kagablog

SCENE 92 EXT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB
The queue has grown outside of the club. Excited people wait expectantly in the line to be let in. Arthur stands at the front of the queue. Flash comes out and whispers to Arthur.

FLASH
Keep the queue growing.

Arthur nods and he looks back at the queue worriedly.

SCENE 93 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB FLASH’S OFFICE
Flash is on his phone again.

FLASH
Famous, for fuck sakes pick up the
phone!

SCENE 94 INT. NIGHT. CLUB FICTION, LONG STREET
Cube sits alone in a corner. He is obviously feeling down. The DJ plays Gang Of Instrumentals ‘My Number One’. Cube watches the dancefloor. He sees Tashaka dancing alone to the song. Like Moratiwa she can DANCE. Cube is looking at her in a new light. He is enjoying watching her dance. The track ends. Tashaka steps outside to the balcony. Cube gets up and walks through the dancefloor to get to the balcony.

SCENE 95 EXT. NIGHT. CLUB FICTION BALCONY
Cube walks up to Tashaka. He taps her. She isn’t so sure how to react.

CUBE
I know I shouldn’t but I just found
you incredibly sexy on the dance
floor. Forgive me.

TASHAKA (unsure,drawing it out)
Thankssssssss.

CUBE
I regret all the boring time I
wasted with Moratiwa.

TASHAKA
Come again?

CUBE
Your eyes are talking to me in a language
I didn’t know I could understand.

TASHAKA
Are you making fun of me?

CUBE
Why do you think I’m making fun of
you when I tell you I love you.

TASHAKA
Boyfriend, what are you on?

SCENE 96 INT. NIGHT X.S. NIGHTCLUB BAR AREA
Big Sid has walked in. He is on the phone. Moratiwa and the Twins are dancing slightly to the beat. There is no DJ in the box. They turn as they hear Big Sid’s voice.

BIG SID
I don’t give two shits if he is
sleeping get my fucking cunt of a
lawyer up…Barns. I want a divorce
now. How do I spell that? Fuck sakes.
B for Bullshit, A for Asshole, R
for Rod, N for Nipple and S for
suck my cock.
He hangs up the phone and heads to the backroom. Moratiwa approaches the bar and speaks to Khanya.

MORATIWA
Is Famous coming?

KHANYA
I don’t know. Can I get you a
drink?

SCENE 97 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB FLASH’S OFFICE
Big Sid is seated with Flash.

BIG SID
Grab a glass.

FLASH
I got to get back to the door.

BIG SID
Bullshit sit down.

FLASH
Excuse me Sid. I’m trying to make 40k
remember?

Flash leaves the office.

SCENE 98 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB
Lot approaches Flash.

LOT
We can’t hold that queue forever.

FLASH
Do you have a DJ?

LOT
What’s Famous saying.

FLASH
Famous is in Joburg. The queue stays
till we find someone to play.

He walks past Moratiwa and the Twins.

NTHANDO & HLELO (in unison)
We are bored!

MORATIWA
We are waiting for Famous.

The Twins aren’t impressed. They start heading towards the door. Flash blocks them.

FLASH
I’m afraid I can’t let you out.

NTHANDO & HLELO (in unison)
What?

FLASH
The party is about to start.

They sense a bit of desperation in Flash.

FLASH
I promise.

The Twins make their way back to Moratiwa.

NTHANDO & HLELO (in unison)
We are being held hostage.

SCENE 99 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB FLASH’S OFFICE
Flash goes to the safe and opens it. He deliberates for a while and then pulls out a small scale disco ball. He holds the disco ball up high as if it were a basketball that he was preparing to dunk. A strange shimmering digital morph occurs.

SCENE 100 EXT. DAY. BASKETBALL FIELD
A teenage boy is preparing to lob the basketball into the net, when suddenly he is brutally barged into from behind. He goes down. The screen goes black.

When the screen fades up again we are looking directly into the face of the kindly FATHER/GRANDFATHER figure.

FATHER/GRANDFATHER
You did your best boy, that’s what
counts. I’m relying on you to always
do that much.

SCENE 101 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB FLASH’S OFFICE
We see the FATHER/GRANDFATHER’S face looking at Flash from every single one of the little mirrors on the disco ball. Flash gazes up at the disco ball earnestly.

FLASH
Mother. I’ve never done this before,
but my back’s to the wall. I need
your help.

The disco ball changes, suddenly every dingle one of the mirrors is screening a cloud, then the clouds all coalesce into a beautiful woman’s face.

SCENE 102 EXT. NIGHT. XS CLUB ENTRANCE
Arthur looks worried about the size of the crowd. He glances at his wristwatch and turns around anxiously, hoping for sign of Flash. The crowd are virtually ready to mob the entrance, he does not look like he can keep it controlled for much longer. Suddenly the crowd starts to CHEER, very loudly. At this moment LOT emerges from within and joins ARTHUR.

LOT
What the fuck?

ARTHUR
Dunno, they just started cheering.

The two of them survey the queue that has formed in front of their club. It’s huge and stretches into the distance. Suddenly through the crowd they can see Famous walking down the queue greeting the GUYS and GIRLS waiting to go inside.
Next to Famous is Maliah.

FAMOUS
Hello there.

Lot is relieved. Mandoza’s ‘Uzoyithola Kanjani’ kicks in.

TITLE ON BLACK: 11.30

SCENE 103 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB DANCE FLOOR
Flash and Lot stand in the middle of the empty dance floor. Famous is in the booth, Maliah by his side.

FLASH
We good to go?

LOT
Sure thing boss.

FLASH
Let’s do it.

SCENE 104 EXT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - FRONT DOOR
Flash and Lot exit the front door. Flash walks up to Arthur.

FLASH
Okay. Let them in. It’s party time.

Arthur steps pensively to the front of the queue where only a single red rope divides him from the hordes of PATRONS. Arthur pulls back the red rope and allows them in. The crowd goes wild. Arthur beams with pride. Flash and Lot watch the stream of people enter with delight. They pay their cover charge…

SCENE 105 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - BAR AREA
The bartenders work in a frenzy. There is no time for breaks. People scream to be served. Moratiwa comes back from the bathroom surprised at the hundreds of punters suddenly filing through the club. Moratiwa walks through the crowd looking for the Twins. Then she sees Famous. She smiles. Maliah who is in the booth with Famous turns to him and kisses him deeply. Moratiwa sees this and it hurts. She is frozen to that spot. Famous leans into the kiss even deeper.

TITLE ON BLACK: 12 P.M.

SCENE 106 EXT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB ENTRANCE
Moratiwa leaves the club. The Twins with her. They get into their car and drive off down the street. No sooner are they out of the frame than Tashaka walks up and pays Arthur and enters the X.S. She is closely followed by a bewildered looking Cube.

SCENE 107 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - BAR AREA
Khanya serves up a combo of drinks to a bunch of ogling guys. They thank her with a generous tip. She fakes a flirtatious smile and turns to serve the next customer. Khanya freezes and looks into the face of a man she knows all too well. The man looking back is a tall, lizard of a man, greasy and overly groomed. This is DARKNERO.

DARKNERO
Hey Khanya.

Khanya tries to avoid him by going after another CUSTOMER but Darknero follows shoving the other customer out of the way.

KHANYA
What do you want?

DARKKNERO
A beer.

Suddenly a very muscular GENTLEMAN steps up behind Darknero.

DARKKNERO
And a mineral water. He doesn’t
drink.

Khanya fetches the drinks and brings them over to Darknero and his enormous friend.

DARKNERO
You owe me Khanya.

KHANYA
I’ll pay. Now please leave me I
have to work.

DARKNERO
I want my money tonight.

SCENE 108 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB DANCEFLOOR
Flash stands admiring the club and the people. He checks his watch. Flash looks over and notices Darknero talking to Khanya. She seems to be distressed. Lot walks up.

FLASH
Back me up. I have a bad feeling.

Lot joins Flash and together they walk over to Khanya’s side of the bar.

SCENE 109 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB. BAR AREA
Darknero is standing by the bar monopolizing Khanya’s attention.

FLASH
Hello Nero.

Darknero spins round. His Bodyguard is close behind.

DARKNERO
That’s Darknero to you little man.

FLASH (to the body guard)
Hey Arnold.

The bodyguard steps forward and shakes Flash’s hand.

ARNOLD
How’s it going Flash? You’re busy.

FLASH
Got a famous DJ playing tonight.
How’s Kiki?

ARNOLD
She’s great. 9 years old.

FLASH
They grow so fast.

ARNOLD
You said it.

Darknero is disturbed by the familiarity between Flash and
Arnold.

FLASH
How long you been with this prick?
ARNOLD (cautiously)
Aww Flash.

FLASH
I don’t have to tell you where the
VIP room is. Take him there. Tell
him to leave my bartenders alone.

Darknero is frustrated by his lack of attention and goes reluctantly with Arnold toward the VIP room. Flash looks at Khanya and gestures for her to meet him at the end of the bar.

SCENE 110 INT. NIGHT. X.S.CLUB - END OF BAR
Khanya meets Flash. She is ready to break into tears.

FLASH
What’s going on?

KHANYA
He’s an old friend.

FLASH
Khanya!

KHANYA
I owe him 3. Plus interest.

