Even his children started photographing birds using their cellphones. "It is quite easy to see a bird, but getting a photo of it is a totally different story. There are ladders all over my property," Langley said.

Lockdown has also seen some extraordinary physical feats - everything from a balcony marathon to simulated sailing in the bathroom (involving the shower curtain).

Not to be outdone, fitness fanatic Paul Reeves is riding 109km - the length of the Cape Town Cycle Tour - every day on a road bike clipped into an indoor trainer device, a feat that is all the more remarkable considering Reeves still has a day job as a sales manager. His aim is to raise funds for Cape Town's Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital.

Reeves said the biggest challenge of cycling in your lounge is mental toughness: "You are not going anywhere, there's nothing to look at, no views, no wind, no hills to climb, no southeaster into your face. It is incredibly mentally demanding."

He believes Covid-19 will engender a greater appreciation of lifestyle choices: "It is an incredibly tough time but we will get through it stronger and healthier, and people will start focusing on the fact that health is the most important part of our lives."