The beauty pageant you did not know you were waiting for will be opening the Durban International Film Festival. Lucky Fish was written by Craig Gardner (Suburban Bliss, Scandal and Short Circuit 2) and Meren Reddy (City Ses’la, Black Tax and The Indian Detective), who also plays the lead role of Sanjay Pillay. Directed by Joshua Rous (High Rollers, Geraamtes in die Kas, Roer Jou Voete, Inconceivable Discreet, Semi-Soet and Doppelganger), a multiple SAFTA Award-winning writer, producer and the In-House Director at Rous House, it was filmed at various locations in and around eThekwini. The film tells the fishy tale of a struggling businessman’s unusual plan to gain publicity. Sanjay’s pilchards canning factory is under pressure; he is behind on his loan, and the future does not look bright. A chance encounter with aspiring entrants to a beauty pageant inspires him to stage his own. Admittedly, Mr Pillay’s Pilchards Beauty Competition might not be a name that rolls easily off the tongue, but soon, potential beauty pageant winners are lining up to enter.
The stellar cast is led by the multi-talented Namibian-South African actress, singer, writer, director and film producer Zenobia Kloppers. Best known for her lead performance in the internationally acclaimed film Fiela Se Kind, she has been nominated as best actress for SAFTA, AMAA and kykNET Silverskerm awards and was crowned as the best actress by the SAIFF. Other veterans in the cast include Mayuri Naidu (Noughts + Crosses, Reyka 2, Savage Beauty and Binnelanders), Mehboob Bawaa (Sanju, Mr. X, Aashiqui 2 and Bhai’s Cafe), Jack Devnarain (Isidingo, The Ghost and the Darkness, High Rollers and 31 Million Reasons) and Carishma Basday (Deep End, Jimmy in Pienk, Material and Blood & Water). Jailoshini Naidoo (Strike Bac, Kandasamys: The Wedding, Trippin’ with the Kandasamyas, Kandasamyas: The Baby) requires no introduction since bringing the Kandasamys to local screens, and Siyasanga Papu is a favourite in the series Ekhaya Backpackers.
Younger members of the talented ensemble cast include Mekalia Mathys (Blood & Water, Arendsvlei and Deep State), Hermione Reddy, and Kathleen Stephens (Runs in the Family, G20, One Piece and My Spy: The Eternal City). Kiroshan Naidoo (The Mauritanian, White Lies, Catch Me a Killer and Sniper: The Last Stand) already has several film and television credits under his belt since graduating in 2015. For him, the filming experience was a homecoming of sorts. He thoroughly enjoyed filming in eThekwini, as he is based primarily in Cape Town. Filming in Indian areas familiar to him from his childhood was a highlight of the process for him, as was working with a crew and cast who he said all stepped up to the plate.
For Leah Mari, another young graduate, filming in the city where she was born and raised was extra special. Although this was only her second filming experience, she felt anchored and supported. She had praise for the ensemble and said, “The majority of the scenes were all of us together, and when I say all, I mean the cast of women that I was with. Such incredible women, led by Mayuri, and we really became so close in the process, which is always lovely. Coming from a theatre background community and becoming a team is hugely important.” The strength of the ensemble and cast camaraderie is evident in the film, and Leah says she believes audiences have a lot to look forward to. “The main themes of the film are community, the importance of a positive body image and the value of family. For my character, the journey is that of becoming comfortable in my skin. My favourite sequence is the talent audition sequence in the film. Audiences can look forward to a lot of laughs and a lot of family moments. It’s a film you want to watch with your family – it screams community, love and all things good in the world. The end of the film is a lovely surprise, and there are several surprises throughout the film.”
With that hearty endorsement, it’s clear that this is a film that is suitable for a family audience, and families are encouraged to bring their grandparents and children along to experience this light-hearted story, which reminds us all that beauty is more about what’s on the inside than what we see on the outside, or, as the film tagline says, “beauty isn’t only ‘fin’ deep.” Producer Luke Rous says, “This film is our love letter to Durban, to our eccentric families, and to everyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong.”
Lucky Fish opens the festival on a high note and is evidence of the local film industry’s ability to reflect our national zeitgeist and showcase the immense talent in South Africa and is a celebration of the vibrant culture and unconventional characters that can be found in so many communities. While the opening film included reflections on the sea, the closing night film takes us higher as Promised Sky ends the programme. The title is borrowed from the song of the same name by the France-based band, Delgres. A line from the chorus, “They promised me heaven/but I’m still here on earth,” encapsulates the essence of the song, which follows the journey of a young boy in Africa who is promised a better life. Amplifying the vast difference between dreams and reality that faces most migrants, both the song and the film afford us an insight into the emotional impact of broken promises. Directed by French Tunisian Erige Sehiri, the film, her third, had its world premiere as the opening film in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. Her previous film, Under the Fig Trees, played in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2022 and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Promised Sky reflects on the complex relationships between migrants who often find themselves in situations and circumstances over which they have no control. The film centres on Marie (Aïssa Maîga), an Ivorian pastor and former journalist, who, despite her decade-long residency in Tunisia, still does not have settled status. She runs an underground church in her illegally rented home, which she shares with two close friends – Naney (Deborah Christelle Lobe Naney), a hopeful young mother determined to reach Europe, no matter the cost, and Jolie (Laetitia Ky), a university student under tremendous pressure. An orphaned four-year-old girl, a survivor from the shipwreck of a migrant boat, is brought to them to avoid the Tunisian foster care system. Named Kenza (Estelle Kenza Dogbo), she is assumed to be Ivorian. Her arrival tests their unity amid a tense social climate, revealing their fragility and strength. Tensions have arisen in Tunisia in recent years over the issue of migration, and mass arrests and raids occurred during the filming process. Sehiri has said that while it was not her intention to document what was happening in Tunisia at the time, reality caught up to her, and the film began to mirror the political situation of the country. She said that while trying to have a perspective on what was happening, she wanted to avoid unnecessary violence on screen and “wanted to see these women live their lives, in spite of everything.” Writer Sarah Manvel concluded that the film is “a reminder that we are all just people under the sun, with the chance to hold out helping hands to the people next to us, wherever they are from.” While this is overwhelmingly true for the characters in the film and Tunisia, it is a timely reminder for everyone, everywhere.
The opening and closing night films at DIFF reflect polar opposites of communities, one firmly entrenched in their surrounding society, and another deemed to be on the fringes. What they have in common, though, is a testament that the combined strength of people working together against all odds provides some measure of belonging in a fragmented and hostile world.