Flash looks her dead in the eye.

KHANYA
Just another one.

FLASH
Oh Khanya.

KHANYA
I’ve got it covered. Big one
tonight. Tell him I’ll pay him
tomorrow.

FLASH
He’s the reason you stole from me hey?

Khanya bursts into tears.

KHANYA
Yes.

Suddenly Flash grabs Khanya’s arms and rips open her long sleeves. There are track marks all along the veins of both arms.

FLASH
Damn! This is not supposed to happen
in my club.

Khanya becomes hysterical.

KHANYA
You’re so fucking self-righteous.
Look around you Flash, this isn’t
church, it’s the cess-pit. You’re
not a priest, you’re a pusher. If
this is your temple wake up and admit
it, it’s a temple of sin!

Flash winces at Khanya’s words.

FLASH
Go clean yourself up. I’ll take
care of Nero. Of Darknero.

SCENE 111 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - VIP ROOM
Darknero and Arnold sit on a couch in the corner. Flash walks over to them closely followed by Lot. Darknero and Arnold look up pensively. Flash drops an envelope on the table.

FLASH
There. It’s five. Three for the
cover, one for the interest.

DARKNERO
And the other one.

FLASH
To kill her credit.

DARKNERO
What?

FLASH
If I hear you let her buy smack again
we’ll have words. Okay, get out.
Your stench is ruining my couches.

Darknero accepts the envelope, doesn’t finish his drink and
leaves with his bodyguard Arnold.

SCENE 112 EXT. NIGHT. XS NIGHTCLUB ENTRANCE
Darknero and Arnold emerge from the XS club. Darknero is furious, Arnold uncomfortable. They cross the road and Arnold opens the door of his Lexus for Darknero who is about to step in when he hears his name called, as if by a snake.

GECKO
Nero.

DARKNERO
That’s Darknero to you little man.

GECKO
We have a mutual enemy.

DARKNERO
What do you want to do about it?

GECKO
To collaborate in a mutually
advantageous operation that
leaves you richer and me with
one enemy less.

DARKNERO
Jump in.

Gecko gets in the Lexus besides Darknero and Arnold shuts the door behind them. Arnold jumps in the front of the Lexus, starts the motor and the car screeches off.

SCENE 113 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB DANCEFLOOR
Cube comes up behind Tashaka and tries to dance with her.

CUBE
Baby baby please give me a chance
let me show you what a good time is.
TASHAKA
Cube I don’t believe you are thinking
clearly now as you break those vows
you made to Moratiwa.

CUBE
I wasn’t thinking clearly when I
made those vows. You yourself
admitted she slept with a DJ.

TASHAKA
Oh is that it?

CUBE
Tashaka let me taste your lips.

TASHAKA
Fuck you Cube.

Tashaka walks off the dance floor. Cube is once again alone.

SCENE 114 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - BAR
Neo spins round to find a new customer, a CUTE GIRL.

NEO
Hey, what can I get you?

CUTE GIRL
Dunno, what do you recommend?

NEO
How ’bout a suitcase

CUTE GIRL
I need two but I only have enough
for one.

NEO
Then I can only give you one.

The girl gestures for Neo to come closer. Neo leans forward. As he gets close enough she launches into him with a big wet kiss. Neo is stunned. Rian notices and laughs. Neo gets off the bar and gets the bottle of Jack Daniels and passion fruit. As he gets back to the girl, HER FRIEND arrives and stands next to her. Both flash seductive smiles at Neo. He cannot resist and pours the two shots. The girls shoot back their drinks, blow Neo a kiss and leave. Neo is in a daze. The cute girl pulls out a twenty rand note and lays it on the bar. She winks at Neo as she leaves.

NEO
Wow.

RIAN
Hours are shit, you work your ass off
but man it’s worth it.

NEO
No kidding.

RIAN
You do know that we are hottest
guys in the club?

NEO
Us?

RIAN
Yup, we have what everyone wants.
Booze is the currency.

NEO
What about the dj?

RIAN
The dj’s too untouchable, like a god.

SCENE 115 INT. NIGHT. X.S. CLUB DJ STAND
FAMOUS is about to open his set. He carefully follows his routine through. Concentrating on the task of cueing up his opening cut as if he was a world champion wrestler, or Olympic sportsman. He is fully focused, he brings a serious sense of contemplation to the mix. He cues up the track and then lets it drop in with the effect of a hurricane. The dancefloor blows up. Girls rush onto the dancefloor screaming his name. Famous is the man. He grins delightedly, enjoying the adulation.

SCENE 116 INT. NIGHT. X.S. - VIP AREA
Flash steps up to the bar. Big Sid is in the background. He is surrounded by lots of YOUNG GIRLS. The table is littered with drinks. Big Sid has the sluttiest one draped all over him. The bar tender comes up to Flash.

FLASH
Usual.

Flash swings round. He looks over to Big Sid. Big Sid is swinging a bottle of Moet around spilling as he pours into the girls glasses. He spots Flash. Meanwhile the barman is pouring Flash’s tequila neat into a double-sized shot glass.

BIG SID (shouting over the crowd)
Flash!

Flash tries to look away. Big Sid waves him over. Flash downs his tequila and goes over. TWO GIRLS let Flash Squeeze in between them.

BIG SID
Girls this is Flash. Flash meet
…the pussies.

Big Sid laughs uproariously at his own “joke”. The girls giggle. Clearly Big Sid has not chosen them for their intelligence or political correctness. The Girl to Flash’s right is quite a busty babe named LULU. The girl to his left is CLAIRE and she trying to get the gum she stuck in her hair out. JENNY is the oldest looking, her faced caked with makeup and wearing the smallest dress her thick body could fit into. Big Sid clumsily leans over LULU and hands Flash a glass of Moet.

BIG SID (toasting Flash)
To you my boy.

FLASH (uncomfortably)
To you.

BIG SID (aggressively)
No. You.

FLASH
The night isn’t over yet.

BIG SID
Girls, this is the best man in this
club. If you are lucky he’ll let
you fuck him.

Again they all giggle. Flash sits embarrassed.

BIG SID (loudly)
A toast.

All the girls grab their glasses. Flash slowly raises his.

BIG SID (at the top of his lungs)
To Flash, may we all be like him.
Cheers

All the girls toast with Big Sid.

BIG SID
To you girls. To all you hot little
things. And the hot little things
you sit on.

Again, they all toast.

BIG SID
To me. To my anniversary.

The Girls all toast. Flash however does not. Big Sid looks at him.

BIG SID
To my wife. My fucking wife.

Even the girls this time are apprehensive.
BIG SID (agitated)
To my fucking wife. Come on don’t
be rude. To my fucking wife.

Big Sid stands up.

BIG SID
Come on Flash. Drink anything you
want girls. We won’t be long.

Apprehensively Flash leaves with Big Sid.

SCENE 117 INT. NIGHT. DARKNERO’S LEXUS
The car is speeding along De Waal drive with the extra-ordinary lights of Cape Town city splayed out below, an urban African metropolis.

DARKNERO
You sure this is gonna work?

GECKO
As sure as I don’t have eyelids.

Darknero dials a number with his phone.

LANGTON
Police? I want to report a bomb.

SCENE 118 INT. NIGHT X.S. CLUB FLASH’S OFFICE
Big Sid stumbles into the office, in his hands a half bottle of Jack Daniels. Flash is a few feet behind and stands in the doorway. Big Sid sits down and draws the shot gun from behind the safe. Flash comes to attention.

FLASH
What you doing Sid?

BIG SID
I never wanted to get married.
Never thought it would do me any
good… Or her. I mean you know me,
do I seem like the sort of man a
woman should dedicate her life too.

Big Sid takes another big swig from the bottle. His body is beginning to sway and he is stroking the shot gun very tenderly.

FLASH
Sid don’t you think we should go
Back to the bar. The pussies will
be getting lonely by now.

BIG SID
Aren’t we supposed to remember the
birthdays, the anniversaries. I always
forgot them… hell that used to piss
her off…

Flash eyes Big Sid warily, looking for an angle to take the shotgun out of Sid’s hands.

BIG SID
You’re a good kid. I Like you. So
I’m not going to top myself while
you’re in here.

Big Sid lifts the shot gun. Flash backs off.

BIG SID
I don’t want you here, so make a
dignified exit.

FLASH
Then what?

BIG SID
Who knows. God or the devil.
Whichever one of those cocksuckers
is prepared to have me.

Big Sid looks up at Flash and then at the Shotgun. He rests the shot gun between his knees and points it upward toward the ceiling. Suddenly, the chair next to Big Sid SQUEAKS. Flash has sat down. Big Sid looks at Flash. Flash looks back. Big Sid rests his chin on the barrel of the gun and closes his eyes.

FLASH
My mother killed herself.

Big Sid opens his eyes, lifts his head and looks at Flash.

BIG SID
How?

FLASH
She hung herself. Used a washing line
cord.

Big Sid curls his finger round the trigger. Flash winces and turns his head. No shot. Flash’s eyes slowly open.

BIG SID
Why?

FLASH
She was a psychic. Used to get visions.
Bad visions. Of the future. Gradually
the visions took hold. She lost her grip
on this world. The other worlds,
parallel worlds, took over.

