Directed by Jannous Aukema (Until The Silence Comes and The Jaguars Daughter), the film was conceived, filmed, and edited during South Africa’s LockDown level 4. Made for under R20,000 and a four-man crew, the project is a unique take on the documentary storytelling format.
“We are honoured and very pleased to have our project Deliver Me screen at such a prestigious festival such as Encounters, a festival that plays such a key role not only in the continental festival calendar but also for documentaries in our local industry,” said Mitchell Harper, Ctrl Alt Shift producer of the film. “The film’s collaborative nature, along with its unusual approach to story-telling and financing will hopefully readjust many to how we approach not only filmmaking but help shift our understanding of what trials many go through in a bid to survive everyday life.”
Co-produced by companies in Durban and Cape Town, Deliver Me is a 25-minute film, a poetic meditation on the migration of a Malawian man, who has come to South Africa to find a future for himself and his family. We follow Paul Mwasi through the evening streets, restaurants, and suburbs he navigates as an Uber delivery bike rider, during the coronavirus hard lockdown in Cape Town, South Africa. We come to see that he is a man driven by love for his family, whom he remains in contact with through his cellphone, his digital lifeline to those he has left behind. His work and the conditions he toils in are solitary. In many ways, Paulʼs journey as witnessed in the film is a signifier not only of the struggles of isolation in an unknown place but more generally of the lonesome months of a world pandemic.
The film will be available to view free at Encounters on their digital platform from June 10-20, and is available on the African continent throughout the festival period as part of their 24/7 section.
To find out how to watch Deliver Me, go to Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival, https://encounters.co.za/film/deliver-me/
You can see the teaser of the film through this link: https://vimeo.com/558692412
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