Arnold Vosloo in ‘Griekwastad’. (Photo supplied: Scene23)

South African film is fresh, compelling, and exciting – and it’s making waves. If you’re not feasting your eyes on local film right now, you’re losing out. And if you don’t know where to begin, this year’s South African Film and Television Award winner (Safta) for best feature film and best editing, Griekwastad, is the ideal place to start.

The film is a broadly watched true-crime drama that breaks the mould.

“It offers something unexpected. It’s not just a movie, it’s an experience, which itself is quite out there, and that’s why I think it’s been successful,” says director Jozua Malherbe.

“South Africans will enjoy it because they have a taste for weirdness,” says Malherbe. We can see this affinity for the strange in some of the works of writers like Etienne le Roux and Lauren Beukes, whose stories were “odd, sort of out of reality, and told from a very heightened space”. This is what will make Griekwastad appealing to SA audiences.

The film was nominated for seven Saftas: best film, directing, cinematography, sound design, editing, music and best-supporting actress. Griekwastad bagged best feature film and best achievement in directing for Malherbe at the ceremony on Saturday, 22 May.

The film tells the story of the controversial Griekwastad murders in 2012 in which 15-year-old Don Steenkamp killed his parents and raped and murdered his 14-year-old sister. It all took place on Naauwhoek, the Steenkamps’ farm, in the Northern Cape.

Besides being a story about a horrendous and shocking crime in a small local town, this film is a must-see for South Africans because of the way it is told.

Jozua on the set of Griekwastad.
Photo supplied

The Griekwastad community first wanted to believe that a farmworker was responsible for the killings and not the boy. Malherbe’s storytelling nudges you to question the narratives threaded within this assumption and how it plays out in the consciousness of the South African collective.

“The easiest one to blame is the demon we believe exists outside ourselves,” says Malherbe, “but often, the demon that we think is external is living on the inside.”

This search for truth is also seen in the portrayal of the lead investigator, Colonel Dick de Waal’s relentlessness at uncovering what was in the shadows.

The sensory experience of the cinematography, music, and acting digs into the subconscious of the individual, poking you to question your demons. After watching it, “you’ll wake the next morning feeling like something stuck, there’d be a residue, one you can’t rationally explain,” says Malherbe.

An exploration of the dark side of the human psyche

Writer and actor, Marvin-Lee Beukes (Die Byl), says he believes all humans must inspect their darknesses. “Griekwastad explores the dark side of the human psyche while simultaneously leaving the door of hope open, just enough to let in a glimmer of light,” he says.

Malherbe says some brilliant films showcase the rise of a unique South African film language. These movies, like Knuckle City, Four Corners, and Toorbos, are beautifully made and told in a manner that not only speaks to our cultures but embodies them in style, script, characterisation and feel, he says. Although Griekwastad ticks many of these boxes, it’s not necessarily in the way one would expect.

Malherbe says it’s only in the last decade that all demographic groups in South Africa have been able to develop a language of distinctive South African cinema. “Before that, you couldn’t blame SA audiences for pulling away from SA film as they weren’t portraying their stories, people and heritage honestly. We haven’t been doing enough to pull their attention back, because now, it’s okay, they can watch SA film again – we’ve got some stuff to show South African audiences.”

One of Malherbe’s other projects, I Am All Girls, which was sold to Netflix international, is currently trending in the top 10 in the USA, UK, SA and other territories. It’s an example of how SA film is on par with international standards and taste.

Amy Jephta, director of the charming film, Barakat (another must-see local movie), says Malherbe is a filmmaker who’s developed a strong visual language and style as he’s a cinematographer, a writer and a director. “Being a hybrid is what allows him to be both a strong character and story director and tell stories that have a kind of visual poetry in their DNA.”

Jozua at the Toronto Film Festival.
Photo supplied

‘A masterclass in filmmaking’

South African-born, international movie star, Arnold Vosloo, who plays De Waal in Griekwastad, says he was excited to be a part of the project because the last time he had shot a film in Afrikaans, “the most beautiful language in the world”, was 30 years ago.

He said what stood out most for him was observing how Malherbe easily switched hats as a director and director of photography through the filmmaking process. Vosloo says Griekwastad turned out to be everything he wanted it to be in terms of art and performance. “Jozua’s one of the good ones,” Vosloo says, “he wants to create film that is art, he wants to be an artist – and he is.”

“I think one of Jozua’s greatest strengths is that his vision and the execution thereof are both equally strong and focused,” says Jane de Wet, who was nominated for a Safta for her performance as Marthella Steenkamp.

“He knows exactly what he wants and how to extract the required performances from his actors. I had a series of emotionally demanding scenes, for which he truly created a safe space. I could experience ultimate vulnerability as a character, without feeling vulnerable as a person. Not a lot of directors can provide and hold that space for their actors. Perhaps what contributed to my profound trust in him, was that he was never uncertain about the vision and the story.”

Alex van Dyk, who plays Don Steenkamp, says Malherbe doesn’t only direct actors in a scene but nurtures their performances. “Something that stood out and helped a lot was that he communicated to us throughout our scenes and while rehearsing, which helped me to get to certain points of emotion that I needed for my performance.” For Van Dyk, this is the reason people should see the film. “People should watch it because it’s real. The emotions and performances are raw and convincing,” he says.

“Griekwastad is a masterclass in filmmaking,” says Beukes. “Jozua did an amazing job of bringing Tertius Kapp’s script to its fullest dramatic potential. Because it’s a well-known story and people know how it ends, keeping the tension is essential, and Jozua does it masterfully.

The film didn’t have an official cinema premiere because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions last year and went straight to DStv BoxOffice. It had so many rentals on the movie portal that the servers crashed the day it debuted.