Armed with a dream of placing the Eastern Cape on the film industry map and a passion to highlight the beauty of his home town, Uitenhage-born filmmaker and marketing graduate Willem Greeff successfully screened his own feature-length film on Friday night.
Greeff, 32, born and raised in the Garden Town, said it was after his first major role in the Afrikaans film Gebore Talente that he decided to make his own film in his hometown.
“After completing Gebore Talente in Johannesburg, my mind starting running.
“I could not sleep. I needed to make a film.
“I was watching American Gangster one night. I remember telling my mother: ‘I’m going to make a film.’
She asked: ‘In Joburg again?’ I said: ‘No, right here.’
“Everyone goes to Cape Town or Johannesburg to make films, but what about that kid who acts in front of the mirror?
“The girl who dances to the music on her I-pod in her room?
“Those thoughts motivated me,” Greeff said.
After matriculating from Uitenhage’s Daniel Pienaar High School, Greeff studied marketing at Nelson Mandela University, graduating cum laude, before jetting off to the US for 10 years.
He spent a few months in Miami, attending various film conferences and seminars, where his passion for film developed.
He also spent time in France and Italy dealing in fine art.
“I decided to return [to Uitenhage] to make films.
“When you tell people about [it], the first thing they ask is: ‘Where is Uitenhage?’
“We needed to show people that Uitenhage is a great place with fantastic people and amazing talent,” Greeff said.
His film, The Impervious Soul – produced by independent firm Dark Ripple Productions – is written and directed by Greeff, who also stars in it.
Shot on a shoestring budget of only R20,000, it follows the story of Collin Andrews who, after failing a drug test at work and being laid off, will stop at nothing to provide for his family.
“I started writing the film and the words just flowed. Everything just fell in place.
“All the people who ever wanted to express themselves creatively just made their way into my life.”
The film’s first public screening was at Strelitzia High School, Uitenhage, on Friday night.
Shot primarily in Uitenhage, the film features homegrown talent in cast and crew and was entirely independently financed.
“We ended up financing the entire film ourselves,” Greeff said.
The entire production, from concept to location scouting, filming and post-production, had taken 14 months to complete, he said.
Greeff hopes the film would be picked up by distributors.
“We are also considering making it available on Vimeo, Amazon and Showmax.”
He said he intended to make a feature film each year.
“That is the dream.”