SA Cannes offering to open Durban fest

Published Jun 5, 2015

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A COMING-of-age story of a 21-year-old African hipster who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, Ayanda was shot in Joburg in August last year, mostly in Yeoville.

“That’s one of the big characters in the film. Yeoville is the only place where huge numbers of foreigners live where there’s never been any violence. We describe it as that place where people from all over the continent mix, where you’re as likely to see food from the Congo as from Ethiopia or India,” explained director Sara Blecher.

A passion project for years, Ayanda was shot by Blecher’s company, Real Eyes Films (which has received NFVF funding to develop a slate of movies) and Terry Pheto’s Leading Lady Productions to a Trish Malone script.

Blecher originally conceived the idea while watching Juno with her daughter, Ayanda: “It was the most extraordinary experience. The person who emerged after the film and the 15-year-old who went in were two different people. That film gave her permission to be herself in a similar way that the Juno character was.

“So, my original idea was to make a film about a girl on the cusp of adulthood who lived her life according to what she wanted to do. Without compromising her creativity, she was able to build a business and I wanted to present a role model to girls.”

Originally named Andani and the Mechanic, the film was a 2013 Durban FilmMart project (the co-production and finance forum run by the Durban International Film Festival (Diff) and the Durban Film Office).

Diff director, Pedro Pimenta, pointed out that it is one of five titles which have come through the FilmMart process over the years which will screen at this year’s festival.

This is Blecher’s second film to open Diff and Pimenta sees Ayanda as offering an interesting and positive convergence of talent, style, resources and distribution potential for the film market: “There is a real sense that reaching an audience has been the most important motivation equally shared by the film-makers and their financiers in its creation,” said Pimenta.

Casting the lead role took the longest and it was actress Nthathi Moshesh (who plays Ayanda’s mother) who suggested one of her Scandal co-workers, Fulu Mugovhani.

The film production had to be postponed to allow Mugovhani to finish her storyline on Scandal, who argued that since her tv character name was Anzani this could create confusion for audiences, so Blecher suggested Ayanda, and that was that.

Mugovhani and Blecher travelled to the Cannes Film Festival with producer Pheto last month, where the film screened on the film market.

Blecher was very surprised by the way Cannes audience responded to the film: “ I didn’t realise how deeply it touched on issues affecting women, like women and their relationship with their mothers. And I didn’t think how deeply it would touch people. Like the ones who came up to me and told me about their relationships with their fathers.”

Blecher, who now lives in Joburg, has always had a soft spot for Diff ever since she would attend while living in Durban where her three children were born: “It really and truly was the one thing that sustained me creatively through those years. Once a year it gave me a place where I didn’t feel isolated but stimulated, being able to see these films which were made around the world.”

While it is four years since her previous feature film, Otelo Burning, opened Diff, Blecher actually ended up making two features in the last year. While working on post-production for Ayanda she also shot Dis Ek, Anna at the start of this year and the Afrikaans film, adapted by Tertius Kapp from Anchien Troskie’s best-seller, will also screen at Diff.

The indie project about the abuse of a girl at the hands of her stepfather was a new experience since Blecher was hired as a director and did not produce this project.

“Most directors produce films in this country because it’s the only way to get work. When you’re just the director you’re working with someone who is trying to help you get what you need. That frees you up to be much more creative.”

She says she doesn’t think there will ever be such a thing as a singular South African voice in film: “But, there is a growing number of film-makers learning to trust their own voices . We have film-makers not trying to just emulate other movies and in the conversation between those voices, that’s a huge maturing of the industry.”

• Diff takes place from July 16 to 26 in Durban and Ayanda opens on the local circuit on August 26.

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