Nigeria Content Online

South African
director, Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, talks about his first feature, ‘A Small
Town Called Descent’. The movie, starring Hollywood actor John Savage,
and South Africans Vusi Kunene, Fana Mokoena, Lindani Nkosi, Bubu
Mazibuko and Zandile Msutwana, won the Best Visual Effects prize at the
2011 Africa Movie Academy Awards held recently in Yenagoa, Bayelsa
State.

‘A Small Town
Called Descent’ is about xenophobia in South Africa and the three men
from the elite Scorpions who come to solve the case. What’s the
significance of the title, descent into hell?

Yes, kind of.
Essentially, descent is a state of decline and for me, the town itself
is the microcosm of where I thought we were as a nation and as a
continent at that particular time. All these three guys trying to solve
the case were dealing with demons of their own. Nobody is perfect. I am
not interested in one-dimensional characters because we are not
one-dimensional people. Nobody is one-dimensional. No one is overtly
evil and no one is overtly good either. We all have dark shades. So
when I was creating the characters, I wanted to explore that theme:
that our central characters in the film should be characters with multi
dimensions and that really is what the film is about. We didn’t create
a normal police visual drama, though it may seem like one. For me, the
passion was about the fact that the characters had to show their bad
and weak sides, which is very important.

What is the significance of a film like this in today’s South Africa?

In a sense, South
Africa was isolated from the rest of the continent and the world for a
very long time. We only attained our independence in 1994 and for us to
be in a situation where there were xenophobic attacks; where black
people, my country men, were attacking other black people from all over
the continent. Calling them foreigners, telling them to get out of
their country, I had a problem with that. Also in the sense that I felt
theatrically and in the media, normal citizens of South Africa didn’t
have anything to say, we couldn’t have a voice and condemn these
attacks. I am quite fortunate being a filmmaker; it is quite a
privilege to be able to have the tools that you have to communicate
with the world. Basically, I took the tools that I had and used it to
communicate a message: that we are all one people. I think in the
current dispensation, there is no time for such, especially against
people of your own skin.

What’s the mood of South Africans to the disbandment of the Scorpions?

It was quite a
controversial issue. The Scorpions were an elite force; they are South
Africa’s version of the FBI and they had a very successful rate in
terms of conviction ratio. They went after some really powerful people
in my country. The most popular politician they went after was the man
who is currently our president. So, they were always looked on as our
conscience and when they were disbanded, there was huge outcries
throughout the country with the people saying why disband something
that actually works? That is actually defeating corruption and crime?

How was your experience making the movie?

It was fantastic. I
had an all-star cast, I worked with an actor from Hollywood by the name
of John Savage and it was my first feature as a director. I had
produced one before but it was my first feature as a director and wow,
it was a once in a lifetime experience. It was also gratifying in the
sense that you take something from writing it; from print to the screen
and that transition for me is momentous. That’s why I am passionate
about filmmaking, I like going from the pen to the screen. That
transition for me is momentous.

Did you consider bringing in another person to direct the movie since you wrote it?

I feel writing to
directing is an extension of the craft; it’s still telling a story. I
didn’t feel that I was taking on two hats or anything of the sort. I
took my passion from writing the story all the way to my other passion
which is to direct.

What is the film’s budget?

It was a modest budget of about four million South African rands. We made do with the little that we had.

What are your plans for the movie?

It has travelled
quite extensively. It debuted last June at the Durban International
Film Festival back in South Africa. From there it went to the Pusan
Film Festival in Korea, which is the biggest film festival in Asia. It
has been to Dubai, Rotterdam, Belgium. It has travelled already and in
terms of plan distribution wise, it’s going to be released theatrically
in South Africa in the next month or two. From there it will go to DVD.
It will be released in Nigeria theatrically in about two months time.

Was there no other theme you could have treated apart from the xenophobic attacks?

The film doesn’t
just deal with xenophobia; it deals also with corruption. Corruption is
the major issue. And there are also race relations. I think it’s quite
extensive in terms of themes. In fact, I have been criticised that I
deal with too many subject matters but like I said, we are
multi-dimensional people. We are not just one thing and one thing
connects to another.

Are you working on another film now?

Yes. It is called
‘A Good Report’. It’s a psycho thriller about the birth of a serial
killer. It’s a totally different type of story to what I have done in
the past. I like to try and do different kinds of materials.

What’s the cinema culture like in South Africa?

Cinemas are
catering to about three to four percent of the population, which is the
middle class to the whites, unfortunately. They are far away from
majority of the people who live in conditions of poverty. So, it’s not
quite viable for the poor people to leave the township and go watch
movies in cinemas so the DVD market is rising quite steadily.

Are you not afraid of piracy?

Hey man, I’m a filmmaker. My main thing is that people watch and
engage my movie. Obviously, I would like to make money from the film
but I just want people to watch my film.