The Divergence Film Foundation non-profit company and Green Leaf Films (Pty) Ltd has announced that Address Unknown, a short fiction film inspired by the forced removals in District Six, Cape Town, will be screened at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in the US.
The 24-min Afrikaans language film with English subtitles is directed by Nadine Angel Cloete (Action Kommandant) and stars Stefan Erasmus (Trackers), Irshaad Ally (Nommer 37) and Bianca Flanders (The Riviera). The script was written by Anton Fisher, a former journalist.
Set in District Six, Cape Town in 1976, Address Unknown follows postman Joey (Stefan Erasmus) who is traumatized when the apartheid government destroys his diverse community after declaring it a Whites Only area. Amidst this destruction Joey is determined to find his childhood friend Ebie (Irshaad Ally) who has vanished without leaving a forwarding address and restore the bond of friendship.
According to Zain Young, a former postman and resident of District Six who was interviewed in the development of the script, many residents left District Six without providing a forwarding address. This resulted in the correspondence addressed to them being destroyed by the General Post Office of the time.
Address Unknown is the first time that director Cloete ventures into fiction. A strong woman contingent in the Cape Town-based crew is another feature of the film. One of the executive producers is author Rehana Rossouw while the co-producer is Dominique Jossie, who has featured at the Silwerskerm festival as a director on the multi-nominated short film Rooilug. Artist-activist Deidre Jantijies was location manager.
Music for the film was done by the Cape Cultural Collective, an innovative arts project that seeks to unify people across the racial divides created by apartheid, and promotes personal and collective development.
Address Unknown was produced in association with the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF).
If you want to view the film screening at the BlackStar festival on 21 August, visit www.blackstarfest.org