A few years ago, I made two short films and next week people will finally get to watch them on the big screen.
In 2021 and 2023 I shot and published two short films on YouTube. Both films never got a big release, but next week I finally get to showcase them at The Film Week by the Namibian Film Commission in Windhoek. It’s an honour that my films were selected and I can’t wait for everyone else to watch them.
Verlate en Alleen and The Art of Unemployment: A Namibian Story will both screen on 12 March at the film festival. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go to The Film Week myself, but I still can’t wait for people to see my work. I shot both of these movies with nothing but a tripod and a cell phone. It’s nothing fancy, just determination to tell a story.
The first film is an Afrikaans short called Verlate en Alleen, or Abandoned and Alone in English. It’s a story of faith and finding hope during dire situations. The other one is called The Art of Unemployment: A Namibian Story, and it’s about a down-on-his-luck guy just trying to put on a brave face as he tries to make it through just one more day.
A little background on these films: I shot both of them during one of the lowest points of my life. Neither of them were easy to write, because they were both so personal. I pulled a lot from my own life and from the people around me. The films were just meant to keep myself busy while I tried writing a feature film script.
Verlate en Alleen is my favourite of the two, because I got my parents involved. The film is about an elderly couple living somewhere on a farm in southern Namibia. They feel as if the world has forgotten about them. Even though they feel abandoned by family, they know that God will still look out for them.
I wrote the film as a reminder to myself that bad times might seem to last longer than I hoped, but they are never really here to stay. My parents were perfect for the roles and it was easy to work with them. The story also fit some of the challenges they were facing at that time. So not only did the story resonate with them, but they also got to put parts of themselves into the characters.
While the idea for The Art of Unemployment: A Namibian Story started the same as all my other scripts, it evolved into a sort of one-man show kind of film. I was alone, so I decided that I should probably step into the role of the main character. I know I’m not the greatest actor, which is why I decided to shoot it as a sort of mockumentary inspired by shows like The Office or Parks and Recreation.
The film follows Sam Smit, a young man who lost everything and, no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t seem to find a job to change his life. I was unemployed at the time, sending out CV after CV and not getting any feedback, so I instead focused on writing a story. I wasn’t the only one struggling, a lot of my friends were struggling to find work as well.
The story was inspired by them, even though I think the character was mostly inspired by me, except I made him more of an extrovert. The film unfortunately never reached the audience that I wished it would, but I’m glad it will finally get the chance to be viewed by people in a theatre setting.
If you can’t make it to The Film Week, then please check out both films on YouTube.
