SHORT FICTION FILM TO SCREEN AT FESTIVAL IN THE US
The Divergence Film Foundation non-profit company and Green Leaf Films (Pty) Ltd is pleased to announce that ADDRESS UNKNOWN, the first-ever short fiction film inspired by the forced removals in District Six, Cape Town, will be screened at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in the US.
The film was directed by Nadine Angel Cloete (Action Kommandant) and stars Stefan Erasmus (Trackers), Irshaad Ally (Nommer 37) and Bianca Flanders (The Riviera). The duration of the film is 24 min, with English sub-titles as dialogue is in Afrikaans.
The script was written by Anton Fisher, a former journalist. Set in District Six in 1976, the film shows how the postman Joey (Stefan Erasmus) is traumatized and depressed by the fact that he cannot deliver letters to friends and neighbours who have disappeared without a trace due to forced removals by the apartheid government.
According to Zain Young, a former postman and resident of District Six who was interviewed in the development of the script, many residents left District Six without providing a forwarding address. This resulted in the correspondence addressed to them being destroyed by the General Post Office of the time.
Against this background, the postman Joey receives information about a close childhood friend, Ebie (Irshaad Ally), and goes in search of him despite the prevailing danger of the 1976 protests.
Address Unknown is also the first time that director Nadine Cloete ventures into fiction. She is renowned as the director and producer of the acclaimed documentary on the life of the late freedom fighter Ashley Kriel.
A strong woman contingent in the Cape Town based crew is another feature of the film. One of the executive producers is author Rehana Rossouw while the co-producer is Dominique Jossie, who has featured at the Silwerskerm festival as a director on the multi-nominated short film Rooilug. Artist-activist Deidre Jantijies was location manager.
Music for the film was co-ordinated by the Cape Cultural Collective, an innovative arts project that seeks to unify people across the racial divides created by apartheid and promotes personal and collective development.
Work is continuing to secure a local premiere for the film. Details will be announced soon. The film was produced in association with the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF).
If you want to view the film via the BlackStar festival on 21 August, please visit www.blackstarfest.org
For more information please contact director Nadine Cloete on cloete.nadine@gmail.com