The Seven Year Shnitch – Shnit International Short Film Festival

Now in its 7th year in South Africa, shnit International Shortfilmfestival returns to Cape Town.
shnit International Shortfilmfestival is an explosive short film experience, featuring some of the most provocative and thought-provoking films being made today!

#thesevenyearshnitch

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shnit International Shorfilmfestival presents an explosive Short Film Experience like no other. In its seventh year in South Africa, it returns to The Labia Theatre, the home of independent cinema. With additional events and screenings stretching to the furthest limits of the greater city, including The City Bowl Market, Waterkant Studios, Pepper Club Cinema, Truth Coffee and the Cape Town Club.

shnit is thrilled to announce an acclaimed South African jury. Director and photographer Sean Metelerkamp – with many music videos under his belt, his video for South African group Die Antwoord’s ‘Zef Side’, captured the eyes of the world and launched his international music video career. More recently his first feature film, ‘The Journeymen’ – which chronicles the journey of him and two other South African photographers (Sipho Mpongo and Wikus de Wet) across the country as they explore the current state of South Africa – opened the Durban International Film Festival and went on to win Best South African Documentary in 2016. Actress Zethu Dlomo is known for her role in the film “Fanie Fourie’s Lobola” as Dinky Magubane, which earned her both a SAFTA and SAIFTA nomination for best actress in a feature film. She featured in the international mini series “The Book Of Negroes”, and recently completed her second season on ‘Black Sails’ as Princess Madi. World renowned stand up comedian David Kau is no stranger to film and television. He wrote and starred in 2 seasons of the comedy ‘Pure Monate Show’ for television, and also starred alongside another well know comedian Joey Rasdien in the feature film, ‘Blitz Patrollie’ for Comedy Central. Most recently he has been directing and producing for Mnet Mzansi Magic’s ‘Lokshin Bioskop.’

This year, 13 films compete in the Made In South Africa category, with an additional 13 South African films screening out of competition.
Now in shnit‘s fourteenth global year, shnit returns with its existing PLAYGROUNDS Bangkok, Bern, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Moscow and San José in a truly global celebration of the art of the short film, anchored by the International Competition. Naturally, the best in South African shorts take center-stage every night in the ever growing MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA award category and our staple out-of-competition SA category, Kaapse Bobotie.

58 films from all around the world compete in the International Competition, which will award 5 films with the coveted Flaming Faun award in both jury and audience categories. Over 250 films will screen in total, in and out of competition, across the 8 host cities.

shnit 2016 kicks off in style on Wednesday 5 October with a gala event at the City Bowl Market Building, and screens for five days at The Labia Theatre on Orange St in Cape Town, with highlight screenings at the Cinema Club on First Thursdays, Truth Coffee and Guga’sithebe Community Centre in Langa. For the first time shnit will be collaborating with the Black Filmmakers Film Festival, with a special screening at the Labia over the festival weekend. Another first is shnit’s showcase of the best kids films in the world at the new Waterkant Studios on Loop Street. Returning for a second year is A pretty $#i+ shnit night, where filmmakers (or anyone for that matter) can create the worst films they can for a night of hilarity and boos.

For the second year, the Elements Short Film Lab will run concurrently to the festival, offering filmmakers a chance to learn and expand their horizons through panel discussions, roundtables and networking events. Sunday 09 October sees shnit sign off for another year with a closing awards ceremony at the Cape Town Club, also featuring the premiere of the Real Time competition films.

shnit is made possible by the generous support of the National Film and Video Foundation, as well as our venue, industry, media and service partners. With its steadily growing reputation for the finest short film fare, shnit has made its mark as a festival not to be missed, and established Cape Town as a force to be reckoned with on the global short film scene.

Tickets available through Webtickets. For film & scheduling information, please see www.shnit.org

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The Line Up

shnit 2016 promises one of the most diverse and impressive festival line-ups yet. At its core is the shnit International Competition, which features 58 short films over 10 screening sessions, selected from thousands of entries from all around the world. An international jury will award shnit’s Flaming Faun trophy and cash awards in five categories.

MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA – SA Competition Category

Equally important in Cape Town is the Made in South Africa Jury Award category. The battle for space on an extremely limited programme was incredibly hard fought, with an international selection panel selecting just nine films into SA competition this year. The line up includes fiction and documentary and will screen over two programme blocks as a festival highlight across the city.

shnit Cape Town’s local screening programme again comprises three categories in total, including the out of competition KAAPSE BOBOTIE section and the REALTIME COMPETITION. Its SA screening categories together represent one of the largest yearly selections of South African short films screening anywhere in the world:

The full film lineup is included at the end of this document.

REALTIME COMPETITION – Films made for the festival

The shnit Realtime Competition invites three up-and-coming filmmakers to film, edit and complete a short film in just 72 hours leading up to the festival with filmmakers all working from the same point of inspiration. Each year the shnit team provides a theme which inspires the filmmakers.

Realtime is made possible through the support of a number of generous film industry facilities, including long time partners Zootee Studios, Sound Surgeon Studios, One Shot Sessions, Searle Street Post, Annie’s Wardrobe, Ernst Seegers & Associates and Sitewise. All have come on board in support of nurturing young local talent.

Realtime filmmakers this year:

Team 1
Sarah Summers (Director)
Seam Nkula (Producer)

Team 2
Simon Antonelli (Director)
Monde Kawana (Producer)

Team 3
Jarrod Saunders (Director)
Leon Liebenberg (Producer)

International Awards

On October 16, the winners of the international Award «THE FLAMING FAUN» in each of five categories will be announced at shnit’s global Finale in New York. International jury prizes are awarded in length categories of < 10min, 10 – 20min and 20 – 40min. An international Audience Award and Festival Award make up the two remaining categories.

TICKETING

All shows in 90min programme blocks of 5 – 6 films
All shows ENGLISH subtitles
All shows 16 + *Except Long and Short Screening
Opening Night R70
Guga S`thebe Community Centre Screening R20
Labia and Truth Coffee shows R45
Long and Short – Kids Screening R70
Closing Night R120

For shnit addicts:
Festival Passes (Weekend access) R280-
Festival passes are non-transferrable.
Festival pass excludes Closing Night Awards ceremony.
Tickets for the Elements Short Film lab R300.

Please see www.shnit.org or the Official Festival Guide, to be distributed in late September.

MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA JURY BIOGRAPHIES

Sean Metelerkamp
Sean is from Knysna South Africa. He works mostly on autonomous film and photographic projects. Seans video for Die Antwoord, ‘Zef Side’, won an award for Youtube Play Top 25 Videos of 2010 and was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao and the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. This led to a six month residency in New York through Residency Unlimited where he got involved with the wrong crowd.

His first feature documentary, ‘The Journeymen’ – chronicles the journey of three South African photographers (Sean Metelerkamp, Sipho Mpongo and Wikus de Wet) across the country as they explore the current state of South Africa, opened the Durban International Film Festival and went on to win Best South African Documentary in 2016.

Sean is currently finishing off a photographic project called Noupoort, that began in 2010.

Zethu Dlomo
Zethu studied at Wits University where she acquired a BA(Dramatic Arts) honours degree. She starred in the film “Fanie Fourie’s Lobola” as Dinky Magubane, which earned her both a SAFTA and SAIFTA nomination for best actress in a feature film. She was the lead in the SABC 1 series “Room 9” as Detective Alice Kunene, and played a supporting role on the series “Ayeye”.

She featured in the international mini series “The Book Of Negroes”, and she recently completed her second season on “Black Sails” as Princess Madi. She has also appeared in numerous theatre productions, one in which she won the Naledi ‘Best Newcomer’ Award for her performance in “Have You Seen Zandile?”.

She is also one of the Thenx ladies, a company of four black female actors who use theatre, comedy and pastiche to talk about pertinent, relevant and pressing issues of society.

David Kau
David’s comedy career started when he was discovered at the Smirnoff International Comedy festival at the Baxter theatre in Cape Town in 1998, where he was the only black comedian. He went on to perform at the festival for four years in a row. He subsequently graduated at the end of that year with a Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama from the University of Cape Town.

