South Africa’s feature-film industry may be in a slump, but short films are positively blooming. ANDREW WORSDALE on the latest crop
MOVIE myth has it that Wim Wenders broke the display window of a photographic shop and stole a wind-up Bolex to shoot his first film. Stanley Kubrick, asked how to get into the movie industry, replied simply: “Go out and make a film.”
And that’s exactly what young South African film- makers are doing. With witless audiences and financiers with a penchant for Leon Schuster, the South African feature-film industry is in a rut. But in its place, a host of short films are springing up, mostly made on a wish, a prayer and some donated or pilfered film stock.
The Weekly Mail Short Film Competition has garnered over 300 entries in the last six years. Since 1993, M-Net has produced 11 short films in its New Directions series, and the SABC’s Arts Unlimited is currently showcasing a series of short films, collectively titled Cutting Edge.
The films have been co-produced by SABC3’s commissioning editor of music and culture, Ansie Kamffer, and Cape Town-based company Big World, comprising film-makers Carsten Rasch and Steven Markovitz. It’s encouraging that there’s someone at the SABC who is championing short films: Kamffer commissioned last year’s profiles of South African music personalities, and has initiated another series of short films this year.
The Cutting Edge series, of which the first offering has already been screened, is a real mixed bag. First up was Corner Caffie, the debut film from casting director Timothy Greene. A fairly successful black comedy, it follows a petty squabble over 30 cents which grows into a farcical hostage situation, featuring a cross-section of new South African characters — from the young black man on a university scholarship to the Greek behind the counter.
The latter is played with aplomb by real-life caf owner Tony Diamontopolous, who also supplied the location, the caf he owns in the Cape Town suburb of Observatory. The film is refreshingly to the point; Greene keeps the action flowing, with a keen eye on the irony of events, and avoids self- consciousness.
The same can’t be said of the second film. Heartspace, directed by Carey Schonegevel, is a pretentious road movie that taps into our new national consciousness as it traces the journey from Cape Town to Johannesburg of three strangers: nave Cath, wiseguy Wandile and paranoid-schizo Pete. The script and performances are stilted, albeit beautifully shot by Mark Larkin in black and white. Still, if you’re into nice images and non sequiturs, the film may appeal.
The third in the series, The Cage, suffers from clichs of another kind. Made in Los Angeles while director Warren Wilensky was studying and working there, it stars Marius Weyers and Sam Phillips, both exiles enjoying mini-careers in the US. The story follows two prisoners locked up in the same cell in 1990. You’ve seen it all before: the Afrikaner and the black man forge a friendship as they work together on the prison garden. It’s all rather arch and theatrical, never mind politically obvious. But, despite the boring scripting, it’s elegantly shot, well performed and, with its restricted setting, manages to evoke a real sense of production values.
The final film, Eating Fish, is in production with Big World’s Rasch at the helm. Based on a short story by Mike Nicol, it revolves around a teenage girl and her abductors — a neurotic chain-smoker, a permanently sunglassed moll and a seasoned criminal. The makers might take some tips from Corner Caffie and keep up the pace, avoiding self-conscious narrative and stylistic contrivances. Just because a movie’s not a feature film doesn’t mean it has to be boring or pretentious.
Heartspace will be screened on August 29 and The Cage on September 26, both during the Arts Unlimited slot at 10.15pm on SABC3. Eating Fish has yet to be scheduled