02 / LOCAL CONTENT
www.thecallsheet.co.za
OLIVER HERMANUS
TALKS MOFFIE
Director Oliver Hermanus sits down with Zubenathi Malothana to talk about his new film Moffie, an Apartheid period piece, which was released in early March.
Director Oliver Hermanus surrounded by troops during the shoot of Moffie.
A
film that tells the story of a young gay man drafted into South Africa’s military, Moffie has already received much critical acclaim on the festival circuit. After he was approached by the producers to find out what he thought of adapting the memoirs of Andre Carl van der Merwe, he began exploring SA’s conscription history, met the author, and the rest as they say is history. He sits down with Callsheet Africa to discuss the film in more detail. What was it like cowriting the screenplay with Jack Sidey? We were not the first screenwriters originally, there were others. But when we decided to take on the writing, we had spent almost two years working on Moffie. So, we started to solidify what the film
should be about. I live in a small town (in South Africa) and Jack lives in London, he came to South Africa and we spent a lot of time together and I think we share the same artistic and creative ideas, so the process was easy. There are so many layers to Moffie – tell us about why you told the story in this way. This is the first film I’ve made that’s a period piece, it’s in a time before I was born and that was a challenge. I have never made a film about Apartheid before, so there was an interest in exploring that world. When I realised that the film was very much going to be about shame and how shame is a weapon – and that’s why the film is called Moffie – I realised that theme of shame is something that is part of Apartheid for all South Africans and it became a very natural setting for this film.
Kai Luke Brummer portrays Nicholas van der Swart in Moffie.
How long did it take to film, and what were some of the challenges? The elements were a big challenge for this film and the actors had to have a very thick skin. We decided to shoot the film in the summer because the story takes place during this time along the Namibian border, so one of the biggest challenges was that it was extremely hot. We were shooting in temperatures higher than 40 degrees Celsius, we had a lot of night shoots which offered up gale-force winds, and we did a lot of ocean shoots – and the ocean was freezing! We also shot around Cape Town in an 80-100km radius and it’s amazing what you can do there. Principal photography took just over five weeks.
Tell us about Moffie’s reception at its Venice Film Festival world premier last year. Film festivals like Venice and Cannes are very stressful. It looks all fun and glamorous and in essence it is, but it’s because you’re showing something to the world for the very first time and it’s a very public space – all of the world’s most important press agencies for film are there. So, you are very aware that the work that you’ve just made is going to be weighed, measured and judged, so you are very nervous as a film director going into that context. But Moffie’s reception was very good, the film received an overwhelmingly positive response and it’s an amazing feeling for the team. It’s a nice feeling to have your work celebrated. All our actors are new, they’ve never made movies before, so it was a wonderful experience for them.
