How do survivors of abuse start on their road to recovery?
How does post-traumatic stress disorder colour our interactions with those around us? And can we blame the prevalence of violent crime for South African society's apathy towards its victims?
These are just a few of the questions that filmmakers Marista van Eeden and Lea Sharples want their audiences to face.
And while the pair acknowledge they don't necessarily have all of the answers, they believe it's the obligation of young artists to start the conversations around such difficult topics.
Van Eeden and Sharples are a part of the newest group of soon-to-be graduates at Afda, the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance.
The graduating class's films will have limited screenings at select cinemas across the country this week, but their work will be available to view online (www.Afda.co.za/Student-Work.html) from November 28, giving the general public the opportunity to watch and rate all of the new productions.
THE AFDA film festival takes place this weekend, but the students’ work will be online for viewing from November 28.
Van Eeden and Sharples’ passion project, Silent Men, focuses on a young survivor (played by Daniela Caprin) dealing with the aftermath of a sexually and physically abusive relationship. While returning home from work one night, she encounters a man in dire need of help, but is powerless to assist because of the fear and mistrust born from her previous trauma.
For Van Eeden, the film’s writer and director, the decision to tackle the topic of sexual abuse was initially because she wanted to examine why South Africans are so apathetic towards people in need.
“Why don't we speak to people we don't know? Where is our empathy? From there we came to the question of why someone would be unable to help someone who they saw dying in the street? What if in her home, she is suffering, she is experiencing a huge amount of hurt? That’s where our research began,” said Van Eeden.
Sharples, as producer, began by sending out anonymous online surveys asking fellow pupils and friends if their lives had been affected by sexual assault or abuse.
The results confirmed what many anti-abuse activists and organisations have been arguing for years: that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find someone unaffected by the scourge of sexual violence in South Africa.
Sharples then reached out to organisations that assist survivors of sexual assault as part of the team's research efforts, eventually securing endorsement from The Teddy Bear Foundation and the Tears foundation.
To raise the money required for filming, Sharples also put together a musical fund-raiser where a portion of the proceeds were donated to the two foundations.
“From the beginning our whole crew wanted to take advantage of the fact that we have this incredible platform and make something that actually matters,” said Van Eeden.
After an initial screening of the film, the director said she was asked: “Why is everybody making rape films?"
"I was kind of shocked at the question. I said because we're all tired of rape. This is the truth of what is happening out there. I don't want to shock people just to shock people, but we have to talk about it.”
Sharples said: “I believe our generation is more open to talking about these issues. And as a visual generation, perhaps the only way to help spread our message is to show the horrors of what people go through."
Silent Men, described by the pair as a quintessentially Joburg story - is just one of the dozens of productions created by the next generation of auteurs at Afda from across the country.
“A record number of over 120 graduate productions from our respective campuses will exhibit,” said the school in a statement on this year's festival.