Cape Town – “Protégé” is a thought-provoking piece about GBV, says screenwriter and director, Stephen Nagel.
At the centre of the film is a conversation about gender-based violence in South Africa; a candid conversation about how the justice system that’s supposed to protect victims, often fails them.
BTG Productions is a local independent filmmaking collective from Cape Town, founded by Stephen Nagel and Dean Ravell, who hail from the creative hub of the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.
In “Protégé”, a vigilante arrives to deliver justice to her target: a man who beats his girlfriend, but soon finds out that someone else got there first.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but an expressive and meaningful conversation about GBV ensues.
“We successfully funded our previous film, ‘MIA&I’ via crowdfunding, and we need help to make ‘Protégé’ a reality too,” said Nagel.
“We’ve been working closely with our producer, Nicola Duddy and creative producer Haniefa Mooideen to bring a few short film projects to life, including our latest, ‘Protégé’.”
“We’re also re-teaming with our cinematographer from ‘MIA&I’, Stephen Phillipson, and our composer on a number of projects, Bobby Dean.”
If you would like to donate to their cause, here’s a link to their current crowdfunding campaign.
“We’ve framed this discussion on GBV through the lens of a thriller film which we feel is an entertaining genre that many South African audiences gravitate towards.”
Nagel said that while they didn’t actively support vigilantism, they felt that South Africa needed bolder, out-of-the-box storytelling if we want to match the prestige of film and TV shows around the world.
Nagel said GBV is a plague on our society, and he and his founding partner believe that talking about it and engaging through art is one way we can challenge the obstacles that make it so difficult to eradicate from our world.
“We’re hoping that this film will showcase our skills and talent to local broadcasters and producers, and to the world.
“We’re trying to send a message: we have great stories to tell; give us the resources and opportunity to do so,” added Nagel.
“We've always been fiercely independent, running and gunning (as they say in the indie film world), and making do with what we have; and that’s why we need help to make this film and future projects a reality.”
IOL