Edition 01: south Africa | curated by tino hluyo & Mike Ngudle

South Africa, a nation so duplicitous it owns the rare status of having three capital cities, cannot be quantified through one narrative. Big Picture, Small Screen is not only focused on exposing multiple narratives to an audience keen to explore local cinema, but to create an overarching narrative threaded between our selections.

Selections such as “Territorial Pissings” by Sibs Shongwe-La Mer (a sort-of proof-of-concept for his feature-length film "Necktie Youth", which will screen at the end of our curated night) and “Propaganda” by Scott Paton-Levin navigate a disjointed, wound-licking image of post-apartheid South Africa.

"Necktie Youth" and "Territorial Pissings" utilize Shongwe-La Mer's French New Wave-inspired approach to narrative and punky visual style to diagnose South Africa's own New Wave, that of a cultural, ideological and demographic transformation propelled by the first generation to come of age in a new South Africa.

"Propaganda", on the other hand, leers at a generation just below. Moving past the unmistakable optimism of the millenial Geist, Paton-Levin's observation of the perturbed, disillusioned and betrayed Generation Z is blaringly radical in both its form and narrative focus on undergound freedom fighters fighting to maintain within a country coddled by the docile mediocrity of a Rainbow Nation.

"Weird Kisses” by Billie Elizabeth and “Meat Thing” by Reuben Goldblum offer more abstract, idiosyncratic narratives which are both abstract and indelliby tied to the modern South African experience, disjointed and surreal in their own right.

Both works contain magical realist elements, delving into animist ideas in their own unique ways. "Meat Thing" reverts life back into a slab of meat, deemed an "object" after its configuration by human processes. "Weird Kisses" carries it theme of spiritual Intimacy across organic boundaries, incorporating a kiss-scene between a character and a basketball.

All four shorts and our feature offering of "Necktie Youth" reflect on how we view connection within a nation splintered, alienated, and yet hideously aware of those others we are alienated from.

If the truth is only recognized in its whole, then one must engage with a varied list of local film offerings rather than one to gain better sight of our current Zeitgeist and cultural byproducts that arise from it.