Dirrector's Statements

Sihle Tyikwe’s Director’s Statement
Growing up as a woman in South Africa, we’ve all been trained to always be aware
of what you wear in public, we’ve been conditioned to never walk home alone
regardless of the time of day, we’ve been reminded to examine who we fall in love
with because you never know if they will be your next perpetrator. After all the
training, we still become victims of Gender- Based Violence (GBV) in the comfort of
our own homes. This brutal reality has inspired me to write about the frustrations of
being a victim in a perpetrator's world while seeking revenge for what is truly
deserved. The project is titled “For Nomsa” – a calm night with good company turns
into a night of trauma, a soon to be medical graduate is left shocked when he finds
himself being punished after being caught for being a hypocrite of social media and
most importantly for his abusive past towards an ex-partner, Nomsa. I wrote and
directed this projected to spark conversation around validating the anger and pain of
a victim without conditions, even if it means doing the extreme.
I am thankful to my crew as this project is a representation of all of us, our hard work
and the strong support against Gender-Based Violence.

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Chandre van der Merwe Director’s Statement
As South Africa faces the second pandemic of gender-based violence I felt
compelled to write & direct this short film. This crime thriller follows Mandla, an online activist for GBV. He falls for one of his guests, Siya but whilst pursuing her, he
becomes distracted by an anonymous account that is accusing him of abusing his
ex-girlfriend. After finally blocking the account, he gets Siya to the bedroom where he
discovers that she is not here for a good time but for revenge. The film explores
themes of hypocrisy and how social media creates an illusion of who someone is vs
who they are in real life. While watching this film, I want the audience to understand
the motives of the female characters and look back at the injustice that victims of
GBV face every day in South Africa.