You can now binge-watch 20 short films from this year’s kykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival, first and only on Showmax. Ranging from fantasy to crime dramas to comedies, this year’s diverse collection of short films shows that the future of Afrikaans film has never been brighter.
Since its launch in 2011, the festival’s short film competition has introduced a wealth of new talent into the Afrikaans film industry, including the likes of Christiaan Olwagen (Johnnie Is Nie Dood Nie), Rene van Rooyen (Mooirivier), and Corne van Rooyen (Vaselinetjie, Hollywood In My Huis). Previous short films have gone on to become both feature films (Vuil Wasgoed, Nommer 37) and a TV series (Buurtwag).
Filmmakers enter the competition by submitting a one-page proposal , which is judged anonymously, on concept only. This year 258 entries were received, 31 films were invited to take part in the script workshops, and 21 were then turned into short films, with mentorship from the likes of Brett Michael Innes, Etienne Fourie, Johan Kruger, Josh and Luke Rous, and Jozua Malherbe.
Highlights include:
Soldaat
Best Short Film – 24 minutes :: Best Screenplay (Amy Jephta)
One day during the school holidays, two young boys see a conversation between a police officer and a notorious drug dealer. They are captured and become the drug dealer’s pawns. In the same area, it’s the first day on the streets for a mysterious new policeman with an agenda of his own. As the day progresses, these two stories cross and collide as lives are irrevocably changed.
Vossie Vergas Homself
Best Actress: June van Merch
Vossie is ready to commit suicide, but an eccentric jogger, Antie, has other plans. June van Merch (Die Boekklub, Binnelanders) is hilarious in the funniest short film about suicide you’re likely to ever see.
Slaaf
Best Actor: Carel Nel
Carel Nel (Hum) won Best Actor the second year in a row for his lead role as a man torn between two loves with lots in common: heroin and his heroine.
Die Maan Val Bewusteloos
Best Director – 24 minutes (Nico Scheepers)
Mia wants to know where she comes from. All she knows is fairy tales that her grandparents told her, but what happened to the rest of her family?
Langsaan
Best director – 12 minutes (Harold Holscher)
She lives in her own imaginary world while her parents work for a better future. A quiet dream lives deep inside her, but a child can lose a dream on her own front porch. Look out for a particularly slimy cameo from Marcel van Heerden (Suidooster), which should come with a #metoo trigger warning.
Skoon
Best Editing – Johan Prinsloo
Louis, a young dental hygienist, cleans way more than he should, always in steps of three.
Last year’s winners – Matthys Boshoff’s love story Vlees Van My Vlees and Willem Grobler’s paranoia-inducing Hum – are also on Showmax.
