Nommer 37 is Dumisa’s debut feature film, which makes her one of the first black female narrative feature film directors coming out of South Africa. She formed Gambit Films in 2009 with like-minded filmmakers in South Africa and has since served as a producer on the popular local daily soap, Suidooster and several TV movies; all before the age of 30.
Dumisa is a South African film, television, and commercials director, producer and writer and is best known for directing her SAFTA award-winning short film Nommer 37 as well as directing episodes on the youth dance drama TV series danZ. Born a Zulu girl in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, she moved to Cape Town to study film at AFDA.
Her student short film, iSoldja, a film depicting a tragic riot that broke out during a health workers protest, earned her a nomination for Best Script at the AFDA Awards in 2008. She then produced some music videos and served as production manager and insert director for lifestyle shows such as All Access Mzansi and Bravo before working as a commercials director.
Nommer 37 had its world premiere at the International SXSW Film Festival in Texas and was selected to represent the country at the 18th annual Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) in Switzerland from 6-14 July 2018. It was also recently announced that Dark Star Pictures gained exclusive North American distribution rights. The North American screening of the full-length feature will kick off in New York and L.A., followed by an early winter video-on-demand release. Reel Suspects has also managed to clinch distribution deals for the film in China, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan.
It tells the story of Randal Hendricks (Irshaad Ally), a recent paraplegic, who is given a gift of binoculars by his devoted girlfriend, Pam (Monique Rockman). But he is in financial debt to Emmie (Danny Ross), a sadistic loan shark, and when he witnesses a powerful criminal, named Lawyer (David Manuel), commit murder while observing his neighbours through his binoculars, he initiates a blackmail scheme in an attempt to settle his debt. With deception and greed around every corner, what follows is a thrilling ride that puts both their lives in mortal danger, as the world around Randal deteriorates further and further into chaos.
Nommer 37 is a fantastic, authentically South African thriller set in the Cape Flats, about a couple in a desperate situation, caught between deception, greed, fear, and a fight for their lives. When Randal Hendricks lands himself in a deal gone wrong that leaves him paralysed and heavily indebted to a sadistic loan shark named Emmie, he witnesses a crime involving money and a gang lord in his block of flats, through a pair of binoculars, innocently gifted to him by his girlfriend, Pam. Randal embarks on an ill-advised blackmail scheme that sees Pam and their friend, Warren, embroiled in a game of cat and mouse against the gang lord and loan shark, where anything and everything could mean the end of their lives.
This is something I like to tease the audience with because they will certainly have ideas of what it could be about, especially as the story is set in the Cape Flats. But once they’ve seen the movie, they’ll understand.
The concept is inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It’s an idea that one my colleagues at Gambit Films, Daryne Joshua, had for a long time and when the opportunity came to make a short film that we could use as a proof of concept for a feature film, this was the story that made the most sense. We wanted to tell an authentically South African story in the thriller genre because all of us love it, and we knew that it needed to be contained. So I co-wrote the script for the short film and then went on to write the full feature length script.
Each of us at Gambit Films were in the process of developing our individual feature film directing debut projects when we were approached by KykNet’s Silwerskermfees to submit a concept for the short film competition. We only had a day or two to do this and knowing that we wanted this to be a proof of concept for a feature film, we looked for a story that would be easy to consolidate into a short film. We remembered the idea that Daryne had and workshopped it, submitted it and eventually completed the short film back in 2014. We won two awards (Best Director and Best Script) at that year’s Silwerskermfees and were the only the only short film to be nominated in each category. Immediately, I began work on the feature film whilst the short film continued to gather support, eventually winning the SAFTA for Best Short Film in 2016.
The short film was really a skeleton in terms of structure and character development. The key thing that I focused on in the feature film was the development of a complex relationship between Randal and Pam. They exhibit very different perspectives on the same world and yet love each other fiercely. There are layers, upon layers to their narrative within this flat and really this crazy, twisted, and dangerous thriller is a story of love and redemption. I also really wanted to expand the world of Nommer 37 without losing the core of what the story is about. So there are new characters like Detective Gail February (Sandi Schultz) who takes into the world of a dysfunctional law enforcement, Pastor White (Elton Landrew), and many others. There are many more twists and turns in film than in the short film. I wanted to give those who have seen the short film, a different and exciting experience too.
Yes, I co-directed the short film with my colleague and friend, Travis Taute. I grew very close to the feature film and I knew that I had to take on the feature – thankfully, my colleagues at Gambit Films agreed and trusted me. We all work very closely, with one another.
It was rather difficult! In our minds, the success of the short film should have meant that funding would pour in but that’s not the way things worked out. Immediately, MNET Movies and KykNET approached us about the feature film and we trusted them fully as we had begun working with them on the daily soap called Suidooster. We then received some funding from the DTI. Closing out the finances became very difficult and along the way, we lost people who were close to the short film. This was a difficult time for all of us and certainly for me. There were many moments when we were ready to start production and then had to stop.
