Gat in die Muur

DIRECTORS' Statement:

Although this film deals with a man in his mid 50's, dying of colon cancer, which may at first glance look like it could be a morose and depressing subject, the idea is to make a film and treat that specific and extremely relevant subject matter with delicacy, humor, poetry and above all a sense and dynamic representing life, rather than just making a film about dying.

The film is a road movie, resembling a journey, discovering life and the coming of age. The father takes his young son on this trip, his journey to his final destination, a coffee farm run by his best friend, where he chooses to spend his last days. My aim is to create, on a visual level, a film that I personally think, has not been seen or experienced by local Afrikaans speaking people and at the same time, neither has it been seen internationally.

My intention is to use the beautiful landscapes of the Kwa-Zulu Natal and Eastern Cape (Transkei) in South Africa and its people, to underscore the intense, yet delicate transformation which the characters undergo on their journey. The landscape must contribute to the poetic element, which is carried through strongly in this film. Extensive Recces on our locations have been done and in depth discussions, especially with the people in Transkei, has been had, in order to secure our shooting there. It is a part of our country we feel the world needs to see.

Our aim and decision is to shoot with available, natural light and only when necessary apply practical light using artificial light as little as possible, applied during the night scenes. We are shooting on the Alexa, because of its dynamic range. We also know that we will shoot at 120fps, so we could use speed ramps, which is such a great editorial tool for speeding up, or slowing down moments, which all contribute to the overall rhythm of this film.

I herewith include a visual treatment, which will give you a better idea of what we have in mind for the look of the film.

Let me move on and speak about the emotional content regarding my vision for this film. As a director, I come from an acting background as per my biography, and therefore once the technical and visual elements are in place, they serve only to underscore what I think is the most important aspect of film and story telling: Performance. I regard this as a predominantly performance driven film and a lot of time will be spent on crafting and shaping every acting and emotional moment in order to achieve delicate, nuanced, realistic and truthful performances. The performances must be done on a level where the audience must completely believe every second of every character's being, in that specific moment. Therefore I have decided and my Producer, Johan Vorster is allowing me, to shoot a maximum of four minutes per day, making sure that enough time is given to the importance of nuance and dimension.

I have spent over 33 years perfecting, or trying, to perfect and understand the craft of acting and I have spent the last 12 years specifically focusing on the medium of film. My preproduction work includes rehearsal and intensive workshop with the actors in order to get to a relaxed environment, from where these actors can tell this beautiful and moving story.

An important element which we are working with in this film and which we feel is an important global discussion at the moment, is the relevance of cannabis oil and marijuana in the treatment of the symptoms of cancer. Our research, as far as this matter is concerned, has been done thoroughly.

Last, but not least, let's briefly speak about the music. The music will be understated to the point where it will barely be noticed. The score will be composed bearing in mind that most of the instruments will be custom build African instruments from Grahamstown. The music must reflect the bare emotion of the story. The Kalimba is the main instrument in the score and this in itself should be an indication of how intimate the music will be treated, to only support the very delicate emotions happening on screen. Musicians such as Pops Muhamed and Black Sunshine will be consulted and will be contracted in the creation of the score.

This is a film that ultimately exceeds racial, religious and sexual orientation as it deals with elements of life that we all understand and experience every day.

Andre Odendaal & Johan Vorster