BIG SID
When?

FLASH
I was eleven. Fifteen years ago

BIG SID
Did your father remarry?

FLASH
I never knew my father. He deserted
her when she was pregnant. My grand-
father took care of me. He was my
hero. This club, everything I do,
it’s all a monument to him. A way
of saying thank you

Big Sid is staring ahead of him, reflecting. Time passes while both men sit. Suddenly the calm is broken by the urgent sound of sirens.

TITLE ON BLACK: 1AM

SCENE 119 EXT/INT NIGHT XS NIGHTCLUB
Sirens blazing four police cars drive up to the entrance of the club and specially uniformed cops jump out of the cars. The officer in charge runs up to ARTHUR, shows him his ID and then the heavily armed cops bustle in to the XS. We follow them in one movement into the familiar surroundings of the XS. Both Lot and Flash emerge at the same time from different directions to meet the cops.

FLASH
What is this?

ZISIWE
Officer Zisiwe, Bomb Squad. We’ve had a telephonic warning that there is a bomb
in the club set to detonate in 20 minutes.

LOT (disbelivingly)
A bomb?

ZISIWE
You’ll have to evacuate the premises
while we make our search.

FLASH
How long will it take?

ZISIWE
Boss, if it takes longer than 20 minutes
it won’t matter anymore.

Flash and Lot nod together, getting the point.

FLASH
OK. Lot, kill the sound and put the
house lights on, I’ll get the megaphone.

The camera swoops across the multilayered, dancing crowd and ends on the spinning discoball that is reflecting the good times had by all. Then the house lights come on. The crowd boos very loudly.

FLASH (through a megaphone)
Good party people the XS Club is doing
a special promotion tonight. We’re asking
you to vacate the premises for 25 minutes
while we organise free shooters and
cocktails for each and every one of you.
This is a once in a night time special
so please move out now and come back
in 25 minutes for your free shooter
and coctail, only at the XS!

The crowd cheers Flash and starts moving out of the dancefloor. The bomb squad cops haul their ladder in under the disco ball.

SCENE 120 EXT. NIGHT. LONG STREET
Moratiwa is alone. Egyptian Nursery’s ‘Oyebisi Nga’ starts playing. Moratiwa walks aimlessly down Long Street. Cube is drifting alone in the crowd. Tashaka is also on her own, lost in the Long Street mob.

In the midst of the large crowd that has gathered outside the XS, waiting to be allowed in again, Gecko and Darknero and Arnold pitch up. They are distributing flyers that advertise another venue, the DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE.

GECKO
Spread the word people, the XS isn’t
gonna re-open. The DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE
is where the party continues.

SCENE 121 INT. NIGHT. XS NIGHTCLUB DANCE FLOOR
The bomb squad cops have nearly dismantled the discoball. They are sweating profusely. It is very tense work. Flash and Lot watch from the DJ stand, then ARTHUR runs in.

ARTHUR
Boss, big trouble outside, it’s Gecko!

SCENE 122 EXT. NIGHT. XS CLUB ENTRANCE
Flash and Lot emerge to see that Gecko and Darknero are taking turns giving oratory to the crowd. They are handing out flyers for the new party in town.

DARKNERO
The Delicious Experience represents
real party values. We are about dancing
and fun. Our party is here to protect
the constitution of party goeers. You
have to fight for your right to party!

GECKO
Forget the XS Party, that’s not even
a party anymore it’s just a big ego
trip for its leader FLASH in the pan,
in the dust pan! The Delicious Experience
is the real people’s party!

Some in the crowd hesitantly cheer and “yeah”
FLASH steps up to Gecko and Langton.

FLASH
Gents I’m beginning to see the light,
you wouldn’t have anything to do with
this bomb scare would you?

Darknero pulls a gun out of his jacket, cocks it and holds it at Flash’s head, causing Flash to stiffen. Darknero grins and Gecko sneers.

GECKO
The party’s over Flash, you’re history!

Gecko and Langton make jeering gestures at Flash as they walk away. The crowd disperses with them. Flash, Arthur and Lot stand outside the XS looking dejected. Zisiwe emerges from within the club holding the disco ball.

ZISIWE
False alarm boss.

Flash shakes his head in ironic bitterness as he walks back to the club, gesturing with his hand towards the now deserted street.

FLASH
Yeah, tell that to the masses…

SCENE 123 INT. NIGHT. SPLIT SCREEN.
We see on the left hand half of the screen GECKO in the DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE club. He is in the midst of a crowd of revellers. On the right hand half of the screen we see FLASH who stands in the middle of an empty XS club, the dancefloor deserted.

GECKO (voiceover)
Every story is esentially the same story.
There’s a winner and a loser and
history calls the winner the
good guy. Everybody likes to think
of themselves as the hero in their
own little life story. Nobody chooses
to be the loser, losers aren’t chosen,
they’re just losers.

Gecko laughs insanely, the soundtrack distorts and turns into a chaotic haywire of digital hardcore noise as the camera shoots into his eye and becomes a discoball.

Then

Silence.

SCENE 124 INT. NIGHT. XS CLUB DANCE FLOOR
Flash on a stepladder is screwing in the discoball. He makes the final connection and presses the ON button. The ball starts turning slowly. A beautiful pattern of lights caresses the XS dancefloor. Famous, behind the dj stand looks up and acknowledges this perfect play of light and dark by hunching over his decks and using his hands like a wizard, dropping th needle and cueing up his vinyl. The beat drops in. This kick is a deep primal sound, an atavistic throbbing accompanied by thrilling bells and a bassline from the core of the universe. The track is ‘MASINGITA’ by BLACK COFFEE. As the groove seems to seep into the club by way of its perfect harmonization with the ripple of the lights so Flash has a moment of perfect connection with Famous. Flash dips his head in appreciation of his loyal friend who is with him in his darkest hour.

Then… MORATIWA steps in to the empty club.

She is wearing an outfit that re-defines the word “revealing”. She strides confidently into the middle of the dancefloor and her eyes lock with those of Famous. We freeze frame the image and stop the sound dead. Complete silence and still frame. Our camera zooms into Famous’s face until his delighted eyes fill the screen. In both of his eyes we see the perfect boy of MORATIWA as she begins to dance.

FAMOUS (voiceover)
Moratiwa’s legs are the best advert-
isement for God, you can’t help
becoming a believer watching them
climb all the way up from Hell
to that place where they join her
body that is beyond any doubt Heaven.

Now the beat comes back and the camera shoots into Famous’ eye that becomes a disco ball where every single little frame of glass is displaying Moratiwa from a different angle. The symmetry of her dancing, in tune with the cosmic beat of the Black Coffee song syncopates with the hectic editing to create a visual experience unlike any other. It’s like being high on ecstacy/acid/coke/GHB/Special K and dagga all at once - but without any side effects.

A lone punter straggles into the XS club. He sees Moratiwa dancing. Becomes utterly transfixed. He grabs his cellphone and sends an sms:
“Cum to the XS, dere’s a
womin dansin here lik you
neva ceen a womin dans b4″.

A second, then a third man come into the club. They begin to form a ring around the perfectly gyrating MORATIWA who responds to their presence by going even deeper into the trance. Famous grins and drops a couple of percussion accents into the mix, spicing up the dance for his woman. Flash watches with a huge grin on his face, he understands that the magic is working. As if out of thin air more and more people are entering the XS, eager to see the dancing phenomenon that is MORATIWA. She is the epitome of SWEAT SEXY.

It’s finally arrived, the club has gone into high gear. Everything looks like it is going to work out alright. The Dance floor is filled to capacity. People even dance by the bar. The party has come to a climax, the night looks as if its gonna turn out okay. … The bars pump with excited customers. The booze is going fast. The bartenders are raking in the cash. … Arthur has found his groove. He is joking and letting more people in. … Neo and Rian toast their success by having shots with some of the punters.

The club has become a wild frenzy, the people are making the walls shake as Famous spins his web around the people. Famous is on form spinning the vinyls, a god among men. People reach out and touch him as he pushes the party to the limits.

TITLE: 3 A.M.

SCENE 125 INT. NIGHT. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - MONTAGE
People dance, … people drink, … people make-out, … bartenders make money, … its Caligula. Famous puts on Maveric’s ‘Dali’. He leaves the DJ booth and finds Moratiwa. He pulls her close.

FAMOUS
I am glad you came back.

MORATIWA
And the bitch?

FAMOUS
She’s my ex.

MORATIWA
And me?

FAMOUS
You are my next.

Moratiwa smiles.

MORATIWA
I don’t know what’s up. Thought I
had this under control but
FUCCCK…I like you a bit too much
Famous. Being with you felt a bit
too good. You got the magic 4-5,
is there such a thing?

FAMOUS
Yes there is. Cause I feel it too.

They kiss.

SCENE 126 INT. DAWN. DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE CLUB
Gecko is standing behind the deck, scratch mixing an awful cacophony of noise. Darknero is the only other person in the club. He is dancing to the noise, shaking his head as if having a good time. Bouncer Arnold is asleep on the floor with an empty bottle of Black Label in his hand. Then STAN emerges into the deserted and forlorn looking club. He screams.

STAN
What the fuck is going on here?

Gecko drops the volume to silence. Darknero is shaken out of his reverie.

