Cool Idea

Iconic Joburg ice rink being transformed into television production hub

- David Oliveira

The Sky Rink atop the Carlton Centre’s parking lot in downtown Johannesburg always had something of an edge to it. Experienced ice-skaters, often with a cigarette in their mouths, would make little effort to disguise their disdain for beginners as they weaved effortlessly and at extreme speed through the lesser-skilled throngs. The dingy atmosphere was fused with excitement and nobody ever left without a story or two to tell.

Now that same gritty location is in the process of being transformed into an African story-telling hub, with the final touches being put to the creation of a new television production house, dubbed Sky Rink Studios. All going to plan, the curtain will rise on the 2 400 m 2 studio and production facility in early 2017, the disused rink having undergone an extreme cultural makeover that few past patrons would have ever imagined.

In his opening address at the Sky Rink Studios launch in October, South African actor Jerry Mafokeng voiced his enthusiasm for the transformation, arguing that the studio should become the platform from which Africa could express its “dreams and visions” to a local, continental and global audience.

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, meanwhile, made the far more prosaic, but as important, link between the development and government’s economic policy, which held up the film making industry as very much part of South Africa’s economic diversification ambitions.

Location of Choice 

He pointed out that government’s choice to invest heavily to create a South African film industry that would make the country “the film location of choice globally” had seen the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) providing the industry with about R1.1-billion in investment support.