KEAGAN MITCHELL
Cape Town - Touched by Style Community Arts Projects and Films will be flying the flag for South Africa at the 2024 International Short Film Festival in Germany.
The Delft-based NPO picked up 10 nominations for their short film, Death Angel, including Community Choice Award, Short Film Entry Award and Fiction Short Story Film Choice Award.
The event takes place next month.
Co-founder of Touched by Style Community Arts Projects and Films, Nic Matthee, said being nominated was an unbelievable and overwhelming feeling.
“We are overjoyed as a productive team as we had done a great deal in puzzling together a working project, and this represents what our youth in the local community is capable of doing,” he said.
Death Angel draws inspiration from a book, A Hero’s Journey, written by Joseph Campbell.
It involves a hero who goes on an adventure and comes home as a changed person.
However, during his adventure, he encounters a decisive crisis.
Matthee said it was amazing to see how their projects were not only being seen locally, but internationally.
“Having our work featured on an international platform is really amazing and makes it worth every effort,” he said.
The organisation was established in 2020, with the aim of bringing positive change on the Cape Flats through film production.
Matthee said their biggest dream was to build a film studio for both film and music enthusiasts to explore, mature and showcase their abilities.
“The Cape Flats communities are seen as fractured areas in Cape Town; we are here to uplift their potential by creating an opportunity for them to become frontrunners by representing their communities in a positive light,” he said.
The organisers said: “We have reviewed your project, Death Angel and did a background check on your progress, and we are very much impressed by the goal and aim and your contribution in your local community in Cape Town, South Africa.
“From what we have seen, we have come to acknowledge that you have a team effort engineered by your enthusiasm for film-making on an entry level, and our selection team have approved your submission.”