Movies and meat will be the order of the day as acclaimed local filmmaker Tim Huebschle launches a DVD collection of five of his short films.
Featuring the award winning ‘Dead River’, ‘Looking for Iilonga’, ‘Orange Juice’, ‘Rider Without a Horse’ and ‘Beef’, the DVD is a trove of Huebschle films made between 2005 and 2012.
Though he’s has been mulling over creating a compilation of his films for a few years, Huebschle found a suitable launch date in Namibia’s silver jubilee.
“It’s been on the table for about three years but the key was to find an opportune moment,” says Huebschle. “The silver jubilee of this land of the brave is a good time to revisit who we are as Namibians, hence the decision to launch the DVD on the fringe of this pivotal event.”
In addition to the five films, the DVD includes bonus features such as ‘The Making of Beef’, which presents interviews with the writers, lead actor, cinematographer and the director 10 years later; a documentary that focuses on the making of the acclaimed period film ‘Dead River’ (2012) as well as the story of Huebschle’s Channel O award winning music video for Lady May’s ‘Chokola’. A collection of trailers for Namibian short and feature films is an added extra.
As Namibian short films typically enjoy a short local lifespan of just a handful of screenings before being lost to obscurity, the collection was created with a view to give these films a second, third and inestimable life.
“All five films, together with the bonus features, allow the general public to have a Namibian movie evening whenever they choose. Film is a mass medium and it is intended to reach as many people as possible,” says Huebschle.
“As I was making the individual films, it didn’t make so much sense to release them on DVD, because they were all short films and who would buy a DVD that has only 18 minutes of entertainment on it?
Now that they are combined in one compilation and provide a versatile viewing experience to the audience, all the content put together has a duration of roughly two and a half hours.”
Telling tales of apartheid, urban migration, the Reiterdenkmal monument come to life, a fateful meeting over orange juice and a disastrous dinner party, Huebschle’s collection is wonderfully homegrown and is sure to have a little something for everyone.
As for the meat to go with the movies, Huebschle will be offering a chop and a dop to anyone who buys one of his DVDs at the launch tomorrow.
“The braai is a Namibian institution and brings us all together, no matter who we are or where we come from,” he says.
“We share the love for the sizzle so what better platform to release a compilation of Namibian films?”
What better, indeed.
Huebschle invites “anybody who loves film and would like to add a Namibian element to their movie collection. And, of course, anybody who loves a good braai”.
The launch of ‘Namibian Short Films by Tim Huebschle’ will take place tomorrow, 31 March, at 18h00 at the Warehouse Theatre. DVDs cost N$100 and will include a free chop and dop. Join Tim Huebschle on Facebook or @sandcastlefilms on Twitter for trailers, film info and more.
@marth____vader on Twitter
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