STAN
You two fucken clowns were supposed
to break up the party for Flash.
What the fuck happened?

Gecko and Darknero both look abashed.

DARKNERO
It doesn’t look like there’s enough
room in this town for more than one
party.

STAN
You fucken losers!

SCENE 127 EXT. X.S. DAWN. NIGHTCLUB
A DANCING CLUBBER stands out on the street. He is still feeling the effects of the night at the club. He dances to an imaginary beat in his head. Exhausted CLUBBERS filter out the door and into the street toward parked cars and garages. They walk away after a successful night’s party.

TITLE: 5 A.M.

SCENE 128 INT. MORNING. X.S. NIGHTCLUB - BAR AREA
The Club is empty. Cleaners, bartenders and bouncers shuffle out the doors. A bottle of Jack Daniels and two glasses is waiting on the bar counter. TWO FIGURES walk into frame and sit down at the bar. They look like they have had a night from hell. To the left is Flash, to the right, Lot. Both men lounge over the bar lethargically. Flash is deleting photos of Khanya from his cell phone picture gallery.

FLASH
Now that was some night.

LOT
A night to remember.

Flash pours drinks. Ritualistically they CLINK glasses. They down the drinks.

LOT
Well done tonight. Sorry for what
happened.

FLASH
It all worked out and we can thank
the DJ for saving our lives.

Famous walks past with Moratiwa in tow. He winks at them. Lot and Flash wave at the departing DJ. Flash sips again, a big sip, from his Jack Daniels. He turns to face Lot.

FLASH
Tonight was the best night a man
can ever want. I am going out on a
high. I’m quitting the party.

LOT
You will be back. The party is your life.

FLASH
You wanted responsibility. You
wanted in. You got it. Me I’m going
home.

Flash drops the keys in Lot’s drink and walks toward the door where he sees Tashaka starting her car. Lot watches as Flash stands in front of Tashaka’s car and prevents her from driving off. She rolls down her window and the two of them talk. Tashaka starts laughing and Flash jumps into the passenger seat. He turns towards Lot and waves then Tashaka puts foot on the accelerator and they drive out of frame.

SCENE 129 EXT. MORNING. X.S. NIGHTCLUB ENTRANCE
Lot stands at the entrance smiling at the fast disappearing car of Tashaka. He closes and locks the front door. Then the neon X.S. sign is turned off.

SCENE 130 EXT. LONG STREET - EARLY MORNING
The street are empty. Long Street is asleep.

FADE TO BLACK

TWO BEATS

SCENE 131 WHOOSH! DIGITAL SOUND AND MORPHED VISUAL. WE SEE THE DISCO BALL SPINNING.
Inside every one of its tiny mirror frames GECKO! His hands holding on to the bars of the prison he is in! His face grimacing in a snarl of rage and hatred.

GECKO
So that’s my story. That’s how I got
here. That motherfucker Zisiwe traced
the bomb scare call to my phone! Fucking
GPS techonology! But here isn’t where
I’m going to be forever. And when I get
out Flash is going to learn the full
meaning of revenge. In all eleven official
languages!

DIGITAL WHOOSH and the disco ball spins out of frame. Cue music and end titles.

more info and tickets here

Four South African films will premier at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to be held from 4-13 September 2008 in Canada, Toronto.

Four South African films will premier at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to be held from 4-13 September 2008 in Canada, Toronto.
Among the four local films that will screen at this year’s TIFF are three National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) funded films, Jesus and the Giant (by Akin Omotoso), Skin (by Anthony Fabian), Sea Point Days (by Francois Verster). In addition to the NFVF funded films to be screened at TIFF is Disgrace (by Steve Jacobs), a film adapted from a book by local Nobel Prize award in Literature winner, J.M. Coetzee.
NFVF has worked with the Co-director and Programmer of TIFF, Cameron Bailey to facilitate entry of South African films into the festival since 2004, when for the first time, TIFF had a special focus on South African film.

About the relationship between TIFF and the NFVF, Ryan Haidarian, NFVF’s Head of Production and Development says, “it has to be the best relationship we have with a festival. Having the co-director of the festival come down to South Africa every year for the past few years on scouting trips shows a tremendous amount of commitment for providing a platform for tales from this part of the world. We are extremely grateful for Cameron Bailey’s commitment to see and help South African cinema grow.”
The NFVF is also supporting director Akin Omotoso and Producer Robbie Thorpe of Jesus and the Giant and Sandra Laing whose life story is adapted on Skin to attend TIFF.

Director and producer Akin Omotoso is very excited about having audiences at TIFF seeing his work. “I am very excited! Toronto is one of the top film festivals in the world and it is an honor to have Jesus and The Giant screened there. This is also all the more exciting because the festival doesn’t usually program shorts”, says Omotoso.

Local Production Company, Moonlighting productions that are co-producers of the first South Africa/ United Kingdom co-production feature film Skin, will be attending TIFF for the film’s world premier. About Moonlighting’s expectations regarding Skin at TIFF, associate producer at Moonlighting, Dylan Voogt says, “We feel that Skin is a really compelling story, one that needs to be told. Although it is a uniquely African story it has certain universal truths that we believe will resonate with international audiences, so we are hopeful that it will be well received.”
Sea Point Days producer, Neil Brandt, says about TIFF that “the festival will provide the ideal international platform to launch the film onto the global festival circuit, and will hopefully be instrumental in bringing it to the attention of international broadcasters”.

The NFVF would like to congratulate all the local films that will be screened at TIFF this year. “It’s phenomenal to have films that we have supported being recognized by a prestigious film festival such as TIFF. The NFVF is consistently excited by the fact that we have had successive award winning films at TIFF with Hotel Rwanda a United Kingdom, South Africa and Italy Co-production which received the top prize under the category, AFG People’s Choice Award in 2004 and Tsotsi a co-production between the United Kingdom production company, UK Film and Television Production Company, MoviWorld from South Africa, the NFVF and IDC, which won the Audience Award at the 2005 TIFF”, says Haidarian.

About SA films at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Jesus and the Giant
This film is set in modern day Johannesburg. Directed by Akin Omotoso and Written by Aryan Kaganof it is shot entirely (save for the last shot of the film) on a digital stills camera. Over 7000 photographs have been stitched together to create movement. The effect gives the film a visceral intensity that relates to it’s theme of violence and redemption. The world around our characters is fractured, broken up, moments are frozen, other’s are faster than the speed of light. Set in the urban intensity of downtown Johannesburg Jesus is a special woman. Her eyes are windows on the world. She has powers she herself doesn’t understand but ultimately she is a warrior for peace. Then one day, her friend Mary arrives at her doorstep beaten. Jesus has to choose whether to continue to nurse Mary or take revenge on the deadly Giant. Director: Akin Omotoso

Skin
Skin, is one of the most bizarre and fascinating true stories to emerge from South Africa: Sandra Laing was a coloured child born in the 1950s to two white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. The film follows Sandra’s thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her place in a changing world — and triumphs against all odds. Shot in and around Johannesburg at the end of 2007, the film stars Sophie Okonedo as Sandra Laing, Sam Neill as her father Abraham and Alice Krige as her mother Sannie.Director: Anthony Fabian

Sea Point Days
Lying on the coast of Cape Town - South Africa’s most segregated city - there is one public space where everyone does seem to come together: the Sea Point Promenade and Municipal Pools. Set between city and ocean, this beautiful strip of “everymansland” offers a quirky and often entertaining mix of class, race, gender and religion: a place where South Africans of all backgrounds can experience happiness together… But is all as it appears? SEA POINT DAYS presents an unusual and impressionistic record of life at Cape Town’s Sea Point Promenade and municipal pools, using largely cinematic vignettes to explore issues of belonging, integration, nostalgia, happiness and identity in an ex-white South African neighbourhood. Director: Francois Verster

this article first appeared on the website of the nfvf

music is by basement 5, courtesy of cherry bomb
directed by akin omotoso
written & edited by aryan kaganof
cinematography eran tahor
sound design warrick sony

akin omotoso’s short film “jesus and the giant” will be screened before the south african parliament today at 12:30pm. the screening is a measure of the kind of respect the film has been garnering at festival screenings worldwide. the screening is open to the public. bring your id book.

Time and Place Date: Sunday, October 26, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: 19th Floor Lister Building
Street: 195 Jeppe Street (Entry on Bree Street)
City/Town: Johannesburg, South Africa

Off the Shelf brings you exciting new short films from emerging new
talent and seasoned pros. October’s line-up includes Anzan and the
Visitors by Anton Krueger, The Cure by Ryan Piemer and Jesus and the
Giant by Akin Omotoso. Special on the night is Sylvio, by emerging
Venezuelan filmmaker Santiago Rivero. R20 gets you in. Visit
www.coalstove.co.za for more info.

I thought the film was bold, innovative, highly engaging and packed with meaning. I loved it. As an editor myself i particularly enjoyed the cut, a big job and highly commendable. But what was most striking to me was the soundscape and the freedom of movement that shooting on a stills camera afforded. Great job man!

