Setting the Scene

0123456789 0123456789 Movies REEL VS REAL landscape of Freedom Park (freedompark. co.za), and recommends a visit to the Union Buildings to see the new bronze statue of Nelson Mandela. SETTING THE BEAR SUIT A darkly comical road trip story about a guy who picks up an odd hitchhiker. Filmmaker Adam Donnelly chose the area THE around Kalbaskraal, near Malmesbury, as his location – a wheat and sheep farming region that ushers in the Swartland as you leave Cape Town. ‘It really is a one-horse SCENE town; a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it place – Watch the films, then check out their real-life locations – five filmmakers a town that people forgot after the new at this month’s Jozi Film Festival reveal all highway was built.’ The crew used the local rugby club as their base camp: ‘Even though there wasn’t money in the community, they’d built the facilities LOVE THE ONE YOU LOVE FLIES themselves and were in the process of said the people of Alex were warm and the ended up shooting there, in diverse Three characters suspect that their romantic A retired architect is the sole inhabitant of paying for upgrades to the rugby pitch.’ place welcoming, ‘quite the opposite of neighbourhoods and several private relationships are part of a bizarre conspiracy. a large, derelict social housing complex he He says there was ‘quite a bit of interest what the rest of the country thinks of it’; homes. ‘In Brooklyn [Cape Town’s version], designed as a young man. in the cars’ used in the film (a 1972 Ford during the shooting of one action scene at our hosts influenced how we interpreted Jenna Bass was ‘desperate’ to make her Capri, vintage Mustang and 1950s-style night, about 2,000 people came to watch one of the characters: we decided to make first feature film, and had to come up with Artist-filmmaker Michael MacGarry shot Chevy pick-up truck) from the locals, who and applauded every time he shouted her more gracious, like them.’ While a story around the resources, people and the entire film at Schubart Park in central hung around the rugby club while the cars ‘cut!’. Some of the crew and cast were shooting in Observatory, the crew had the places available to her – her hometown, Pretoria, the ‘largest, singular example were being rigged. locals, so seeing them being treated as ‘World’s Largest Roti from Sunrise Chip’n Cape Town, provided ‘an incredible variety of Modernist social housing design in stars in their own town was ‘amazing and Ranch (94 Main Road, Mowbray, +27 of locations I could access’. She chose apartheid SA’. It was completed in 1976, Check out: The old train station in really moving’, he says. (0)21 689 3250) – very tasty. Indian food in ones that meant a lot to her, such as the and consists of four 21-storey apartment Kalbaskraal is ‘really graphic and interesting’ Cape Town is worth coming out for.’ Kiang Labia Theatre in Gardens and the College tower blocks. ‘It is a monument to a very to photograph. The town and surroundings Check out: Club Neh! and Joe’s Lifestyle was also intrigued by District Six and the of Magic (‘the only magic school of its kind particular and distinctly peculiar way of make for a great road trip, Donnelly says, & Butchery – both locations in the film – Bo Kaap, ‘with their colourful townhouses in the world’). The tiny crew also did thinking; the oppressive proportions offering a wide range of visual possibilities are ‘must-see places with a vibrant and mixed population’. The city felt ‘a lot a shoot in Gatesville ‘where there’s often coupled with the sheer conceptual for photographers – ‘in summer, it’s a dry, atmosphere, where visitors can mix with like southern California, the people just as drag racing up and down the main road, “weight” of it [intended to be a utopian almost Karoo-like landscape; in spring, the residents and experience a night out with laidback but with a more intense sense of and it’s quite a scene on a Saturday night’; holistic living and working environment] fields come alive with yellow canola the locals’. Joe’s (corner Eleventh Avenue nature and cultural awareness’. passersby thought actor Mogamat Daayan make for an uncanny environment.’ In the flowers.’ Another location of the film was and Roosevelt Street, +27 (0)83 623 CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Salie, who is from the area, was actually early 2000s, it was abandoned following Aces ’n’ Spades bar in Cape Town Thina Sobalili (The Two of Us) was 2770), a shisa nyama, regularly hosts Check out: The opening scene was being beaten up – ‘that caused some health concerns and high crime, and fell (62 Hout Street, +27 (0)21 424 1620). shot in Alexandra and features an some of the hottest musicians and DJs shot in Dunkley Square, where Kiang loved interesting misunderstandings’. into serious disrepair. A week before its original soundtrack by Bongaziwe in SA. Neh! (57 Fourth Avenue, Marlboro, Maria’s Greek Restaurant (+27 (0)21 461 renovation started (it will now be used for THINA SOBALILI Mabandla (who, director Ernest +27 (0)11 262 6656) boasts a cigar lounge 3333) – ‘Owners Cleon and Kate Romano Check out: Bass wrote a few scenes for student accommodation), MacGarry got (THE TWO OF US) Nkosi says, is ‘big in Japan’); the and Jo’burg skyline views, plus interesting are the loveliest people, the café is sunny, places she wanted an excuse to visit, permission to shoot his film there. Siblings Thulani and Zanele journey through mysterious hitchhiker in The Bear traditional African bar snacks. open and beautiful, and the ravani such as Dreams Sports Bar in Main Road, life with no one but each other to lean on. Suit, stranded in the Swartland; (semolina) cake is divine.’ The closing Woodstock – ‘it has this inviting blue Check out: While working in the area, Aces’n’Spades bar smartens up CHIP scene was shot in front of Camps Bay’s illuminated door’ – and Call-A-Pizza MacGarry explored Church Square, For Ernest Nkosi’s drama – ‘a story that for a scene from The Bear Suit; Inspired by a Chekhov short story, in which Theatre on the Bay (theatreonthebay. in Sea Point (57 Regent Road, +27 (0)21 ‘which has a number of key 20th century needed to be told simply because it’s the abandoned housing complex a successful young man receives a visit from co.za); Kiang recommends taking in 434 0818), which ‘may be the world’s only architectural icons and bizarre historical a mirror of what is happening in society’ of Schubart Park in Flies; scenes his low-life father. ‘Cape Town’s wealth of arts and local psy-trance pizza place’. Bass describes monuments’ [such as the Old Capitol – he chose Alexandra township in Jo’burg, from Chip, set in Cape Town – theatres with top-notch original plays’. Cape Town as ‘multiple towns, villages, Theatre, Café Riche, Tudor Chambers and which is separated by a highway from moving the story to SA required Chinese-American Nancy Kiang was even worlds – a place that has to be seen in the General Post Office]. He was also Sandton, ‘one of the richest places in careful thought about casting, originally set to film in New York, but was Jozi Film Festival 20-22 February; motion’. Use public transport, she says. intrigued by the abstract exhibitions and Africa’. Nkosi, who grew up in Katlehong, supplied Photographs: Webb. Caroline by Compiled says the American filmmaker invited to Cape Town by a friend – and jozifilmfestival.co.za 18 south africa south africa 19.

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