MR TABLE TENNIS TO SCREEN AT ENCOUNTERS 2016

Mr Table Tennis is the inter-generational story of Pedro and Cody Meyer. Their
big dreams unfold against an ambiguous socio-economic climate that
determines the choices they make in life and in table tennis.

Pedro Meyer was a brilliant table tennis player and a showman. Living under
apartheid meant he was unable to test his game on the international stage.
Today he has placed his dreams of world domination in his grandson, Cody.
Growing up in the New South Africa, Cody has been able to travel and compete
internationally and he knows his family would like him to continue where his
grandfather left off.

Cody is torn between pursuing his new passion, DJing, and table tennis, which
is in his blood.

Three years in the making, Mr Table Tennis, produced by Accidental Films
and TV will have its world premiere at the Encounters International
Documentary Film Festival this year.

The film takes its audience on a fascinating journey through anti-apartheid
sport history as the backdrop for Pedro’s story. Watch Mr Table Tennis and you will know more about table tennis than you ever expected to and develop a stronger understanding of the multi-dimensionality of South African struggles under apartheid.

Tina-Louise Smith, a black woman filmmaker in her forties, is the producer
and director of Mr Table Tennis. She says the seed for the story was planted
when she was working on a video about Green Point Common for the District
Six Museum’s Fields of Play exhibition. She met Pedro Meyer, who spoke
animatedly about his years as a table tennis player and showed her his hoard
of trophies.

In 2012 she started filming with Pedro while he painted, conducting interviews
with his table tennis peers, and filming observational footage with Cody
Meyer, Pedro’s grandson.

In December 2014 she signed a commissioning contract with the SABC and
in September 2015 delivered the final film.

Encounters runs from 2 – 12 June 2016.
Mr Table Tennis is owned by the SABC.

MR TABLE TENNIS | PRESS RELEASE | TINA-LOUISE SMITH | 082 828 0882 | tina@accidentalfilms.co.za