Khalid shamis

WSOA Film & TV
Associate lecturer
011 717-9743

www.digitalarts.wits.ac.za/artworks
www.youtube.com/WITSFILMandTV

opposites attract/the quiet that storms within

a response to jesus and the giant

jesus - Mandisa Bardill
giant - Sonni Chidiebere Ochuba
mary - Lesego Mabilo
director of photography - eran tahor
sound design - Warrick Sony
make up - Jade Snell
Produced and directed by Akin Omotoso
written and edited by Aryan Kaganof.

Inspired by Kaganof’s tale, Omotoso’s cinematic reading becomes a visionary plea for sanity/retribution/justice/compassion. I say visionary, because the solution flies in the face of conventional morality while tapping into the very real need in the collective unconscious for effective retribution. Like Jesus in the Bible, this Jesus invokes a justice where the punishment fits the crime. In manifesting this larger than life snippet of despicable reality, Omotoso has created the cinematic equivalent of a Damien Hirst ‘Golden Calf’ set in formaldehyde, yet goes beyond it. The formaldehyde is the plasticity of the cinematic medium (the celluloid) and the living ingredient frozen eternally in time yet moving with time, are the players who converge on this tragedy of violence to embody it with a mythological (if not divine) splendour.

This encounter therefore becomes (dare I say it?) a manifestation of ‘fifth dimensional art’ where the artwork, frozen in time yet simultaneously moving through time, is framed by and manifests the self same concept: the collision of opposites. Violence begets violence is turned inside out: violence demands violence - it is the only lesson that can be (terminally) understood.

This concept, so tragic a reality, has no practical application in reality.

It is far too controversial.

And yet it is no more controversial than the Bible itself.

Visually, Jesus doesn’t look as if she could hurt a fly, Mary’s beauty seems beyond deformation, and the Giant looks sufficiently virile not to have to resort to violence.

As such the drama is projected through an idealised reality extracted from a visceral actuality, where the only solution is the only solution.

It is in this realisation that all opposites converge towards a single coherent focus.

The application of the sum effect of this collision of opposites, distilled through Omotoso’s many years of contemplation/discernment before shooting began, heightens and informs every aspect of this film. This is the essential and existential ingredient - the distillation - that elevates Jesus and the Giant into the artistic phenomenon that it is.

Each frame has been perfectly captured by Eran Tahor (using a stills camera) in crisp clear sharpness and tone that seduces the viewer before he/she realises the import of the revolutionary message. Tahor is intuitively attuned to exactly the correct distance between subject and object creating a volume in the characters that seems to explode outwards. Each character thus becomes larger than life, enhancing the archetypical depth of the players. The images are pristine, without being sanitised thus underlining the ugliness of bullying. As much as the slaughter and dissemination of every part of the cow/bulls done by the street butchers appears gruesome and shocking, it is executed with deftness and precision where no part of the animal goes to waste. This is corroborated with the ‘exactitude’ of the Giants frame of mind with regard to women: he carries no doubt about his inherent misappropriation of values. The Giant’s disassociation is his deformity. His victim, whom he fails to see as a living pulsing human being, is but a thing to be controlled, kept in order: disseminated as a matter of course. Bullying is the tool he uses as a means to this end.

So when Jesus exercises her right to treat the Giant as he treats others, there is no blame to be found. To implement this ‘scale of justice’ Jesus has to find immense internal strength and as such she is able to meet the demand of her archetypal/mythological role: a female warrior who is not imbued with vengeance. No doubt this will have many women cheering in the audience.

In fact the solution becomes the epiphany for transformation and as such the protagonist finds redemption. In the closing sequence where we had previously seen still frame create movement, we now have film creating stillness. Once again ‘opposites melt into summation’ to drive a powerful point home.

The fact that Kaganof has edited the material to such perfection, (the inter slicing of the violence against the victim so intricately interwoven where the perpetrator is receiving his ‘come-uppance”, gives attention to an all too forgotten focus) bares testimony to the completion of a cyclic orchestration that was picked up from the written page by Omotoso’s visionary intellect and transformed back to him.

ps…. and for those who do not know, the fifth dimension is…..

BREATH!!

and whether by accident or design, whether by intention or intuitive connectivity, breath in “Jesus and the Giant’ has become an added dimension:

the technique of presenting the action of this film in animation i.e. through single frame, has meant that the film was recorded without sound, without voice, in silence.

The sheer logistics of getting the actors to voice-over must have proved quite daunting….

- not least of all the synchronisation with sound effect and action -

the female voices are not the voices of the characters themselves…

(Jesus - Moshidi Motshegwa and Helen Asrat

Mary - Bubu Mazibuko)

The sound technician and aural architect, Warrick Sony,

has thus discovered

(through direction from Akin Omotoso/liaison with Kaganof?)

an extremely unusual vocal dynamic in presenting the sound -

breathing life into the animation….

…is at once disassociated, and distanced

below normal audible levels, at times muffled, understated….

…drawing the viewer INTO the drama…..

…yet matching the visuals in tone and crispness….

magnifying its import and intensity

its closeness….proximity….

the collision of opposites…

one feels the sound/breath/life more intently

in the way in which it has been

enveloped by silence….

BREATH forming through silence into shape…..

this review first appeared on helgé janssen’s website

JESUS AND THE GIANT
19mins 2007

This experimental film is set in modern day Johannesburg. Written by Aryan Kaganof and directed by Akin Omotoso it is shot entirely (save for the last shot of the film) on a digital stills camera. Over 7000 photographs have been stitched together to create movement. The effect gives the film a visceral intensity that relates to its theme of violence and redemption. The world around our characters is fractured, broken up, moments are frozen, and others are faster than the speed of light. Set in the urban intensity of downtown Johannesburg Jesus is a special woman. Her eyes are windows on the world. She has powers she herself doesn’t understand but ultimately she is a warrior for peace. Then one day, her friend Mary arrives at her doorstep beaten. Jesus has to choose whether to continue to nurse Mary or take revenge on the deadly Giant.

starring mandisa bardill, sonny chidiebere ochuba and lesego mabilo
produced and directed by akin omotoso
written and edited by aryan kaganof
director of photography eran tahor
sound design warrick sony
makeup jade snell

Aryan

I have no idea what I said to Aryan Kaganof one afternoon as we had drinks at the café ‘Boat’ located at the 44 Stanley Avenue complex in Milpark. I remember we spoke about life and film quite passionately. No matter, whatever it was I said, it convinced him to give me his script called JESUS AND THE GIANT to read. I read it and was immediately blown away by it. It was raw and daring, controversial yet it had something important to say about violence in our society. Having read Kaganof’s script, my first thought was that I wanted whatever short I did next to be in the vein of the story.

It’s Yours

I gave him a call to ask him whether he had shot the film already. He told me it was mine to direct. Since I hadn’t imagined such a scenario it caught me off guard but I was really happy. I knew then that it was going to be a special project and also I felt that I shouldn’t rush into it. We signed a contract that allowed me to do as I pleased with the script and Aryan left me alone. I always kept in touch every now and again via phone or if I bumped into him socially to keep him updated on the film, because I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t serious about his script. He was always very gracious but he left me to my own devices.

Changes

The major change I made was changing Jesus from a black man in Aryan’s script to a black woman. And that woman was going to be Mandisa Bardill. I had worked with Mandisa on my previous two shorts ‘The Kiss of Milk’ and ‘Rifle Road’ and I had seen ‘Jesus And The Giant’ as a conclusion to this trilogy on violence. I wanted her to be the through line even though she played different characters.

Casting

Casting The Giant was a no brainer for me. It had to be Sonni Chidiebere Ochuba. He was starting to come into his own as an actor and I really liked his style. I told him at some club that he will play the Giant in my next short. He nodded and smiled. This was of course in 2004 and every time I saw him over the next three years I told him the time was coming. He always smiled. Mary was not so clear to me. Also I changed the beginning to have a run naked through the streets. In Aryan’s script the film started with Mary arriving at Jesus’ flat. It’s there we meet Jesus for the first time. I had read that a basketball player had kicked his wife out naked and bruised one night I thought that horrific image was one to start the movie with. It meant that I needed to find someone that was not only a great actress but that she was brave. I knew it would be tough. I also told myself that because I wanted to do this project right, I would wait. A friend had suggested a dancer for the part. A date was set for the meeting but before that date I met the dancer by chance at a dinner party. She seemed very busy and wasn’t able to commit to the dates we were thinking of at the time. I guess I also wasn’t convinced that she was right for the part. When Mary presented herself I would know. In 2006 I met a waitress at an Ethiopian restaurant and for the first time I felt I had met Mary. She had a striking face and the innocence I felt Mary had and I immediately set up a meeting. Turns out the waitress was an actress/dancer back in Ethiopia so she had some experience. She read the script and liked it but she wouldn’t go naked. She spoke of her family and her husband and her father all of which I totally understood but I had compromised a lot in my past work and that always caused me a lot of grief and I had promised myself that I would never compromise this film. She really fitted into my vision of Mary and the fact that she was Ethiopian was great because one of my first instincts was to shoot the film in Ethiopia. I wanted take it out of Joburg and set it in those old churches in Lalibela. We met several times to see if there was a middle ground. In the end neither of us would budge and we left it at that. I continued the search. At a rehearsal for Paul Grootboom’s play ‘Cards’ I found the actress that would play Mary. We were casting for something else and we were looking at a young Nigerian actor called Hakeem Oyedeji who was also in the play. When I saw Lesego on stage I immediately thought she could play Mary. Her face was mysterious and her eyes spoke of pain. From that play I was able to cast Lesego Mabilo as Mary. Lesego was a new up and coming actress and she was fresh and fearless which was what was needed for this part.

