A melancholic poetry film in black and white with sand and silhouettes. About the loss of a mother and a flawed relationship between daughter and child. Inspired by Jeanne Goosen’s eponymous poem, recited by the well-known South-African actress Elize Cawood, to the aria O mia babbino caro from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicci, in a legendary performance by Maria Callas (1955).
Naomi van Niekerk
Biography
Naomi van Niekerk is a contemporary artist with a background in theater studies (Wits University, Johannesburg), visual arts and puppeteering (Ecole Nationale Supérièure des Arts de la Marionnette, France). She enjoys combining these techniques of storytelling in live performance and often collaborates with musicians and dancers to create eclectic theatre pieces and installations that inlcude her interest in shadow puppetry, drawing and bringing inanimate objects to life. While continuing to tour with different multi-media performance pieces, she is also making animation films, focusing on stop-motion animation and Sand Animation in particular. Between 2015 and 2017 she directed and independently produced three animated short films that were extensively shown at many international film festivals: ‘n Gewone blou Maandagoggend (An ordinary blue Monday), By alle skone dinge (To all things beautiful) and most recently My mamma is bossies (My mum’s bonkers). She won the ‘Jean-Luc Xiberras award’ for the ‘Best First Film’ at the ‘Annecy International Film Festival’ (2016) for her short film An ordinary blue Monday.
Fimography
- 2015/2016: ‘n Gewone blou Maandagoggend / An ordinary blue Monday (3:24)
- 2015/2016: By alle skone dinge / To all things beautiful (3:01)
- 2015/2016: The Impermanence Museum (Mixed media installation) (14:02)
- 2016: Heal the Burns (Commissioned film) (3:11)
- 2017: My mum’s bonkers (3:21)
Crew
Director: Naomi van Niekerk
Screenplay: Jeanne Goosen
Producer: Naomi van Niekerk
Cinematographer: Naomi van Niekerk
Sound design: Arnaud van Vliet
Editor: Naomi van Niekerk
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Festivals
- Holland Animation Film Festival, the Netherlands (22 – 26 March, 2017)
Shorts Competition - Animafest Zagreb, Hungary (5 – 10 June, 2017)
Grand Competition Short Film - Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France (12 – 17 June, 2017)
Short Film Competition - Animaphix – international animated film festival, Italy (27 – 30 July, 2017)
International Competition - Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia (3 – 20 August, 2017)
Short Film Competition - Anibar Animation Festival, Kosovo (14 – 20 August, 2017)
International Competition - Concorto Short Film Festival, Italy (19 – 26 August, 2017)
International Competition - ANIMANIMA Festival, Serbia (5 – 9 September, 2017)
International Competition - Riga International Film Festival, Latvia (13 – 16 September)
Short Riga International Short Film Competition SHORT RIGA - World Festival of Animated Film, Bulgaria (13 – 17 September, 2017)
Short Film Competition Program - Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canada (20 – 24 September, 2017)
Narrative Short Animation Competition - Sedicicorto International Film Festival, Italy (6 – 15 October, 2017)
Animalab competition - IndieCork Festival, Ireland (8 – 15 October, 2017)
International Competition - Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden (23 – 29 October, 2017)
International Competition - Bit Bang Fest, Argentina (2 – 4 November, 2017)
- Princeton Independent Film Festival, United States (9 – 11 November, 2017)
Official Selection - Crossing The Screen, United Kingdom (23 – 26 November, 2017)
Competition - Short Short Story Film Festival, United States (25 November, 2017)
Official Selection - Animasivo Festival of Contemporary Animation, Mexico (29 November – 3 December, 2017)
Official Selection - London International Animation Festival, United Kingdom (1 – 11 December, 2017)
Official Competition - Animateka International Animated Film Festival, Slovenia (4 – 10 December, 2017)
Best of the World - Minimalen Short Film Festival, Norway (23 – 28, January 2018)
International Competition - ANIMA – Brussels Animation Films Festival, Belgium (9 – 18 February, 2018)
International Competition – Shorts – Professionals films Won : Creative Revelation Award - International Forum of Animated Films, Egypt (15 – 22 February, 2018)
International Competition - Mecal Pro, International Short Film and Animation Festival, Spain (15 March – 2 April 2018)
International Competition - Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland (16 – 24 March, 2018)
International Short Film Competition - Rencontres du Film Court de Madagascar, Madagascar (13 – 21 April, 2018)
Short Film Competition - International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany (3 – 8 May, 2018)
International Competition - Melbourne International Animation Festival, Australia (18 – 23 Juni, 2018)
Out of competition: Panorama - Valencia International Film Festival Cinema Jove, Spain (22 – 29 June, 2018)
Short Film Competition - Fest Anca International Animation Festival, Slovakia (28 June – 1 July, 2018)
World Panorama Section - Jagran Film Festival, India (29 June – 30 September, 2018)
International Short Film Competition - Animavì International Film Festival of Poetic Animation, Italy (11 – 15 July, 2018)
International Competition - Insomnia International Open-Air Animation Fim Animation Festival, Russia (19 – 23 July, 2018)
Official Selection - Turku Animated Film Festival, Estonia (29 August – 2 September, 2018)
Panorama - ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin, Germany (27 – 30 September, 2018)
Official Competition - Timishort Film Festival, Romania (3 – 7 October, 2018)
Animation Panorama - Île Courts Festival, France (9 – 13 October, 2018)
Official Selection - International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, Cyprus (13 – 19 October, 2018)
International Competition - BANJALUKA International Animated Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina (24 – 28 October, 2018)
Panorama - Tirana International Film Festival, Albania (2 – 9 November, 2018)
International Short Animation Competition - FIKE – Évora International Short-Film Festival, Portugal (12 – 23 November, 2018)
International Competition - Lyrikertreffen – International Poetry Festival, Germany (24 – 26 May, 2019)
Poetry Film Program - Einsiedeln Film Festival, Switzerland (14 – 17 May, 2020)
Official Selection