THERE ARE NO HEROES (Check it out)
THERE ARE NO HEROES
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| Kyle Stevenson |
There Are No Heroes is a South African Short film, that
certainly looks to be quite the interesting prospect. Kyle Stevenson, who
produced the film alongside Maggie Jane Leitch and Brigitte Stanford, and who
also wrote the film alongside Donald Leitch, is the man sitting in the
directors chair that brings it all together.
(Check out the Trailer at the bottom of this article)
TANH is a film described as follows: Several years after a
nuclear power plant in Cape Town had a meltdown; a young single-mother and
factory worker must fight to survive in this dystopian future ruled by a
sinister pharmaceutical company called DARCORP.
It’s clear to see that this film’s premise is quite
intriguing, and has all the potential of being a hit.
What started off, as a student film could become a major hit
at the Durban International film festival as well as the Cape Town festival
CELLUDROID.
Kyle Stevenson along with his writing partner, and editor,
Donald Leitch set of on this journey to bring this sci-fi film to life.
Interestingly enough this film was born out of a short story developed by
Charlie Human called Land of the Blind, which is based within the Moxyland
universe (A Future where Cape town is ruled by corporations) created by Laruen
Beukes’.
“When we started talking about what local stories we’d like to
adapt, we looked at Moxyland”, Stevenson said when we asked about the how this
story came about. “But the short format would not do the book justice. So we
did some research into other South Africa sci-fi short stories,” Stevenson
continued.
“When we stumbled
upon an old competition held by Lauren’s publishing company. The competition
was to write a short story based on the Moxyland universe and one of the
winning short stories was Land Of The Blind by Charlie Human. To us this story
outshined the other two winners; it had dark twists and turns with very rich
characters. We managed to track (more like stalk) Charlie Human and told him
about our crazy idea to adapt his short story into a short film. He was amped
and was a great sounding board for our ideas.”
Leitch and Stevenson both sci-fi enthusiasts, now with the
blessing of Charlie Human, would then begin their journey to produce a very
ambitious South African sci-fi film, to their best of their abilities.
The film had its ups and downs as Principal Photography was
scheduled to take 10 days in July 2011, however due to financial restraints,
they had to shot for a further 14 days in pick-ups throughout the year.
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| Chanel Smit and Marty Kintu |
When we asked Stevenson what was the process like, he went
to say, “Thrillingly traumatic. Its amazing how the South African film industry
is always willing to help young filmmakers, if they like your idea. Most of the
gear we got at practically illegal prices, because when we pitched the concept
to Media management they jumped at the opportunity to help us. This was my
first short film where it was reliant on VFX, so having to plan actors actions
and camera was a great learning experience. All in all we had our ups and downs,
but the cast and crew pushed themselves to make the finished product the best
it could be.”
Having the backing of Media Management and the
willingness/determination of this cast and crew really does pay off in the end.
Visually the film looks stunning, and for a South African Short-film, that is a
feat in itself. However the story does not suffer under its own weight and it
will be interesting to see how this short-story could be expanded upon for a
feature length film.
“First prize would be to turn There
Are No Heroes into a feature. Don and I had many ideas that had to be shelved
because of time and financial restraints. To make the future world believable
and tangible to the audience, on a shoe-string budget, is difficult to say the
least. A lot of the time its staying in close and not reveling to much of the
world,”Steveneson said when we asked about a possibility of a feature length
film. “So if we had the money and run-time, I’d like to expand Cape Town and
the characters. On the other hand, I think someone should attempt Moxyland.”
So it goes without saying that if
you find yourself at the Durban International Film Festival or CELLUDROID Cape
Town Festival, make sure you check out There Are No Heroes.
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| Gareth Place |
Just a little advice you would want
to remember the names Kyle Stevenson and Donald Leitch, as these guys might
just prove to be catalyst needed in the SA’s film industry to shake things up
and offer us SA films that can compete with the best films around the world.
The cast includes: Chanel Smit playing the part of Drew,
Marty Kintu as Matt and Sean Cameron Michael as a DARCORP agent.
The film was directed by Kyle Stevenson, produced by
MaggieJane Leitch, Kyle Stevenson and Brigitte Stanford, and written by Donald
Leitch and Kyle Stevenson. Cinematography was done by Gareth Place and Nina
Slabber, Costume, Make-Up & Styling was by Aimee Vogelsang, Sound
Recording, Mixer & Designer was done by John Claassen and the Visual
Effects Artist was Royston Michaels.
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