Funding

I knew that making this film demanded absolute freedom. I needed to be able to free myself to make the film I want. That is it would be the kind of film people would have to see first because it would be hard to explain. I felt that once it had been shot I would have to apply for post production funds etc but the initial shooting had to be independent. My first thought was to ask all my friends for R100. I figured at it would cost R100, 000 to shoot the film. Post production I was going to apply to the Hubert Bals fund or the National Film and Video Foundation. I felt I had enough friends in my phone book to reach R100, 000 if I asked everyone for a hundred rand. I went through my phone book. I got to 9,000 rand! Not looking good. So I felt my approach would have to be multi pronged. I knew it would be long and stressful but it was the only way. I lobbied my friends Tunji Omotola and Valentine Alily to begin with. Tunji, being in investment banking, pounced on the project with his usual zeal and before long he was hosting a wine tasting fund raiser for the 27th of December. I dressed up and took a copy of RIFLE ROAD to screen and borrowed some wine from my father for the event. Before we started he had a guy give us R15, 000. This was a great boost. That night another friend Tumi suggested we throw a fund raising party on the 27th of January. I agreed. Because I had started training as an amateur DJ I knew I won’t have to pay a DJ to play that night meaning that I would be able to throw the money back into the film. The date was settled and I was ready to rock and roll. Shakir from Roka then called and said he was moving the date to the 14th which I protested about because the notice was short. At the party we raised R9, 000 at the door. I lobbied family and friends hard and raised in total R80, 000 over nine months! Winning The Standard Bank Young Artist Of The Year Award For Film meant that the Bank was able to contribute some money which was great and they put me in touch with some of their patrons. I sent out eighty two letters to the patrons and only two responded contributing R9000 which was great.

I always had the Hubert Bals in my sights for post production and when the time came to apply I did so with so much confidence you would have thought my family owned Hubert Bals. I was sure that the film was strong enough to get funding. Turns out the Hubert Bals fund doesn’t fund short films! Nowhere on their website, that I could see, does it say this and I was totally crushed! In fact I think I was paralyzed for a week because I had lost my one major sure banker! In the interim I had back up of course but I wasn’t aggressively pursuing it-seeing it more as a safety net to fall into to help some of the shortfall from the Hubert Bals. Mandisa had put me in touch with Wanda and he had suggested throwing another fund raising party but this time more focused and concentrated. He was throwing his party on the 4th of Aug and thought I should come and lobby names and email addresses to people that would be able to support. I hired Mandisa’s cousin, Naima for the night to collect names and addresses. We had a lot of names but when the time came and I threw the fund raising party hardly anyone came. We only raised R3000. All in all the process was long and difficult but necessary. What it taught me was that there are people out there willingly to support and to those ANGEL DONORS I say THANK YOU! To finish off the film I applied to the National Film And Video Foundation and got a grant which made it possible to mix and grade the film.

The Process

I spent three years meditating on the film because I wanted to grow not just as a person but as a filmmaker. I wanted it to as good a film as it could be and I wanted to be sure that I was in the right space creatively to do it. I had rushed my feature film GOD IS AFRICAN and I had rushed to some extent my next short RIFLE ROAD. I wasn’t rushing this. I knew from the beginning that I wanted Eran Tahor to shoot it. Eran has a sensitivity that I like and he and I come from the same film of thought. I gave Eran the script to read and afterwards I told him that we would take a long time before we start shooting. He was okay with that. We had our first meeting at Seattle Coffee in Hyde Park where we spoke ideas. I told him about my images of Fire, Water and the fact that I wanted the film to be cinematic in the true sense of the word. I wanted to make an emotional powerful film that was epic in stature. 12mins but epic! He agreed and we spoke about what that meant. We wanted to shoot 35mm so there would be no half stepping. After that meeting, I would let the film slip to the back of my conscious and got on with the rest of my life but the film was never far from my mind. In Barbados in the summer of 2005 I took the script and wanted to start storyboarding and brainstorming ideas. I only got as far as the first page during the holiday. I poured the internet for stories, different stories about Jesus and Mary. Found lots of interesting things but nothing that gave me a hook. When I knew that I was doing the story there were a couple of things I knew I wanted to reference. I knew that I wanted to reference the old Yoruba myth about creation. Olodomare (God) sends his eldest son Oranmiyan to create the world and on the way he stops by a pub and gets drunk from plamwime and his brother Oduduwa who had overheard Olodomare’s instructions created the world instead. The idea that someone has a mission and they dilly dally for me was important. In Aryan’s script Jesus sets out with a clear focus. I wanted more ambiguity that she is isn’t sure of her mission and that it is a struggle. She wouldn’t go to a bar but she would walk the city and we won’t be sure why until later. I also wanted to heavily reference Ethiopia because of the Bible links. My first thought was to shoot the film in Ethiopia but around the time they started dropping bombs on Somalia I thought that won’t be a good idea. I wanted the tea cups to be small glasses like they do in Ethiopia. I wanted to see if I could work the Coffee Ceremony into the script but I couldn’t find a place and all of this was important for me because in the past I would just put that in but my key focus was only doing what was right for the story-that was it. The story had to come first. I had grown to admire films that were not only very story driven but extremely well told. No shot wasted, no line said that wasn’t important. For me the waffling of GOD IS AFRICAN was to be in the past. This was the future and I was determined to be the coach of my filmmaking game and be a strict coach. I also knew that while the film was set in Johannesburg I wanted it to resonate to the continent. I wanted in it’s simplicity to speak to a greater world. One of my first thought was to make it a movie with no dialogue, but some of Aryan’s dialogue was so beautifully written that I wanted to retain some of it not all. I thought of mixing language so Jesus would speak English, Mary Ethiopian or whatever language the actress spoke and The Giant would speak Pidgin English. I wanted the story to marinate in my body so I braced myself to embark on a journey I wasn’t familiar with. Being patient! As the years ticked on I knew that once I felt the impulse to make the film it would be too all consuming and I won’t be able to ignore it.
After the Toronto Film Festival in September 2006 I started feeling ready. My documentary had shown there and I left Toronto with a renewed spirit and vigor for the creative process. So I started going through pictures on the net to start getting a visual picture. A more concrete picture. Over the December holidays I just spent hours on the net pouring over pictures and articles linked to the imagery and story I wanted to tell.

The Fund Raising Party

For that party Eran and I thought it would be a good idea to project off the wall some images from the not yet shot film. Sort of like a promo. Also to give people a visual reference when they ask “What are we raising funds for?” we would point to the wall. So we took Mandisa out and went and shot some stills. We took them to graphics man extraordinaire, hereinafter referred to as The Editor, to prepare a collage that we could project on the wall. He put together a wicked 2min promo with text and stills which looked great on the wall. I had invited Aryan to the party so he could see what we were doing. As the party progressed, more people asked about the images and the main question posed was whether we would shoot the shot with stills. I thought it might be interesting but didn’t attach much importance.

Digital Stills

After the party I wanted to raise more money. I felt that what The Editor had done was great but maybe we needed to bring Mary and The Giant in so that the two minute promo told a story on its own. The good thing about it was that it would give Lesego an opportunity to practice the first scene. It would give us an opportunity to also see how far we could push that scene. We had to be up at 4a.m because the makeup would take about an hour and we had to shoot as the sun rose because we had no permission to shoot in Melville talk less of having a naked bleeding woman running down the street. It was a very tense shoot because up the road from where we were shooting was the police station. I kept on joking to everyone the day before to keep their phones on in case they had to come bail us out. Thankfully for us (but maybe not in terms of a great story!) we got all the shots we needed. The Editor then put this all together in a kickass promo which I was going to use to sell the film. I was waiting to hear back from one of the Corporations an Auntie of mine was approaching. The more the Corporation delayed the more we had discussions about shooting on stills but nothing concrete. In the meantime I watched the Chris Marker’s 1962 short La Jetee and it blew me away. It was shot with stills and was amazing. Then the Corporation disappointed us by not coming through. I felt that we would have to wait some more. Maybe another year? The thought of shooting on stills was still there and La Jetee had inspired me. Then we had BC (who I admire and respect) over for dinner and showed him the 2min promo. He practically insisted we shoot it on stills! That was all I needed to hear.

The Last Temptation

I really enjoyed ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ so I checked it up on IMDB. In the Trivia section, it claims that Willem Dafoe who plays Jesus Christ couldn’t see for three days because he got too many eye drops to dilate the pupils of his eyes in bright sunlight to achieve a superhuman effect. I thought the eye drops was a good idea and tried it on Mandisa during one of the scenes. She didn’t become any more superhuman than she already is. It taught me a couple of things. Martin Scorsese definitely knows what he is doing and I don’t. Plus is it possible that IMDB could be just messing with my head?

