Cape Town - The locally produced, written, directed and self-funded short film A House Is Not A Home has been screened at one of the largest international gatherings of urban film industry experts.
The writer of the film, Lester Walbrugh, and director Earl Kopeledi travelled to Miami where the film was screened and nominated at the Urban Film Festival.
The Afrikaans-language film is an adaptation of Walbrugh’s short story, Homeful, from his collection of short stories published by Karavan Press.
Held over the US Labour Day weekend of August 30 to September 1, the festival celebrated culturally driven content as a platform for up-and-coming urban film-makers to share stories from their communities.
A Home Is Not a House stars local actors Liande Valentyn, Curtley Pitt and Dustin Beck as three homeless friends.
The film will also be screened as one of only 22 short films from across the world at the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, next month.
Kopeledi said the film was not yet public, but they hoped to hook a reputable streaming site or local channel to distribute their film.
“We entered the film to a few festivals and got selected to screen at these two festivals that promote and highlight the work of people of colour internationally.”
Walbrugh said: “I am honoured that our project has found a way to cross borders. Now it needs to find a way home.”
The film-makers were blown away by the similarities in the stories on show at the festival.
“Our narratives have a lot more in common than what the world wants us to know,” said Kopeledi, who also wrote and directed the award winning 2 Thirds of a Man, released in 2022.
“Celebrating the two worlds that make up Cape Town, A Home Is Not A House follows three homeless people tasked to retrieve a hard drive from a beachside bungalow. They decide to spend a couple of nights in relative luxury,” Kopeledi said.
“The simmering animosity between Lappies and Charles leads to a confrontation, which pricks open boils of colourism, privilege, social hierarchy and the question of ethics.
“Miena struggles to accept her decision to abandon her baby 20 years prior. In the bungalow she is confronted with her guilt and her role as mother. A chance meeting with a man who could be her biological son sends her emotions into turmoil.”
Kopeledi, 50, from Gardens, said most of the film was shot along Roeland Street in Cape Town.
venecia.america@inl.co.za
Cape Argus