SA short film at Cannes festival
Mon, 05 May 2008
Young filmmaker Chris dos Santos’ short film At Thy Call will be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival which opens on 14 May. At Thy Call examines young men’s experiences of the border war which took place during the apartheid years.
South Africa, 1984. Every white male from the age of 16 that has completed high school is conscripted into the South African National Defence force to answer their call of “National Service”. Danie Joubert is a young and proud Afrikaner who’s family name is well respected in the army due to his older brother�s accomplishments at the Battle of Cassinga.
Danie proves to his corporal (who is a hardcore racist), that he is a great leader, that he has pride to defend his country, but it is only when Danie meets Nick, a rebelious Englishman, who doesn’t believe a word the army says, that Danie starts to question which side of the fence he should be on. Dos Santos has been praised for providing a fine historical context and analysis of the dominant culture of the time.
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