Music

I obsessed about music for this film. My main idea as that I wanted a score that haunted me like Nicolas Ray’s ‘King Of Kings’. I wanted something that would pack an emotionally punch and long after you have watched Jesus And The Giant, the music as well as the images would stay with you for a long time. I first started listening to a lot of Ethiopian music and fell in love with that. I would have the CD’s in my car for weeks and just let the music take me to the movie. Initially I had imagined that if I had cast the Ethiopian girl I had wanted for Mary, she could sing for the soundtrack. Somewhere in our interview I thought I had heard her say that she could sing. Turns out she could dance but not sing. I then felt the thing to do would be to get an Ethiopian choir, but I wasn’t quite convinced. I decided to let it come to me. After one of my meetings with Eran, I mentioned my search for music and he said I should listen to the ‘Stabat Mater’. He described it as the best music ever written. The Stabat Mater was a 13th Century Hymn that describes the sorrow of Mary at the cross. I went straight to Hyde Park and at the ‘Look And Listen’ asked whether they had a copy. They did and I listened and was blown away. It also took me to places that I can’t describe. During the shoot I thought Mandisa could sing something for the soundtrack and I gave her the Stabat Mater and asked her to give her interpretation of it. She combined with Hlubi and they produced one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever heard and it was then I knew that the film would kick. Much later in the process I related the story to Aryan and he then told me that he had played the Stabat Mater to Eran and Jade one night. It was them, the music and a fireplace. It’s funny that it had come full circle.

The Editor

The shoot was spread out over a couple of days so that we would always have enough time to look at what we were doing, see what was working and what wasn’t and then fix and tweak as we went along. The most important part of this was the editing of the film. The Editor was moving to Cape Town and had a few days, 10 days to be exact, to edit the film or take it up to a rough cut. We agreed that this was what he would do and we agreed on the money he would be paid. I started getting worried when I watched what he did. There was no passion in it at all. He wasn’t focused on the story, he wasn’t focused on the images. It was a mess. And I was really disappointed.

Picking Up The Pieces

After I told The Editor I wasn’t happy with what he had done I needed a timeout. Usually what that means for me is to forget about the project. Usually starts with basketball. I escape to the courts. So for one weekend I forgot there was something called JESUS AND THE GIANT. On Monday I decided to approach the Video Lab and see whether they had some people that could work on a project like this. After discussions with Robbie we agreed that this was an opportunity to start again. Relook at the project. I thought of a few people I could approach. The problem of course was that because The Editor, Eran and I had been intimately involved in the film it was going to be difficult to find someone to come in and be at the same level we were at. In fact Eran had some doubts about replacing The Editor. For me it was a no brainer. The man hadn’t delivered and he was moving to Cape Town. I didn’t want the agony of traveling two hours to Cape Town and then being totally disappointed and then coming back to Joburg depressed. The Editor was out. Even if we had to wait for months I wasn’t going to rush into this. I was going to take my time and find the right person. I spoke briefly to Mic Mann but we could never get together because of schedule conflicts. I met with Tracey at the Video lab and while they were excited they didn’t want to edit it. They thought we could come back when we were ready to online. The good thing about meeting with Tracey was that she sent me some links to YouTube which had films shot on stills. This was an eye opener because for the first time I didn’t feel alone. I could see what others had done and were doing. This was great! In the meantime I thought I should meet up with Aryan and talk to him about some of my frustrations. At that moment he sent me an email saying he had heard that I was searching for an editor and would I consider him? I hadn’t thought about that but I felt that it was an interesting proposition. Of course I would have to have a serious conversation with him first. At the time I had to leave for the Grahamstown Festival to showcase my work as part of the conditions for winning The Young Artist Award, so we decided to meet when I got back.

Aryan Kaganof Again

This time the conversation was very different. In the beginning he had given me his script three years ago and now three years later we were sitting discussing the film only this time it was mine and I had to be sure that he would be editing my film and not trying to make his film. In Grahamstown one film critic had been a bit skeptical about the union in fact he found it hard to believe that Aryan had kept his distance over the years as I developed the script and now he wasn’t sure how it was going to work with Aryan editing. There was a part of me that was worried but I wasn’t too worried because he had shown me great faith during the first three years. I felt that he wouldn’t suddenly change and want to control the film. However, experience had taught me to be cautious. Also the spirit in which we discussed the initial contract was so straightforward that somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it would be fine. We sat and talked. I spoke about my concerns and he answered much like I expected. The minute he had given up his script he had given it up. All he wanted was to make sure that the film I wanted to make was realized because he had heard about how pissed I was about The Editor. We drew up a contract and he got to work. I slept very well that night because I knew that no matter what happened there was no question about Aryan’s commitment and passion and also his craft. The film was going to be alright.

Reshoot

From the earlier shoot there were a couple of things we didn’t get. For instance when we were shooting at Teddy’s place we blew the electricity so we couldn’t get the shot of Jesus and The Giant through the kettle as it boils or her reaction to the kettle boiling when she has beaten him up. So that was a pickup. Also we didn’t shoot the end of the film on 35mm. The last shot of the film is on 35mm and that stock was being sponsored by producer Tendeka. He was graciously giving us some left over stock from the ‘Jerusalema’ shoot. We didn’t get to it because I wanted time to think about it and didn’t want to rush. Then I was never really happy with the walking shots in town. I liked some of them but others I hated. I felt we were missing another layer and we decided to shoot in Rockey Street. Also I wanted to get some more gritty imagery of the city. So Eran and I started walking up Empire Street with the camera and shot as we walked. We walked past the Nelson Mandela Bridge still shooting and then we discovered a taxi rank and we shot in there and it was amazing! Suddenly the film started coming to life for me. Later that day in Rockey Street just walking with Eran and Mandisa and the security guards of course, was almost a religious experience for me because it gave the film soul. It was what we had been missing. For the first time on this shoot I felt I was a filmmaker.

I hated the first shot of the film when Jesus is introduced because the sky was grey and I wanted clouds so I wanted to reshoot it. I was never really happy with how we shot Lesego running because it was in the early days so I wanted the possibility of reshooting that. Of course during the winter, shooting that scene with Lesego was out of the question. Eran had to travel to Cape Town to shoot a drama so he was only back in September which was good for me cause it gave Aryan and I time with the edit to craft and mould the picture and also so that we would discover what we needed additionally to pick up or to reshoot.
In earlier discussions with him I thought I would reshoot the entire beginning but as he worked on he found a way around the beginning which worked for me.

Single Frame

The edit has been challenging for Aryan. It is forcing him to work in a very different style and he has found it challenging and exhilarating. For me it has been a joy working with him because we both care about the story. Every discussion we have is passionate and inspiring. In a way The Editor not delivering was the best thing to happen to me.

Warrick Sony

I had always fantasized about making a film with no sound and creating the sound from scratch. In fact in my earlier dreams about the film I thought of shooting on 16mm without sound and creating it later. In a way that aspect has played itself out here because there is no sound when shooting with stills. From the jump Robbie suggested Warrick Sony. I was intrigued. I had never met Warrick but since Robbie was convinced that this was his thing I knew he had to be right. I phoned Warrick cause he lives in Cape Town and we had a great opening chat. He was coming up to Joburg the next week and he said we could get together then. We then met the three of us Warrick, Aryan and I and watched some of stuff and just spoke about possibilities. It was very exciting and he was very excited. He had collaborated with Aryan in the past on SMS SUGAR MAN so they were familiar with each other. He was on board which was exciting. The process would be that Aryan would cut and send down stuff to him and then he would add the music and send back up to us. After the December holidays Warrick had a gap in his schedule that allowed us to set a date. Originally I had wanted Warrick and Yoav working at the same time. Yoav doing the grade and Warrick doing the sound however that changed because it was likely that we would change some things in the picture and that would create an out of sync problem so it was decided that after Yoav, Warrick was up next. He had already laid down some sound samples from previous cuts but nothing final and the Monday before he was to start fully we had a screening of the film for him, Robbie and Kgomotso. When I flew down to Cape Town we spoke about the process. He would strip the film of the music and slowly build the tone and feel and if we needed music we would add it later. This worked extremely well. When I heard the opening drone over the rising sun I knew we were in business!

The Cut

I always knew going in that I won’t have any idea how the film would turn out. I only knew that it was going to be tough because of the medium we shot it in. Lots of decisions would have to be made as we ourselves began to understand this beast that we had shot. The first thing of course that we could learn from The Editor’s cut was timing and pace. Because in a single frame the challenge is that it has no pace, we determine it. The first couple of sessions included looking at some scenes isolated and also to determine the style. I always liked the jagged style and encouraged Aryan to go with that. He wanted to be sure that he heads off in the right direction. Once he knew I was cool with the jagged style he felt more comfortable. A lot of our decisions were based on re structuring the film. The script had said one thing, I had filmed one thing and now we had to put the film together with the material we had. The editing process was given 5 months. I was happy with this because it meant that we could go back and forth and not rush into things. What transpired over these five months would be difficult to explain without being melodramatic.

Aryan and Akin

Our industry is stressful. You never know whether people are being genuine or not. I am always interested in the search for people that are all about the work. My love of basketball informs my love of the process of filmmaking. In basketball in a pickup game you select players that have the ability to make you win. The rules on the court are that the winning team stays on so if you don’t want to be sitting the whole afternoon you pick the right team. It has nothing to do with ego - it’s about winning. What Aryan and I shared during those five months was for me the equivalent of a well played pick up game. Sharing, laughing, arguing, intense debates about film and lots of ginger tea. Even as I write this I smile remembering that room. Life, when it’s sweet, it’s sweet. And that time of our life was sweet.

