5 years after its initial release, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning monochrome gaze of Sibs Shongwe-La Mer’s Necktie Youth finds an unexpected cult rebirth as the film is still a festival favourite, appearing in this years “Open Doors” screenings of the prestigious Festival Del Film Locarno, a program born 18 years ago in support and aid of cinema from less represented territories, where the film screened as a work in progress in 2014 and took home a Special Mention from the Jury. Deemed a Locarno success story, the film played to audiences at Palavideo and Granrex cinema in Switzerland on the 15 August 2020. The film has been selected by the programme’s curator, Poalo Bertolin as one of 10 feature films that “have made its history”.lo Bertolin, said of the screening: “Open Doors symbolically closes with another Open Doors project that shaped up to become a groundbreaking film, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer’s Necktie Youth. One of South African cinema’s major oeuvres of the last decade, Shongwe-La Mer’s debut feature depicts the life and behavior of well-off youths in Johannesburg, with no prejudice or false modesty. Necktie Youth debunks stereotypes about race, gender and sexual preference, defying comfort-zone representations of the society and people of South Africa and opens the door for a new cinema of unexpected aesthetic and political impact.”
Urucu has recently reassigned the International Sales rights to the film to Memento International Films in Paris, a company that represents some of the best titles in contemporary world cinema including the Oscar-winning Call Me By Your Name and the 2020 Sundance Visionary Filmmaking Award Winner This is not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, also produced by Urucu. Urucu producer, Elias Ribeiro said “After our first fruitful collaboration and aware of the appetite for strong content about People of Color, we reached out to Sata Cissokho, Head of Acquisitions at Memento to reconsider the film.
“The success of Roma has done a lot for Black and White content and our ability to move it. In a time of #Blacklivesmatter Sibs’ debut feature presents a great opportunity to engage with the complexity of the Black existence. We are excited to give this great film a second push, the time is right”, explains Sata.
In South Africa, the film has also recently made it into the coursework at South African academic institutions such as The University of Cape Town and The University of Stellenbosch.
As the film sees new life, Shongwe-La Mer’s banner LAIKA1991 with partner David Kayser (previously of Casarotto), is gearing up for his untitled sophomore feature. Fully financed, production was halted by y the COVID-19 pandemic; “We are locked and loaded” says La Mer, “Independent films, as well as other industries worldwide. are facing massive unexpected setbacks due to lockdown and we just happen to be in the same position as many others, but we are working out a way forward with the help of a truly world class team”.a
Of Necktie Youth’s acquisition and further films, the young director says ”it’s really beautiful to see how such a raw and humble project, made off genuine angst and emotion, shows a sense of resilience to time. It was a labor of love for both myself and producer Elias Ribeiro, and while we are ready to move on to bigger and better things as soon as the world becomes more “filmmaker/human friendly, we give thanks to all that our little ode to cinema has given us”.
Ribeiro says in closing, “It is time for Sibs and I put our hearts and minds together to create again. I look forward to collaborating with one of the most talented people I have ever worked with. We started with beach walks, and talks, and are looking for our next project together.”
