?Necktie You? wins best Sou African film and best director awards in Durban

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Necktie Youth wins best South African film and best director awards in Durban --

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 11:15

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Urucu Medias hugely anticipated drama Necktie Youth walked away with top honours at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) on Saturday night, winning both the best South African feature award and the international jury award for best director for director Sibs Shongwe-La Mer.

In their report on Necktie Youth the jury said: a film desperate to reconcile the seemingly disparate realities of its country, and whose urgent questions about South African life are posed with such mischievous energy that they cannot help provoke debate, itself one of the most important responsibilities of cinema.

The international jury commented that newcomer Shongwe-La Mer (who has recently been signed by top international agents LBI and Casroto) was awarded the best director accolade for displaying a unique, contemporary voice weaving together poetic images and a striking view of South African youth with a boldness seldom seen in South African cinema.

Necktie Youth, which follows the hedonistic antics of Johannesburgs affluent new-born generation, had a successful career before its South African debut, selling out all festival screenings at its world premiere at Berlinale International Film Festival as well as Tribeca and Sydney International Film Festivals. Cineuropa named it best in show at Berlinale and the film went on to gather rave reviews in Variety, IndieWire, Elle, The New York Times, Le Monde and Dazed & Confused who called it the South African Kids, a comparison to Larry Clarks 1995 cult classic.

SterKinekor has confirmed the South African release of Necktie Youth on 18 September and Urucu is in advanced negotiations with M-Net for the TV broadcast.

Urucus next feature film slated for production is The Wound the highly anticipated first feature by John Trengove. The film, which deals with a gay teenager who undergoes the Xhosa circumcision initiation ritual, has collected several development and production awards from French broadcaster Arte, Torino Film Lab, the Hamburg Regional Fund and Hubert Bals in Holland. World Sales Agent Pyramide believes so much in the festival and market potential of the film that they are also investing in the film with a Distribution Minimum Guarantee. The film, which is slated to start shooting later this year, has been denied support from the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). Urucu is currently seeking local private equity investment to close the film s financing.

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