(Nosipho
Dumisa. Image Getty)
Nommer
37, produced by Gambit Films, had its World
Premiere at the SXSW (South by South West) Film Festival, in Texas, in March
2018. It was one of only 44 films, by first-time filmmakers, that were included
from the 8,160 submissions they have had from across the world. The short film
version of this gripping tale has already won a SAFTA Award in 2016 for Best
Short Film and promises to continue making waves in the film industry – both
locally and abroad.
The film opens in South African cinemas on
June 1. This is director and writer, Nosipho Dumisa, debut feature film. Set in
a fictional block of apartments in a fictional suburb of the Cape Flats, the
film looks through the eyes of a former petty criminal who has been spat out by
the very world he once thrived in.
“With a title like Nommer 37 and set in a fictional Cape Flats area, you would think
that this is a film about gangsters – it’s not. What it is, is an out-and-out
crime thriller that tightens the screws of tension with every minute. It’s
about everything that could go wrong for a couple when depression, curiosity,
greed, fear and horrific bad decision-making collide,” says director and writer
Nosipho Dumisa about her debut feature film.
Originally from Durban but based in Cape
Town, Dumisa has directed countless commercials, television pilots, reality TV
pilots, lifestyle shows and short films. She has recently directed two episodes
of danZ, featured on kykNET &
Kie, and is also one of the producers of the hit kykNET soap opera, Suidooster.
Set in Haven Mansions, a fictional block of
apartments in Dumisa’s imagined suburb of the Cape Flats, Nommer 37 looks through the eyes of a former petty criminal, who
has been spat out by the very world he once thrived in and left to observe it
from the outside. “Having grown up watching genre films like thrillers,
horrors, action and romance, it was exciting to work on a film that
unapologetically explored important themes that confront us as a society today,
through equally unapologetic entertainment,” she adds.
Entrapped in his apartment, Randal
Hendricks (Irshaad Ally), a recent paraplegic, is given a gift of binoculars by
his devoted girlfriend, Pam (Monique Rockman). But he is in financial debt to
Emmie (Danny Ross), a sadistic loan shark, and when he witnesses a powerful
gangster, named Lawyer (David Manuel), commit murder while observing his
neighbours through his binoculars, he initiates a dangerous blackmail scheme in
an attempt to settle his debt. With deception and greed around every corner,
what follows is a thrilling ride that puts both their lives in mortal danger…
as the world around Randal deteriorates further and further into chaos.
Nommer 37 is a thrilling big-screen cinematic experience that will keep
viewers on the edge of their seats until the credits start rolling. “My hope is
that this film will be seen by all South Africans because the story is so universal
and relatable, whilst giving us a peek into a world that’s familiar to some but
unknown by most through the lens of a voyeur. By the time the audience walks
out of the cinema, they will have been thoroughly entertained, surprised and
quite possibly (though questionably) looking to buy a pair of binoculars,” Dumisa
concludes.
This Gambit Films Production was produced
in association with kykNET Films, M-Net and the DTI, and will be distributed by
Ster Kinekor Entertainment locally, in cinemas across the country, on June 1 2018,
and by XYZ Films internationally.
Nommer
37 can be seen at Ster Kinekor Gateway in Umhlanga
and Nu-Metro at Galleria in Amanzimtoti.
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