David has performed in, and co-produced the first stand-up comedy show with a line up of all black comedians – The Smirnoff Comedy Blackout. He has played host to “So you think you’re funny” for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

He took part in Nelson Mandela’s 46664 It’s no joke Comedy show, in 2010. He is the host of Blacks Only Comedy show, which is currently in it’s 12th year, running at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg. His notable one man shows include: I Did These Jokes First, I Should Have Done These Jokes First, Hear To Make You Laugh and most recently Mo Jokes.

Some of David Kau’s international highlights were as South Africa’s representative at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montréal, Canada. He has performed in London at Riverside studios in Hammersmith, for four weeks at the Stand Up South Africa U.K Comedy festival.

He took part in Comedy Central presents “The Roast of Steve Hofmeyr. Other Comedy Central credits include starring alongside another well know comedian Joey Rasdien in the feature film, Blitz Patrollie. He has directed and produced for Lokshin Bioskop for Mnet Mzansi Magic and highlights being the movie Taxi Ride, the Taxi Ride 5 part series, Shampoo’s Retirement Village, The Room Divider and Mmamoriri with Co- Producer/Director Mmabatho Montsho.

PROGRAMME SECTIONS

shnit’s programme is divided into five sections. Choose what suits you – or take a chance! Over 250 films flicker across our screens around the world in and out of competition.

1 IN COMPETITION – Award Category Films

shnit International Competition – The festival’s yearly cornerstone comprises 58 films from around the world. The world’s best of the last year in all genres, fiction, documentary and beyond. Jury- and audience- awarded in 5 categories.

MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA – The best of the best South African films of the past year compete for this shnit National Competition jury- and audience- awarded trophy. Filmmakers in attendance.

2. A REAL TREAT – Audience Favourites

FEEL GOOD – The name says it all: The oasis in our cinematic storytelling. This selection from the international competition finds balance in the perfect blend of love, life and lust, with an added a pinch of spice, and space for comedic moments of surprise. Saturday and Sunday brunch.

PEEPING shnit – Bread and honey? We’ll take breasts and tail feathers. The Late Night program PEEPING shnit indulges once again that most beautiful thing in the world, gently tickling the hypothalamus. This toasty, wet, lustful and sensual program take a deep look into those all too human fantasies and desires. Satisfaction guaranteed.

3. FOR SPECIAL INTEREST – For Film Lovers

Shnit LITTLE & SHORT – Our little visitors will have the chance to experience a great program (from 5 years old).

shnit ANIMATES – Anything not nailed down will move. Human hand and Computer join forces, creating unseen universes and bringing to life crazy stories. The freshest works of artists from around the world testify to the power of the short animated film to blow open the boundaries of visual storytelling.

shnit DOCUMENTS – Stories rooted in reality produce an uncensored view of the diversity our species. This selection of socially explosive, far-reaching true-life experiences offers everything from unusual dreams to intimate and touching character portraits.

shnit EXPERIMENTS – The undercurrent of the short film. These experimental film creations undermine our patterns of perception, parody, irritate and love to surprise. No other genre so effectively captures the dance between Cinema and visual arts. This selection of recent works stimulates the senses even as it irritates the gray matter.

4 OUT OF CURIOSITY – Broadening Horizons

PLAYGROUNDS AWARDED – The National Competition winners of shnit 2015, presented as one programme. Cultural differences between shnit-cities will be felt… and celebrated! No matter their differences, these works have a common core: they are all shnit winners!

KAAPSE BOBOTIE – The original South African showcase category. More local gems, out of competition. Filmmakers in attendance.

5 AT THE PEAK – Festival Highlights

shnit OPENING – Once again we gather at our traditional festival opening, within the venerable Walls of the Church of the Holy shnit Spirit. Whoever hears the call is warmly welcomed, as we sample this year’s festival program highlights. Dim the lights! Of course the pink spirit shall flow as we kick off the 14th edition of the festival all around the world!

