AN IMPRESSIVE, HARROWING ACCOUNT OF GUILT AND PENANCE... de Volkskrant

SYNOPSIS

Black Angolan soldiers, known as ‘The Terrible Ones’, once fought white South Africa’s colonial wars as part of the notorious 32 Battalion. Repatriated to South Africa at the end of the 1980’s, some of the ex-combatants still languish in the ruins of Pomfret, a former asbestos-mining town remotely situated at the edge of the Kalahari Desert. When the town’s dilapidated buildings turn into a film-set and the ex-soldiers become actors in the Biblical story of Judas Iscariot, it prompts a confrontation with their past. Pivoting between Biblical myth and present-day reality, the film pulls into focus the paradox of being both perpetrator and victim. It reflects upon the notion of betrayal and free will, while providing a compelling view of those at the margins of history. During the course of the film, the prevalent voice of Judas eventually merges into the voice of the filmmaker, interrogating the fundamentals of human existence.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

We are instructed to do the negative; the positive is already within us. Franz Kafka, Aphorisms

What drives me in my work, as a filmmaker, is the confrontation with the life of a specific place, excavating its hidden stories, discovering its memories and to see how I can transform these through the means of cinema into a shared imaginary. In this light, I see a place as an array of conditions and circumstances that create a setting, where particular situations and forms of behaviour come together to form the core of the narrative. The paramount question I am always asking is: What can this (place) tell me about who we are? Places that have such power are often extreme and carry deep within a unique metaphoric quality. It is that quality I am looking for, but it is seldom on the surface. What is at the surface maybe deceiving and therefore more often than not, it is only at the end of the process of filming, indeed through the filming itself that I can discover it.

Every human encounter invokes the potential of imagination, of possibilities and of dreams. There lies the role of the camera: to transform this invocation into visual energy that seeks out the unseen, the nuance and the micro-psychology. While the human eye is restless and fearful when looking at another human being, the camera is patiently detached and mysteriously powerful. It can be a tool to capture a fake and manipulative vision of the real, or it can unlock a space of imagining and becoming. This makes film a potential instrument for agency. The act of filming and the film itself go beyond the attempt to record and narrate but become performative inside the reality it is filming. With that in mind, I do not want to shy away from a moral imperative. Instead, I would like to make it the central reason for filming.

Poster Credit: Alexandra Sophia Handal with Tomoyo Hiroishi

CAST & CREW

CREDITS

Judas Escariot JONAS LUVANGO Jesus of Nazareth RAFAEL SIATA TEMBA

the disciples
JOSÉ AUGUSTO, GABRIEL CABINDA, DOMINGOS CARLOS, ALBERTO FONSECA,
ROMEU GUERRERO, DOMINGO JOSÉ, KAYOMBO KANDI, PEDRO LUIS LOMBE FREITA NKANGA,
AUGUSTO SAMBA, VIANA SOBREIRO, AUGUSTO SOWALA

sheppard boy ESTEVAO PEDRO Magdalena VERÓNICA CAROLS the blind man TOMAS GOMES
voice over MOHAU MEMEZA scenario and director BORIS GERRETS
director of photography NIC HOFMEYR music THUTHUKA SIBISI
costumes and props RUY FILIPE sound PRESIDENT KAPA general assistance JOSÉ CHIMUPI
editor BORIS GERRETS, NCE additional editor RUBEN VAN DER HAMMEN, NCE
sound design and sound mixing DOMINIQUE VIEILLARD
colorist MICHIEL RUMMENS
producer Witfilm IRIS LAMMERTSMA creative producer Witfilm BOUDEWIJN KOOLE
executive producer Witfilm NAZIMA MINTJES creative producer KV Films ERIC VELTHUIS
producer Les Films d’Ici SERGE LALOU & CAMILLE LAEMLÉ
commissioning editors EOdoc MARGJE DE KONING & MARGIT BALOGH
society and culture senior programmer ARTE FABRICE PUCHAULT
commissioning editor ARTE RASHA SALTI

distribution Netherlands Cinema Delicatessen
A co-production of Witfilm, KV Films, Les Films d'Ici, pippaciné and EOdoc's
in association with ARTE France – La Lucarne.

supported by
THE NETHERLANDS FILM FUND, THE NETHERLANDS FILM PRODUCTION INCENTIVE
NPO FUND, COBO, DUTCH CULTURAL MEDIA FUND