Free Spirit (South African TV series)
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Free Spirit is a television series, created by Sharon Farr and Lee Otten, which first aired during 1999 and is currently running in its eighth season in South Africa on SABC.
It is a weekly magazine-format programme for people interested in spirituality and conscious living, including two documentary feature stories on issues, practices and phenomena across a spectrum of beliefs and featuring projects or initiatives that have a positive effect on people’s lives.
There are regular book reviews, health spa and book give-aways, and monthly readings from astrologer.
The series is produced by Cape Town-based company Shoot the Breeze Productions, and hosted by radio and TV presenter Natalie Becker.
In 2006, Becker started conducting Free Spirit’s regular interviews with a range of local and international spiritual teachers and healers. In the past, these interviews were conducted by the editor of Odyssey Magazine, Chris Erasmus.
Awards
The series and producers have received twenty-seven National Television and Video Association awards. For Free Spirit, Shoot the Breeze employed two editors, two production manager/directors, an accountant/HR consultant, a soundperson and a production assistant.
The company recently moved into the international market, producing a documentary short for Passionate Lives, a new international magazine series produced by Telecine Productions International.
The production of Free Spirit inserts is subcontracted to other independent production companies, with freelance crew for camera and sound recording.
In production
- BRAM FISCHER: Afrikaner Revolutionary with Heart of Gold & Resolve of Steel. An hour-long biographical documentary about SACP activist and human rights lawyer Bram Fischer will be completed mid-2006 as part of MNet’s New Directions Project.
- LUCK vs DESTINY: A half-hour documentary exploring luck versus Destiny across South Africa’s major faiths and spiritual traditions for SABC 2’s Issues if Faith.
- LEAD UP TO THE HOMELESS STREET SOCCER WORLD CUP 2006: An hour-long documentary on the lead-up to the Homeless Street Soccer World Cup in Cape Town in 2006. The documentary will be broadcast before the event on SABC 2’s Our Nation in Colour to raise awareness of the event in South Africa.
Other productions
Broadcast documentaries
- MASINDY’S STORY, SABC 2’s
- Our Nation in Colour, 1 December 2005
- GOOD VIBRATIONS, SABC 2’s Issues of Faith, 2005
• PITCH FEVER, SABC 2’s Our Nation in Colour, 2004
• THE WILD WEST OF LOXTON, etv, 2000
• IN SEARCH OF THE GODDESS, SABC 2’s Issues of Faith, 2000
- PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS: Part 1 & 2, SABC 2’s
- Issues of Faith, 1999
- THE BRIDES OF CHRIST, etv, 1999
Magazine shows
- FREE SPIRIT on SABC 2: 118 episodes from 2001 to 2003 (26 minutes)
- FREE SPIRIT on SABC 3: 78 episodes in 2004 and 2005 (24–26 minutes)
- FREE SPIRIT on SABC 3: 52 episodes in 2006