When making films in South Africa, director many times where it has felt wrong to put words Jenna Bass believes it’s impossible to escape into other people’s mouths. Most often the cast politics. Whether a film sets out to make have a huge amount to contribute that’s a lot a political statement or not, it’s inevitably better than anything I could write or imagine.” a mirror of a society that’s inseparable Her approach to directing is to guide the from a legacy of political turmoil. “I’d rather project to completion, while the cast and confront than consciously ignore it,” she says. crew are not only acknowledged but also en“Basically, I take entertainment very seriously.” couraged and nurtured. “I think the director In her film High Fantasy (2017) identity is important in the way that the host of a politics gets under the skin of four young party is important. Sure, they decided to South African friends of different genders have this party, and chose who to invite, but and races who wake up in each other’s bodies on a camping trip. eventually it shouldn’t be about them and their ego anymore. You The metamorphic event causes the rage and guilt that’s bubbling just want people to enjoy themselves and have good memories in the pot at the end of the ‘rainbow nation’ to erupt into broad afterwards. Crying or throwing tantrums at your own party daylight. In the tradition of the body-swap film, after spending time because not everything is going your way isn’t how you get people in each other’s shoes, the characters gain perspective and mutual to have a better time.” empathy. But in a twist on the genre the characters have no such Focusing on collaboration and mutual respect is an approach happy ending, and local audiences are left with the question: is it that could be developed and taught to a new generation of possible for us to heal? filmmakers, which is something Bass already has in the works with Bass wrangles originality into her storytelling, while also friend and colleague Lungiswa Joe. Together they are devising an challenging how stories can be told. The majority of High Fantasy alternative film school. was shot on an iPhone 7 by the cast themselves. The decision Bass’s latest film, Flatland (2019), takes aim at the macho was born out of necessity — she didn’t have the budget for high- genre of the Western. Set in the desert landscape of the Karoo end camera equipment — but during filming, Bass realised her in South Africa, the story follows three complex women — millennial characters would naturally be documenting themselves a lovelorn cop, a pregnant teen and a young bride — as they and each other anyway: if you wake up in the wrong body tomorrow, struggle to free themselves from their circumstances. “I realised surely the first thing you’d do is take a selfie? The handheld that though I loved Westerns as much as my father did, I couldn’t footage is broken with sweeping aerial shots of the farm where the identify with them. I knew Clint Eastwood would survive, but what film is based, providing added tension through a scenic reminder about me? What would I do, shot at by enemies?,” Bass says. of the monumental role land plays in the past and present politics “I wanted adventure for myself and for others who were ignored of South Africa. by these films. Women have just as much Another way Bass flips the script is right to be in the saddle, and I was sure that by embracing improvisation. In her debut female audiences had the same desires feature, Love The One You Love (2014), the I had, as well as the spirit to act them out.” dialogue is all improvised by the actors; a Through the risks she takes in her unique challenge in the editing suite when story-telling Bass’s foremost goal is to each take is different from the next. And for surprise, which she believes should be the High Fantasy, she worked together with the most important goal of art. “Surprise is the cast to workshop their characters until each most powerful part of entertainment,” she was a hybrid of her initial vision and the way says. “Surprises are essential in a world the actors saw the people they would embody. where we take so much for granted and our “I have a lot of respect for the art of screenwriting and enjoy writing assumptions easily turn to prejudices about the way things are. scripts,” she says. “At the same time, I’ve been in the situation so Surprise disrupts that.”
Film stills (Clockwise from top left) HIGH FANTASY, FLATLAND, HIGH FANTASY, FLATLAND, FLATLAND.
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