I am grateful for the people who contributed to the short film and ultimately, I believe everything works out the way that it’s supposed to. As executive producers, we backed ourselves and now own a large portion of our own film, which is great, and I believe the delays in production were a blessing in disguise because the script had more time for development.
When we meet Randal, he is already a man desperate to change the circumstances of his life. He wants out of this fictional New Haven suburb. He makes a bad deal with a loan shark in the hopes of making a quick return on the cash. However, things go wrong and he winds up in a wheelchair, owing money to the nastiest loan shark and lying to his girlfriend. Desperate for cash and hopelessly trying to be the man of the house, he embarks on a scheme of blackmail against his girlfriend’s wishes. One bad decision after another sees him, Pam, and Warren’s lives intricately trapped in a fight for their lives.
Thankfully, not too much! Pam is a combination of women I love and admire. She is fiercely loyal and loves Randal to the end of the world. My own spiritual background is layered within the film – I couldn’t help it really. I spent a lot of time in townships in my home province of KZN and observed life there. It’s insane what poverty and a lack of exposure can do to the psyche of a person. The first time that I was in one of the blocks of the Cape Flats, I remember feeling very claustrophobic because I suddenly couldn’t see anything else (wherever you go in Cape Town, you can see the mountain and expanse of the city). Randal Hendricks and Pam grew up and have different points of view on it. Randal wants out, but Pam just wants Randal and love. Randal becomes an outsider to this world as he is trapped in his apartment – as an outsider to this world, myself, I felt that I related to his feelings of frustration and claustrophobia.
Yes, it is set in a fictional suburb called New Haven and a fictional block called Haven Mansions. It is a combination of places such as Elsies River, Langa, Rugby, and Lavender Hill.
My parents didn’t know I was watching these films after they went to sleep! I remember watching It as a very young child with my cousins and Child’s Play. I thought they were the scariest films I’d ever seen and then later, I saw films like Se7en, The Bone Collector, Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, The Departed, and so many others that have truly influenced me. For Nommer 37, besides the conceptual inspiration of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, I was influenced by movies such as Se7en and other David Fincher films. I also drew from horror/thrillers like Green Room and Don’t Breathe in terms of building suspense and tension. I think David Fincher particularly nailed the aesthetic of grit in Se7en and I knew that I wanted Nommer 37 to have a very gritty edge to it. Randal is a broken man in more ways than one, but most of all in his mind – I wanted the aesthetic to capture that.
We touch on themes of greed and corruption within law enforcement and us as a people. Gail February works in a police department crippled by corruption. She believes that she will make a difference and fights hard to that end. Her journey is a fascinating and important one in my mind. Randal also looks at the world around him, he is aware that the obsessive search for money and survival is what keeps people chained to their circumstances and yet simultaneously, he is embittered by the fact that he didn’t have a choice in where he was born and raised.
The Cape Flats is an area where people were moved to during an oppressive time in South Africa’s history, freedom of movement wasn’t easy and the intention was to kill the human spirit. He is aware that there is something better for him but part of him has given up on trying to get that thing the ‘right way’. Issues of faith and love, what true freedom looks like – these are all themes that were important for me to delve into.
This is a thriller genre, and genre allows me to speak about the state of our society through the vehicle of entertainment. Comedians, for example, do this all the time – they make you laugh whilst simultaneously asking you to reflect on the state of the world. This film will thrill the audience and hopefully, later on, they will begin to peel off the layers of what lies beneath (oh yes that’s a title of another film I loved when I was growing up).
How difficult is it to get your screenplay produced in South Africa?That’s a difficult one to answer. There is no one way to get your screenplay financed and ultimately, after travelling to many festivals and speaking to filmmakers from around the world, I’ve found that if you are not a part of the studio system, it is difficult for everyone. However, I believe what we are sorely lacking on in our country is access to development funding. Often as writers, the process of story development is rushed and done between jobs as we can’t afford to take the time we need to develop our screenplays. This affects the quality of what we bring out to the world. If there’s any area that I believe needs serious attention, it’s a greater investment in development funding because story is king.
I would say access to producers who are willing to invest their time in truly developing a story that will find its audience. So many producers and directors are focused on their own projects. It is also difficult because not many writers know how to pitch their stories in the right way.
I think it’s exciting to see a new wave of daring filmmakers entering the space of other genres outside of drama, comedies, and romantic comedies. I think that the level of production has also improved greatly so we are now moving towards being able to compete on a global level. There are new voices, different voices and it’s fantastic!
Being able to create something out of nothing is marvellous! I love watching an audience experience a film I’ve made, knowing that their reaction to a specific moment is what I had planned for. I guess I’m a control freak in that way.
Hopefully another film, on a slightly bigger scale.
Read more about South African Filmmaking at writingstudio.co.za
