Karoo road trip with a silver lining

Die Kwiksilwers, an Afrikaans comedy by Jordy Sank and Gabriella Blumberg, will be at South African movie houses from 1 May. The SA Jewish Report spoke to Sank about it.

What inspired you to create this film?

We worked with Lida Botha, who acts in Die Kwiksilwers, in a short film in 2022. We were blown away by her energy, humour, and zest for life despite being in her “silver years”. This made us think about the next chapter.

Similarly, when we filmed Holocaust survivor Ella Blumenthal, now 103 years old, for our documentary I Am Here (2021), we recognised her boundless energy and positivity.

Die Kwiksilwers follows a woman in her late 80s, who after losing her husband, takes a wild and hilarious road trip across the Karoo with her friends, while being chased by her son. In a wild and wacky ride, this film explores how life is for the living.

How did you co-write the movie?

We started off with writers’ rooms and took a long time to build the characters and work on the outline of the story so that everything felt authentic. Then we divided the script up into three sections that we each wrote. We wrote everything in English, and only during the rewrites, Marista van Eeden would translate the dialogue into Afrikaans. We worked well together, and ultimately all agreed to keep only what was best for the story and weren’t afraid to “kill our darlings”. We’re developing other projects together, so watch this space!

This is far from your first movie together. How do you work together in production?

We work beautifully as a team, having our own strengths and personalities, but are on the same page when it comes to character and story. During production, we divide responsibilities. I direct and focus on the creative vision while Gabriella handles the logistics of production. On set, things don’t always go as planned, but as a team, we remind each other of the film’s north star, and move steadily in that direction.

Gabriella and I knew each other socially from our days back at Bnei Akiva, and when she came back from doing her Master’s degree in London, we met for coffee and the rest is history. After working on I Am Here together, we realised that it’s so difficult to find a well paired collaborator and creative partner, so we feel incredibly blessed to have found each other so organically.

The storyline incorporates themes of ageing, grief, and friendship. Talk us through this.

We work across genres, however we always have a message that’s close to our hearts. We knew that we wanted to make a fun road trip that highlighted that age doesn’t equate to slowing down. This film made us confront our own misconceptions of ageing. When planning the schedule, we doubted whether our silver-haired actresses would manage the jam-packed shooting days, but we found ourselves in the Karoo with our protagonist, Lida, jumping on the back of a bakkie filled with goats just to get the shot.

Perhaps the reason that both loss and grief are explored in our film and in our previous work is because we see it as unavoidable and something every human can relate to. And we love telling stories of resilience and hope, which go hand in hand with the process of grieving.

Finally, the film explores intimacy in female friendships and the great connection and role that women play in each other’s lives, a topic we think is undervalued in the real world.

Why are two young Jewish English-first-language speakers creating films in Afrikaans?

Afrikaans is extremely expressive and allows us to add subtext and layered meaning to the dialogue. My late grandfather was a “Boerejood” from Vredenburg, and he was deeply embedded in Afrikaans culture. I wish that he was alive to see these Afrikaans films as I know he would have just loved them. I see this somewhat as a return and exploration of some of my roots. Gabriella and I often find the universality within a project, and we always bring onboard creatives from the relevant community that can contribute to the authenticity and cultural specificity of the project.

Why do you think your film won the Audience Choice Award at the Silwerskermfees?

This film has made audiences laugh and then surprise themselves by shedding a tear. The charm of our four leading ladies really gives the film heart and contributes to the organic humour sprinkled throughout. Audience Choice is a clear indicator that something is resonating with audiences and is a worthwhile recommendation to all friends and family.

What was it like winning this award?

Audience Choice means a lot to us, perhaps even more than being nominated for Best Film, because it isn’t about the technicality of the craft of filmmaking, it’s about what the film does. It means that audiences could get lost in the story, relate to the situations or characters, and be inspired. It means that for 90 minutes, they were able to disconnect from their day to day and be fully immersed and leave on a high. At Sanktuary Films, we make movies for audiences, so to receive this award is fulfilling.

What does being Jewish mean to the two of you?

We see ourselves as proudly Jewish filmmakers, which is why everything we do is a catalyst for important conversations and let’s be honest, Jews not only like to talk, but we like to debate – or complain. Some of our more impact-driven films have an element of tikkun olam to them, as we try to spread love, tolerance, and understanding through our work.

We’re probably the only major production company in South Africa that doesn’t shoot on Shabbat because Gabriella and I are observant. Instead we shoot Sunday to Friday. This is one of the major reasons why we create films through our own production company – to be able to protect our Jewish traditions.

Loss and mourning in the Jewish tradition is an extremely communal process, so being there for the people we love who have experienced the loss of a loved one has given us a fine-tuned sensitivity to it. These personal experiences gave us insight into our protagonist’s journey. Grief isn’t linear, it comes in waves and can manifest in a variety of ways.

Tell us more about not working on Shabbos and other special Jewish days.

Authenticity is important to us both in front and behind the camera. Being shomrei Jews, we chose crew that were happy to film from Sunday to Friday. We would wrap early on Friday before sunset, and had many bewildered crew members asking why we couldn’t get one more shot in before leaving the set. We even shlepped our challah, wine, candles, and havdalah kit to the middle of the Karoo. It was a beautiful opportunity to share our traditions with the crew, and it opened conversations about traditions and values that they hold dear too.

Why do you believe it’s important to create comedy now?

The news is full of so much negativity from around the world and even in South Africa, there’s so much going on right now that comedy offers us a moment to escape and take a much-needed breath between the laughter. Laughter is almost a therapy of its own, and is one of the best ways to open our hearts and minds to a subject.

This film explores Elsabe’s grief, but by laughing along with her on her journey we can be vulnerable and really connect. Experiencing highs and lows with a character helps to deliver a gut-punch to the audience which didn’t think it would get emotional because it was so busy laughing at a character.

Would this film appeal to the Jewish community?

Absolutely! First, it has English subtitles! But more importantly, the themes are completely relatable to our community even down to the finer details. We can all relate to an “ambulance-chaser” neighbour who brings soup over to comfort you for even the smallest of inconveniences. Or the padkos that gets packed on a road trip. Or the overprotective son tracking his mother’s whereabouts. You’ll see yourself in this film whether you want to admit it or not!

Through our suffering as Jewish people, we’ve used humour as a defence mechanism, which is why it’s so good. We’ve poured a bucket-load of Jewish humour into the film, so come have a good laugh.