Sibs Shongwe-La Mer talks Necktie Youth | TRUE Africa

Sibs Shongwe-La Mer talks Necktie Youth | TRUE Africa

The end is approaching. Two more days and GEGENkino 2016 will be history. Today already is the last day of our AFRICAN OUTLINES section with two screenings tonight!

8pm at Schaubühne Lindenfels we will present a collection of short films by up-and-coming filmmakers from different African countries in our »Young Africans« programme. And there’s quite a lot to show! Short films with topics ranging from life on the streets to corporeal self-definition. Check out the whole programme here:

AFRICAN OUTLINES, 30 Apr 2016

Dr. Claudia Böhme from the Institute of Ethnology at Universität Trier will come to screening and introduce the films by giving an overview about the contexts in which these African realities are situated.

10pm, also at Schaubühne Lindenfels we will screen the »Necktie Youth« by the only 23-year-old Sibs Shongwe-La Mer—a teenage drama in the vein of movies like »Ken Park« and a representation of youth in Johannesburg. Stylish as hell!

According to TRUEAfrica, »[Necktie Youth] feels like a revolutionary film; a political awakening that shows another side of Africa, far from the slums, the child soldiers and acacia trees; an Africa which is tapped into the same social network as the kids in a Larry Clark movie or in a Bret Easton Ellis novel«.

Oh, by the way, we will also offer combined tickets for both screenings for 9/8 (red.) euros.

Your GEGENkino crew

African Shorts / Necktie Youth (ZA/NL 2015, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer)

Here’s the second part of our section on young African cinema since two films surely aren’t enough to illustrate the vividness and creativity of contemporary African cinema. Therefore, in our AFRICAN OUTLINES programme on Apr 30 we will screen a bunch of films (short and long) from different African countries that will show you the wide range of topics and styles to be found in the cinematic landscape of Africa—from political, post-colonial films to animated experimental films to sci-fi flicks and beyond.
We’re also very happy to have media-ethnologist Claudia Böhme at our festival to give some context to films and introduce us to different strands of African cinema.
Hope y’all had a sunny day! See you soon in the screening hall!


Young Africans

Short films and lecture by Claudia Böhme

Hand-drawn and puppetry animation, a documentary and a scenic contribution show landscapes of childhood, places of longing and unhuman urbanities which youths not only pass through as vulnerable beings but furthermore critically look at the adult world. For Patient, Guillain and David, there is nothing to lose and everything to win…so get the fuck out of their way. Theo Anthony’s documentary »Chop My Money« accompanies the three children strolling about on the streets of Gomas, talking about their biographies and dreams and about what it means to be a gangster. Soundtrack by Dirty Beaches. »Yellow Fever« shows the effects of Eurocentric ideals of beauty spread by mass media and advertising on African women, while the dream-nightmare-clash »Walk With Me« tells the story of a young Ugandan girl wishing to be a ballerina. »The Goat« supplements the compilation with a tale of a male circumcision ritual through which one becomes a man and that  is to cure of homosexual desire.  

Chop My Money (CD 2014, D: Theo Anthony, OV with English subtitles, 13’)
Yellow Fever (UK/KE 2012, D: Ng’endo Mukii, OV with English subtitles, 7’)
Walk With Me (DK/UG 2015, D: Johan Oettinger, Peter Tukei Muhumuza, no dialogue, 12’)
The Goat (SA 2014, D: John Trengove, OV with English subtitles, 13’)

Einführung von Claudia Böhme (Uni Trier)

Claudia Böhme works as media-ethnologist and actress. Her thesis deals with the establishment of a video film culture and an associated industry in Tanzania and processes of cultural negotiation initiated by that. During several years of field research at Dar es Salaam, she accompanied the work of filmmakers and film institutions. Her lecture will introduce us into the history of African filmmaking and give an overview of diverse regional and national film productions along with their distribution and reception. In addition to that, it will be about new developments and movements of »African Cinema«, trends of trans-nationalisation and about the question of boundaries of reception. Lecture in German language.

30 April, 10pm – Schaubühne Lindenfels


Necktie Youth

ZA/NL 2015, R: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, D: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, Bonko Khoza, Colleen Balchin, 86’, OmeU, BluRay

Der Suizid einer jungen Frau namens Emily, die ihr Ableben live im Internet gestreamt hat, beschäftigt eine Gruppe Mittzwanziger in Sandton, Johannesburg. Ob Weiß oder Schwarz, niemand kann sich dem Gefühl der eigenen Bedeutungslosigkeit entziehen. Regisseur Sibs Shongwe-La Mer weiß wovon er spricht: Drehbuch und Figuren sind inspiriert von der eigenen Biografie und den Geschehnissen seines unmittelbaren Umfelds. In seinem Debütfilm übernimmt er konsequent auch eine der Hauptrollen und spielt den jungen September, dessen bester Freund Jabz mit Emily zusammen war. Sie alle gehören zu einer Generation der Post-Apartheid in Südafrika, die ihren Platz sucht, ihre eigene Identität erschaffen will und daran so grandios scheitert. Reiche Mittelklasse-Sprösslinge, deren innere Einsamkeit und emotionale Distanz durch Koks, Parties, Image und Exzentrik überlagert werden. Mit Toughness und Realness geraten sie in einen Strudel, der alle relevante zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation frisst. Sie wollen um jeden Preis von der Straße sein, sind es aber nicht. Sie leben in Villen, langweilen sich in Villen und ab und an erhängen sie sich auch dort. In stylischem Schwarz-Weiß werden die sonst so omnipräsenten Bilder von Armut und Verelendung hinterfragt. Sie sind eine Bestandsaufnahme aus dem Inneren einer manischen Welt. Trotz all ihrer Anklage schwingt in ihnen auch eine melancholische Verbundenheit mit, ein Bedauern und der tiefe Wunsch nach Veränderung.

30. April, 22.00 Uhr – Schaubühne Lindenfels