APART to have its South African premiere in Cape Town — Daily Maverick

In Cape Town, South Africa, the animated short film APART will have its South African premiere at the Fame Short Film Festival, which starts on October 30. The film, which runs for less than 20 minutes, tells the story of Joel and Themba, two boys whose friendship develops despite racial division in apartheid-era South Africa.

As Daily Maverick reports, the film’s plot was inspired by the friendship of Tim Jones and Lubabalo “Lubhi” Matati. Both were born in 1987 and met in the mid-1990s at a bus stop in Bluewater Bay on the outskirts of Gqeberha. They were brought together by their shared love of football.

A story of friendship

Jones and Matati attended school together and later enrolled at Nelson Mandela University, where they trained as graphic artists. They subsequently moved to Cape Town and worked at advertising agencies, after which Jones relocated to London. Despite the distance, the friends stayed in touch.

According to Jones, APART is not a literal reconstruction of their childhood. The film is based on their friendship and their experience of growing up in South Africa under apartheid. Matati said that other people emphasized their differences and tried to discourage them from associating with each other, but this did not destroy their friendship.

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Work on the film

The idea of turning their own experience into a screen story finally took shape about two years ago. Screenwriter Jeff Laisawitz worked with Jones and Matati on developing the screenplay. The screenplay was later passed to American director Spike Lee. According to Jones, his approach gave the story more weight and greater attention to racial barriers and the difficult aspects of that period.

The film was directed by Nelson Mandela University graduate Pula Maneli, while Laduma Ngxokolo was responsible for the costumes. Black Coffee joined the work on the musical component. APART had its world premiere in June at the Tribeca festival in New York. The film subsequently joined the programs of the Nashville Film Festival and the Calgary International Film Festival and won Best in Show at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Show.

The Hollywood Reporter also included APART in its list of potential favorites in the Academy Award category for animated short films.