Jesus And The Giant premieres at The 2008 Toronto Film Festival in September.

South Africa 2008 – 12 minutes
Director: Akin Omotoso
Producer: Akin Omotoso, Robbie Thorpe, Kgomotso Matsunyane
Script: Aryan Kaganof
Photography: Eran Tahor
Music & sound design: Warrick Sony
Editor: Aryan Kaganof
Cast: Mandisa Bardill, Sonni Chidiebere Ochuba, Lesego Mabilo

A raped and beaten woman called Mary arrives at Jesus’ door. Her attacker is her lover, the Giant. Jesus believes in peace but realizes that something has to be done. Grabbing a bass ball bat she goes to see the Giant. He is polite and full of concern for Mary. He explains to Jesus that to maintain dominance, women have to be beaten by their men. Abandoning peace for a moment, Jesus wallops the Giant so hard that he will never stand up again. A new balance in place, she can return to a being of peace. An unlikely collaboration of Aryan Kaganof (script and editing) – prolific high priest of transgression and Akin Omotoso (director) – Nigerian-born soap star, producer, director (God is African) and intellectual. Together they bring a mutual abhorrence of rape, handled before by both of them in Nice to Meet You, Please don’t Rape Me (Kaganof) and The Kiss of Milk (Omotoso) and a Jungian playfulness with archetypal characters. Jesus is transformed into a black woman – like her historical counterpart she brings peace but in this scripture she can only do so by violence. Mary, the virgin raped by Father God, here the Giant, is a catalyst for the confrontation between the Princess of Peace and the Angry Old Codger with a Coke Habit who she overcomes. Shot entirely on a digital stills camera (except for the final shot), 7000 stills are stitched together in a montage that is as audacious as the concept.

text: trevor steele-taylor

I bumped into a Nigerian film maker friend of mine called Rin Mola, the other day. It was great to see him. Hadn’t seen him in a while. I had to congratulate him on the release of his movie. He had made it against the odds. The film, The Beautiful Ones Are Born had done well internationally and Rin Mola had to fend off requests for the movie because everyone always asked “when is it being released in this country”. Now it was on circuit for all to see. I had seen it. Rounded up my film gang and went to the Zone to check it out. The film has its problems and I had indicated this to Rin Mola when he first mentioned the project to me but he didn’t listen. Anyway, despite the problems, to my surprise I enjoyed the film. The issues its raised about African youth, the humour and its urban rough feel. I could knock it technically but that would be quite short-sighted. Everyone starts somewhere. Talk to Rin Mola after his tenth film-anyone seen El mariachi? He didn’t seem too excited. I questioned him about this. I was like, man you are living the dream of every wannabe film maker-your movie has been released, there’s a soundtrack-I mean how can you be depressed. He told me a tale which I feel I have to share. As a budding filmmaker I feel people should know the story so avoid it ever happening again.
Rin Mola told me about how the company that was supposed to represent him had tricked him. They had made him believe they had money but had none. Very stupid I told him. You should have consulted a lawyer. He said, he was blinded by trust. Still stupid I said. Then I asked but isn’t the guy who runs that company a Nigerian? Not only Nigerian, he’s from our tribe! I said, and he is playing you like this? Rin Mola shook his head in disgust. He was very worried that this company would not fulfil its obligations to the film. They had tried to lie to him about a grant from the government calling it a loan, they had borrowed money from him and even told him to his face that the movie wasn’t “his fucking movie”. Claiming in public they saved his film yet they hadn’t even finished paying the editor. He had never seen such a display of megalomania. I remarked to him that I had found it strange that the guy’s name had appeared twice on the poster. Rin Mola said he was engaging his lawyers to try and get his film back. He didn’t want a situation where his film was making money years down the line and the guys at the company would claim that they were still paying their costs-meanwhile he was a struggling film maker. I assure him, I didn’t think that would happen but he had to protect his interests. Rin Mola was in tears by now and I really felt sorry for him. Someone came up to him and said “Great movie” and walked away. He told me he couldn’t really enjoy the success because he was still fighting the company. I was running late and I had to leave. As much as I wanted to listen to his sob story I had to go. I asked: “in a nutshell what are you telling me?”
“Beware those that come with smiles. Beware those who come in the name of black brotherhood but are no different from the sharks they want to replace. Beware those in the fancy cars that call themselves producers. Beware those who can switch face so quickly and have lost all their morals in the pursuit of a quick buck. Keep a lawyer close. Beware those who are the enemies of promise”

I believe in God
I believe in film
I believe in Basketball
I believe in the healing power of laughter
I believe in family
I believe in women
I believe in honesty no matter how brutal
I believe in intelligent people
I believe in Africa
I believe no matter how difficult in the human race
I believe in working on my weaknesses
I believe the end of Raoul Peck’s film ‘Lumumba’ has one of the best endings of a film ever
I believe the end of Bryan Singer’s film ‘The Usual Suspects’ has the other
I believe the beginning of Djibril Diop Mambety’s film ‘Hyenas’ has one of the best beginnings of a film ever
I believe President Thomas Sankara was one of the greatest leaders this continent ever lost
I believe in Literature
I believe every time I leave the African continent I am entering hostile territory
I believe in this quote from Ntare Mwine play ‘Biro’. It goes: ‘my father gave me the name Mwerinde ebiro. It means beware of time because it has the answers.’
I believe in kissing. Lots of kissing.
I believe like Bob Marley ‘one good thing about music/when it hits you feel no pain’
I believe in the theory of ‘having access to things’ as opposed to ‘ownership of things’
I believe in hot chocolate
I believe our local film industry should do more co productions with African countries
I believe most films on the truth commission lie
I believe there should be a tax on foreign films in our cinemas like it’s done overseas in certain countries
I believe that Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete ever
I believe that Ali was the Greatest
I believe the World Cup in 2010 will be a success
I believe that South Africa won’t win the cup however
I believe that Nigeria will win-cause the cup must remain on the continent
I believe Cameroon was robbed in the 1990 World Cup quarter finals
I believe Roberto Baggio owes Nigeria something for World Cup 1994. Something! I just don’t know what.
I believe in T.O.M. Pictures
I believe the SABC and MNET should cover FESPACO like they cover the Oscars
I believe in winning the Golden Stallion of Yenenga at FESPACO before the Oscar
I believe the Oscar is pretty cool too
I believe in rum and coke
I believe in peanuts and coke
I believe in smarties and coke at the movies instead of popcorn
I believe in love at first sight
I believe in people with passion
I believe that Brenda Fassie was serious when she told me she would hire me as her garden boy
I believe Craig Freimond’s film ‘Gums and Noses’ should have been released on the big screen
I believe most people that start a sentence with ‘I don’t usually do this…’ usually do
I believe producers that benefited from the matchbox system during Apartheid should pay some money back
I believe Abderrahmane Sissako is one of the classiest directors I have met
I believe in a different kind of black
I believe Tanya Farber should say what she really thinks when she reviews South African films
I believe in the South African filmmakers around me
I believe in Nollywood
I believe certain companies should have started transformation a long time ago
I believe if a foreign star helps get your film made so be it
I believe if you don’t like Morgan Freeman playing Mandela, go make your own film
I believe in hip hop
I believe that if you embrace freedom of speech embrace the key word ‘freedom’
I believe in Fela Anikulapo Kuti when he says ‘Teacher don’t teach me nonsense’
I believe that I know nothing and I love the fact that I know nothing.
I believe in myself

Sometimes the superficiality of our industry distresses me and I wonder if like the men in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS I am trapped in a cycle I can’t escape from because of the passion it breeds in me. The spectacle of the people on the outside that can’t get in. I am in and yet I feel like a stranger. I feel like a stranger in my own living room or should is say room. Maybe it’s just Cannes. Maybe I am growing up. Maybe it’s the turbulence on the plane as I jot down these thoughts. The meeting with Alex was at once sobering, exciting and yet not fulfilling. A feeling of wanting to chat more but the constraints of time, place making it impossible. The festival welcomes you and spits you out once it’s done with you. Who are you? Nothing. Yet within that frustration your accomplishments stand out. People are proud of your achievements. I can’t stop myself from speaking in the third person. The burden for me is always the desire to better myself. To not get too close to the sun for fear that the max might melt on my wings and I would fall hard to the ground. What if that is an illusion. The fear that this isn’t all going to last. Sembene Ousman to Clint Eastwood are making their best films now. I am going to be thirty one. They are forty years older than I am. There are no shortcuts to that forty years. I have to walk that road and discover new things.

It’s the discovery and the possibilities of the journey that excite me. Everything I learn an addition to my suitcase, everything I forget, an omission in my judgement. I have to go back and get it. The people on the way, the smiles, the laughter, the discussions. And all I am armed with are my beliefs. To be honest, to represent the truth, to be honest to myself. To make peace with myself. Also to be a better person. My greatest fear is that I become a member of the crowd. A disgruntled filmmaker. I am sure I not heading down that course but who ever is? Rudolph, the producer of DRUM asked. “How long are you going to be around?”

Long.