CLOSING NIGHT CAPE TOWN – shnit comes to another spectacular end at the Cape Town Club, as this year’s MADE IN SA films and their creators are honoured. Jury and audience have spoken. Additional highlights await as we premiere and award Cape Town’s Realtime filmmakers.

shnit FINALE – This intimate and finely tuned awards ceremony experience brings together invited guests and the distinguished International Jury President at the New York FINALE on October 16. Nominees, festival organisers and winners from around the world will gather to as five winners in the shnit International Competition category 2016 are presented with the coveted FLAMING FAUN. It its 14th year, its fourth time LUCKY for some in New York City.

FILM LIST

Full schedule available at http://shnit.org/programme-cape-town

MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1

Buitenkant 12 min William Nicholson
Buitenkant is a tense, incisive drama that explores the intersection between identity and space in the historical city fringe of post-apartheid Cape Town.

Into us and Ours 13 min Jessie Zinn
Zenzile and Marie are South Africans university students, finishing up their final year of studies. While driving back home from a mid-winter swim at the Kloof, something hits their car. They just manage to miss being physically scarred by the impact. However, in the aftermath of the car incident, the way each girl perceives the event ignites a series of misunderstandings between them.

The Agency 10 min Brent Palmer
“The Agency” is an enigmatic tale of the relationship between two brothers bound by fierce loyalty and bitter compromise. Our action takes place on a fateful yet seemingly regular morning when our hero comes to visit his institutionalized brother. As their meeting becomes progressively weird and mysterious, with the brother’s behaviour becoming increasingly erratic, our hero needs to take ever more vigilant steps so as not to disturb the volatile space, which is his brother’s dark and dangerous mind. Our story concludes with a twist of bitter-sweet tragedy when our hero is ultimately forced to make a decision of heart-breaking consequence.

The Silent Form 22 min Simon Wood
Art is a language without words. The Silent Form forges the artist and the filmmaker together as a mode of conceptual modeling, occupying a space between art and documentary. Playing into the world of interpretations and reinterpretation, we witness a filmmaker visualising the sculptors work and in turn giving birth to a new creation: the film as a new form.

A, Deadman 9 min Jasyn Howes
A man finds himself wounded and alone in a deserted landscape. He’s slowly bleeding out and as every step draws him closer to death, he slips further from reality. Visions of a menacing presence begin to contaminate his mind leading him to a final resting place so close to salvation he could almost reach out and touch it.

Gallo Rojo 23 min Zamo Mkhwanazi & Alejandro Fadel
A forgotten hotel. Two groups of men. All seem locked in this architecture from a previous era. Why they cannot leave the place, we do not know. A red and a black rooster share with the men the seclusion, witnesses of a battle, an abstract war, a nightmare.

MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA 2

Sea of Ash 12 min Michael MacGarry
A poetic re-imagining of Death in Venice, featuring a West African immigrant to Italy who embarks on a journey from the mountains to the seaside and ultimately, on a doomed voyage home.

Gift 3 min Dan Mace
This film is about perception and understanding that everything is perfect always, maybe it’s just you looking at it wrong. You can’t control your surroundings, but you can control the way you see them.

Jakkals 13 10 min Ari Kruger
After a sniper’s mission is compromised he must rely on his deadbeat housemate to see him through.

Helicopter Man 5 min Gabrielle Gray, Christiaan Rautenbach & Peter van Jaarsveld
In June 2015, South Africans heard the news of Vusi Mbata, the unemployed man living in an informal settlement in Rustenburg who built a helicopter in his back garden. For the thousands of people who read, shared and commented as the news piece went ‘viral’ on many social media platforms, his was a heartwarming story of overcoming unemployment and adversity to realise his dreams. Wanting to know more about this inspirational man, we ventured to North West Province and it’s platinum mining towns to see if he would let us tell his story.

Homeless 14 min Nathan Rice
After being forcefully removed from their shack home, a young man and his kid brother journey to find their long lost mother’s home with the hope of a better life.

The Suit 30 min Jarryd Coetsee
Based on the acclaimed short story by Can Themba, THE SUIT is set in 1950s Sophiatown against the backdrop of the apartheid regime’s forced removals. THE SUIT tells the story of Philemon who discovers his wife, Matilda, in bed with a lover. The lover flees, leaving behind his suit. Philemon devises a cruel punishment, by forcing Matilda to treat the suit as a guest who must eat with them, go on walks and accompany them to church. As Philemon’s sadistic retribution intensifies, Matilda slowly succumbs to her broken heart.

