Film makers and directors, Ari Kruger and Daniel Zimbler, are more than just winners of a prestigious South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA). The pair, who won this year’s best director in a TV comedy for Tali’s Baby Diary, are also lifelong best friends and godfathers to each other’s children.
“Ari and I started making stuff together – filming sketches, and comedy bits – when we were at Herzlia High School,” he said.
Tali’s Baby Diary, the hilarious sequel to Showmax Original’s Tali’s Wedding Diary, won five SAFTA awards this year including best comedy.
Kruger’s wife, Julia Anastasopoulos (aka SuzelleDIY) as Tali, won best comedy actress. Kate Normington as Tali’s mom, Michelle, won best supporting comedy actress; and Richard Starkey and Gordon Midgley won best editing in a TV comedy.
“We got 11 nominations which was extraordinary, and we were obviously massively excited to win five,” said Zimbler.
The SAFTAs celebrate the creativity, quality, and excellence of South African film and television talent and productions, and encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new talent within the industry.
Tali’s Wedding Diary was the most awarded comedy at the 2019 SAFTAs, taking home five prizes. It was produced by Kruger and Anastasopoulos’’ Sketchbook Studios. As the first Showmax Original when it launched in December 2017, it set a new record for first-day views on the platform. The hilarious “mockumentary” stars Anastasopoulos as Tali Shapiro, described as a “self-obsessed Joburg princess” who’s just moved to Cape Town and is filming the build-up to her wedding to her property-agent fiancé Darren (Anton Taylor).
In season two, Tali’s Baby Diary, an unexpected pregnancy forces Tali into a desperate pivot from Insta-influencer to “wholesome momfluencer”. Meanwhile, Darren and Rael (Comics’ Choice nominee Glen Biderman-Pam, the man behind the viral My Octopus Teacher spoof My Kreepy Teacher) navigate Cape Town’s property game.
Zimbler, who was born in Johannesburg, attended many Jewish schools which he believes gave him an insight into Jewish life and times in South Africa.
He went to Menorah Primary, Yeshiva College, and King David Linksfield, before moving to Cape Town and attending Herzlia.
“So, you could say I know the source material quite well,” he told the SA Jewish Report.
He studied screenwriting and directing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, joining up with Kruger in the industry soon after his return. Zimbler described his friend, Anastasopoulos, as “an extremely great talent, and I think South Africa’s best comedy actress”.
Winning the director’s award with Kruger was like “coming full circle”, he said.
Their first short film, which they co-wrote and co-directed back in 2005, went to the African, Asian, and Latin American Film Festival in Milan.
“We were flown over there. It was a real DIY first-film effort, I acted in it, Ari was the cinematographer, so this SAFTA feels like we’ve come full circle and it’s a real honour to share the award with him. We remain close, so he’s the best person to work and share this award with.”
Kruger is the co-creator and director of the web-series SuzelleDIY, which collected more than 22 million views on YouTube. His short films have screened in festivals around the world.
The Tali crew is currently developing the third season of the series.
So what makes Tali funny?
“There are so many funny people that work on it. There’s a family atmosphere in the writers’ room and on set, and we’re all friends and close. Comedian and screen writer, Gilli Apter, writes with the three of us, we have a great time and laugh a lot, and a lot of this translates to the screen,” said Zimbler.
Why the Jewish angle?
“Well, we’re Jewish,” said Zimbler.
“We know the world. There’s the old screenwriting maxim which is to write what you know. This is a community we know and love and are part of. Its idiosyncrasies and peculiarities are things we find funny and are able to parody in a loving way. We all love Tali. Notwithstanding her shortcomings and her blinkered view of the world, she’s someone we know having grown up in that world.”
The new season, Tali’s Joburg Diary, will premiere in November. According to the promotion, Tali – now the mom of a toddler – is returning to her roots as a Johannesburg kugel, this time battling the Hyde Park pram brigade to get her adorable little Jayden a place in the best preschool, Little Angels Hyde Park.
“We’ve had a ball writing this season, so stay tuned because it’s going to be a wild ride and a lot of fun,” said Zimbler.