Paraya 15 min Sheetal Magan & Martin Morgenfeld
A city bustles with the urge for survival. A young woman adrift between worlds, one rooted in her past and one promising her future. Something is absent, missing, irretrievable.

KAAPSE BOBOTIE 1

As Above, so Below 9 min Michael MacGarry
In 1836, after five years circumnavigating the globe, Charles Darwin arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on Africa’s southern peninsula. On the morning of the 1st of June he was taken ashore with his valet. Darwin was never seen again.

The Book Club 5 min Bauke Brouwer
A literary gathering turns to nightmare as the members of a book club fall prey to a mysterious foe.

Soft Landings 7 min Linsen Loots & Dewet van Rooyen
A seeming chance encounter between an aeroplane-obsessed young boy (Jesse Cornelius) and an aging retired golfer ( Wolfgang Weissenstein) reveals the depths that family will go to as they journey home.

Replica 5 min Oscar Sammeli
Replica is based on a dream by Oscar Sammeli. Jacob wakes up in the wood and don´t know where he is. At the same time someone is in his house, trying to take over his life. His family doesn´t notice anything, or do they?

The Discovery of Fire 18 min Gerhard Pretorius
Four months after the death of their only child, an unnamed man sits on the bed next to his wife. He leaves the house and drives to work, but suddenly he decides to flee to a remote forest. Desperate to rediscover his masculinity, he searches for a tree to cut down, to make a fire.

Objectively Speaking 3 min Paul Spiers
A deeply personal look at the life of struggling background extras artist, David as he prepares for his latest role in his consummate, artistic manner. The story has been sourced almost exclusively from existing footage over several years that showcase this unique man.

Sons of Crime 12 min Dominic Taylor
Being poor and homeless, Mali struggles to make an honest living as a taxi driver in the city of Cape Town. Despite his best efforts, Mali is compelled to follow in his father’s dark footsteps when asked to pursue a mysterious woman, deemed to be in the possession of a fortune.

Destination 7min Craig Parker
In coming to terms with her loss, a widow finds direction in her life from an unlikely source – her deceased husband.

KAAPSE BOBOTIE 2

Never a Next Train 7 min Devon Delmar
In the fading minutes of the setting sun, the ennui of the night watchman at a desolate train station is disturbed by the sight of the lone figure of a farm worker on the platform. Adamant that a train is coming to take him away, the farm worker perplexes the guard. His confusion is greater when the unscheduled train does roll into view and picking up the man, disappears into the now-pitch black distance. The night watchman sits back down, but the night seems quieter than before.

Paper Hearts 7 min Michael Klein
When romantically awkward recycling depot manager Jon meets new volunteer Katie, he falls for her at first glance and immediately sets off to win her heart. Destination 8 min Craig Parker In coming to terms with her loss, a widow finds direction from an unlikely source – her deceased husband.

Death of Innocent 12 min Michael H Struwig JNR
After his domestic worker is murdered, Pieter, a lonely farmer goes on a rampage to find revenge.

uNomalanga And The Witch 26 min Palesa Shongwe
A good Christian woman, u Nomalanga, and her husband Sibusiso, move into a new neighbourhood. They are introduced to the mystery of the widow who lives across the street, whom everyone suspects of having used dark powers to kill her husband.

Father’ s House 7 min Mia Cilliers and Roxanne Dalton
An eccentric cavedweller has painstakingly transformed an abandoned railway side restaurant into an intricately decorated, multi-roomed home. A home that has served as both backdrop to a Jack Parow music video and place for drifters passing through to rest and watch the full moon rise. Father’s House is a poetic exploration on what it means to have a home and what it is that binds us to it.

Commando 17 min Robin Goode
A forgotten boy’s fascination with a war book fuels his imagination during his daily visits to the old city library. One day, amongst the bookshelves, he encounters a badly injured man who is being pursued by two hardened gangsters.

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb